Maidie Norman
Acting • Born 1912-10-16 – Died 1998-05-02
Biography
Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.
Filmography
72 credits
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Movie • 1962
Elvira Stitt
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Movie • 1982
Nurse Agnes
The Well
Movie • 1951
Martha Crawford
Executive Suite
Movie • 1954
Housekeeper (uncredited)
Written on the Wind
Movie • 1956
Bertha
Susan Slept Here
Movie • 1954
Georgette
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
Movie • 1955
Suma
Bright Road
Movie • 1953
Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
About Mrs. Leslie
Movie • 1954
Camilla
Forever Female
Movie • 1953
Emma (uncredited)
The Lie
Movie • 1973
Janine
Airport '77
Movie • 1977
Dorothy
A Star Is Born
Movie • 1976
Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
Manhandled
Movie • 1949
Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
Sixteen
Movie • 1972
Aunt Ada
Another Part of the Forest
Movie • 1972
Coralee
Maurie
Movie • 1973
Mrs. Stokes
The Opposite Sex
Movie • 1956
Violet (uncredited)
The Peanut Man
Movie • 1947
Lucretia
Torch Song
Movie • 1953
Anne
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
Movie • 1972
Nurse Ferguson
Thornwell
Movie • 1981
Ruth Thornwell
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
Movie • 1983
Neddy
4 for Texas
Movie • 1963
Burden's Maid
A Dream for Christmas
Movie • 1973
Jennie Daley
Mad at the World
Movie • 1955
Miss Lovett
Sty of the Blind Pig
Movie • 1974
Weedy Warren
Movie Movie
Movie • 1978
Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
Man with the Gun
Movie • 1955
Sarah (uncredited)
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
Movie • 1981
Self
Delphine and Carole
Movie • 2020
Self (archive footage)
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
Movie • 1988
Edna
No Greater Love
Movie • 1960
Queto's Mother
Good Times
TV • 1974
Rhoda
TV • 1974
Kung Fu
TV • 1972
Omar's Mother
Little House on the Prairie
TV • 1974
The F.B.I.
TV • 1965
Caregiver
Simon & Simon
TV • 1981
The Jeffersons
TV • 1975
The Streets of San Francisco
TV • 1972
Baretta
TV • 1975
Mannix
TV • 1967
Hotel
TV • 1982
Dragnet
TV • 1951
Cagney & Lacey
TV • 1982
Elevator Operator
Cannon
TV • 1971
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Lurie
Ironside
TV • 1967
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
TV • 1974
Librarian
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Eloise
The Twilight Zone
TV • 1959
Maid (uncredited)
Harry O
TV • 1974
Funny Face
TV • 1971
Police Woman
TV • 1974
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Flora
Matt Houston
TV • 1982
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
CBS Playhouse
TV • 1966
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Aunt Nellie
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Mrs. Johnson
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Flora
Adam-12
TV • 1968
Ethel May
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Josi
Adam-12
TV • 1968
Mary Handlin
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Maid
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Coralee
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
TV • 1964
Mama Lou
The Incredible Hulk
TV • 1977
Mrs. Dennison
Roots: The Next Generations
TV • 1979
Sister Scrap Scott