Ruby Dee
Acting • Born 1922-10-27 – Died 2014-06-11
Biography
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Do the Right Thing (1989) and American Gangster (2007).
Filmography
117 credits
Do the Right Thing
Movie • 1989
Mother Sister
Jungle Fever
Movie • 1991
Lucinda Purify
American Gangster
Movie • 2007
Mama Lucas
America
Movie • 2009
Mrs. Harper
Cat People
Movie • 1982
Female
Love at Large
Movie • 1990
Corrine Dart
Jazztime Tale
Movie • 1991
Narrator (voice)
Just Cause
Movie • 1995
Evangeline Ferguson
Cop & ½
Movie • 1993
Rachel
Buck and the Preacher
Movie • 1972
Ruth
No. 2
Movie • 2006
Nanna Maria
The Tall Target
Movie • 1951
Rachel
Edge of the City
Movie • 1957
Lucy Tyler
A Raisin in the Sun
Movie • 1961
Ruth Younger
The Jackie Robinson Story
Movie • 1950
Rae Robinson
The Incident
Movie • 1967
Joan Robinson
A Simple Wish
Movie • 1997
Hortence
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
Movie • 2003
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Movie • 2005
Nanny
Politics of Love
Movie • 2011
Feast of All Saints
Movie • 2001
Elsie Claviere
Black Girl
Movie • 1972
Netta's mother
Video Girl
Movie • 2011
Valerie
Decoration Day
Movie • 1990
Rowena
Uptight
Movie • 1968
Laurie
Finding Buck McHenry
Movie • 2000
Mrs. Henry
Mr. and Mrs. Loving
Movie • 1996
Sophia
It's Good to Be Alive
Movie • 1974
Ruth Campanella
A Storm in Summer
Movie • 2000
Grandmother
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Movie • 2013
Self
Betty and Coretta
Movie • 2013
Narrator
Steam
Movie • 2007
Doris
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Movie • 1979
Grandmother Baxter
Virgin Island
Movie • 1959
Ruth
Take a Giant Step
Movie • 1959
Christine
Tuesday Morning Ride
Movie • 1995
Jennie
Gone Are the Days!
Movie • 1963
Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins
After Goodbye
Movie • 1993
Narrator
Sports on the Silver Screen
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
That Man of Mine
Movie • 1946
Joan
Deadlock
Movie • 1969
Lucinda
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Movie • 1982
Mary Tyrone
A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
Movie • 2009
Narrator (voice)
Passing Glory
Movie • 1999
Mommit Porter
The Wall
Movie • 1998
Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")
Countdown at Kusini
Movie • 1976
Leah Matanzima
Whitewash
Movie • 1994
Grandmother (voice)
Taking Back Our Town
Movie • 2001
Emelda West
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
Movie • 1990
Jackie's Mother
A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner
Movie • 1998
Narrator
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Movie • 1999
Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
Neighbours
Movie • 1966
Vicky Kingsbury
No Way Out
Movie • 1950
Connie Brooks (uncredited)
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
Movie • 1996
Indigo
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Movie • 1970
Self (archive footage)
Love in Syncopation
Movie • 1946
The Fight Never Ends
Movie • 1948
What a Guy
Movie • 1948
Wedding Band
Movie • 1974
Julia Augustine
The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
Movie • 2011
Miss Candy
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
Movie • 1989
Self
In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
Movie • 2007
Herself
All God's Children
Movie • 1980
Irene Whitfield
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Movie • 1984
Mrs. Grimes
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
Movie • 2004
Self
The Ernest Green Story
Movie • 1993
Lydia Wilson
A Thousand Words
Movie • 2012
Annie McCall
Zora is My Name!
Movie • 1990
Zora Neale Hurston
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Movie • 2004
(archive footage)
St. Louis Blues
Movie • 1958
Elizabeth
The Balcony
Movie • 1963
Thief
Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
Movie • 2002
Self
Color Adjustment
Movie • 1992
Narrator
Go Man Go
Movie • 1954
Irma Jackson
Discovering William Greaves
Movie • 2006
Self
Baby Geniuses
Movie • 1999
Margo
Poitier's Walter Lee
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage)
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
Movie • 1972
Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters
The Sheriff
Movie • 1971
Sue Ann Lucas
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Movie • 2014
Self
On Merit
Movie • 1972
Narrator (voice)
The Unfinished Journey
Movie • 1999
Narrator (voice)
Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson
Movie • 2007
Self
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Movie • 1999
Self
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
Movie • 1980
All About Us
Movie • 2007
Ms. Ella
Easy to Get
Movie • 1947
Drugstore Girl
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
Movie • 1998
Self
The Way Back Home
Movie • 2006
Maude
Chelsea D.H.O.
Movie • 1973
Dr. Bianca Pearson
Now is the Time
Movie • 1967
Self
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
TV • 2000
Mary Wilson
Spenser: For Hire
TV • 1985
The Great Adventure
TV • 1963
Harriet Tubman
The Golden Girls
TV • 1985
Mammy Watkins
China Beach
TV • 1988
Little Bill
TV • 1999
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Rowena Finch
The Stand
TV • 1994
Mother Abagail Freemantle
Police Woman
TV • 1974
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Laura Smith
Iconoclasts
TV • 2005
Self
Middle Ages
TV • 1992
Estelle Williams
The Defenders
TV • 1961
Catherine Collins
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV • 1978
Self
Lincoln
TV • 1988
Elizabeth Keckley
Reading Rainbow
TV • 1983
Self - Narrator (voice)
American Experience
TV • 1988
Narrator (voice)
Christianity: The First 1000 Years
TV • 1998
Herself - Narrator
The Atlanta Child Murders
TV • 1985
Faye Williams
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
TV • 1995
Grandma (voice)
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years
TV • 2002
Narrator
Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994
LaBelle Springbelt
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Self
Roots: The Next Generations
TV • 1979
Queen Haley
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self