Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 - October 26, 1962) was an American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave.
Biography
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. She appeared in numerous films during her career including The Gold Diggers (1923), Freaks (1932), She Done Him Wrong (1933), General Spanky (1936), Holiday Inn (1942), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), and The Facts of Life (1960).
Beavers' most famous and noted role was her portrayal of Delilah Johnson, the housekeeper/cook whose employer transforms her into an Aunt Jemima-like celebrity in the 1934 film Imitation of Life. One of the film's main conflicts was that between Delilah and her light-skinned daughter Peola (played by Fredi Washington), who wanted to pass for white. Imitation of Life was the first time in American cinema history that a black woman's problems were given major emotional weight in a major Hollywood motion picture.
The vast majority of Beavers' other film roles, however, were not as prestigious. Along with Hattie McDaniel, she became the on-screen personification of the "mammy" stereotype: a large, matronly black woman with a quick temper, a large laugh, and a subservient manner. Beavers' employers had her overeat so that she could maintain her "mammy"-like figure. Although Beavers did not approve of how her characters were scripted, she nonetheless continued appearing in films, because, as her contemporary McDaniel once stated, "it's better to play a maid than be a maid."
Beavers was one of four actresses (including Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray housekeeper Beulah on the Beulah television show. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American, even though the role was a somewhat subservient one. She also played Louise the maid on the first two seasons of The Danny Thomas Show (1953-1955).
Louise Beavers died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26, 1962, exactly ten years after the similarly typecast actress Hattie McDaniel, at the age of 60.
In 1976, she was inducted posthumously into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
References
^ Gates, Henry Louis. Africana: arts and letters: an A-to-Z reference of writers, musicians, and artists (2005), page 71 - ISBN 0762420421
^ Wintz, Cary D. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, Routledge (2004), page 108, ISBN 157958389X
^ Bamboozled
External links
Louise Beavers at the Internet Movie Database
Louise Beavers at Allmovie
Louise Beavers at TV.com
Louise Beavers at Find A Grave
Persondata
NAME
Beavers, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
Beaver, Louise
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Actress
DATE OF BIRTH
March 8, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
October 26, 1962
PLACE OF DEATH
Hollywood, California, U.S.
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Beavers"
Categories: 1902 births | 1962 deaths | Actors from Cincinnati | African American actors | American film actors | American silent film actors | American television actors | Deaths by myocardial infarction | Ohio actors
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This page was last modified on 31 July 2008, at 01:35.
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