Ruby Dee
ActingRuby 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).
Known For
American Gangster
Mama Lucas
Cat People
Female
Do the Right Thing
Mother Sister
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
Indigo
A Thousand Words
Annie McCall
Just Cause
Evangeline Ferguson
Baby Geniuses
Margo
Love at Large
Corrine Dart
A Simple Wish
Hortence
Jungle Fever
Lucinda Purify
Filmography — Acting
American Gangster
Mama Lucas
Cat People
Female
Do the Right Thing
Mother Sister
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
Indigo
A Thousand Words
Annie McCall
Just Cause
Evangeline Ferguson
Baby Geniuses
Margo
Love at Large
Corrine Dart
A Simple Wish
Hortence
Jungle Fever
Lucinda Purify
Cop & ½
Rachel
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Self (archive footage)
All About Us
Ms. Ella
No Way Out
Connie Brooks (uncredited)
A Raisin in the Sun
Ruth Younger
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Nanny
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
Self
Buck and the Preacher
Ruth
Steam
Doris
Feast of All Saints
Elsie Claviere
Sports on the Silver Screen
Self (archive footage)
The Unfinished Journey
Narrator (voice)
Finding Buck McHenry
Mrs. Henry
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Self
Edge of the City
Lucy Tyler
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
The Jackie Robinson Story
Rae Robinson
The Tall Target
Rachel
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
(archive footage)
The Incident
Joan Robinson
Taking Back Our Town
Emelda West
Video Girl
Valerie
Decoration Day
Rowena
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Mrs. Grimes
Uptight
Laurie
The Wall
Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")
Take a Giant Step
Christine
All God's Children
Irene Whitfield
The Sheriff
Sue Ann Lucas
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
Jackie's Mother
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
Miss Candy
Gone Are the Days!
Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins
A Storm in Summer
Grandmother
The Ernest Green Story
Lydia Wilson
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Grandmother Baxter
St. Louis Blues
Elizabeth
Mr. and Mrs. Loving
Sophia
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
Self
Virgin Island
Ruth
No. 2
Nanna Maria
Betty and Coretta
Narrator
Go Man Go
Irma Jackson
Zora is My Name!
Zora Neale Hurston
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
Self
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Self
Deadlock
Lucinda
The Balcony
Thief
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
Black Girl
Netta's mother
It's Good to Be Alive
Ruth Campanella
Tuesday Morning Ride
Jennie
America
Mrs. Harper
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters
Easy to Get
Drugstore Girl
Passing Glory
Mommit Porter
Wedding Band
Julia Augustine
Color Adjustment
Narrator
The Fight Never Ends
In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
Herself
Countdown at Kusini
Leah Matanzima
Whitewash
Grandmother (voice)
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Self
Poitier's Walter Lee
Self (archive footage)
Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson
Self
Politics of Love
Chelsea D.H.O.
Dr. Bianca Pearson
Jazztime Tale
Narrator (voice)
A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner
Narrator
Neighbours
Vicky Kingsbury
The Way Back Home
Maude
On Merit
Narrator (voice)
Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
Self
Now is the Time
Self
Discovering William Greaves
Self
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Mary Tyrone
A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
Narrator (voice)
What a Guy
That Man of Mine
Joan
After Goodbye
Narrator
