Oct 27, 1922 - Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Ruby Dee 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).
Media | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Movie | 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Mother Sister | |
| Movie | 1991 | Jungle Fever | Lucinda Purify | |
| Movie | 2007 | American Gangster | Mama Lucas | |
| Movie | 2009 | America | Mrs. Harper | |
| Movie | 1982 | Cat People | Female | |
| Movie | 1990 | Love at Large | Corrine Dart | |
| Movie | 1991 | Jazztime Tale | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 1995 | Just Cause | Evangeline Ferguson | |
| Movie | 1993 | Cop & ½ | Rachel | |
| Movie | 1972 | Buck and the Preacher | Ruth | |
| Movie | 2006 | No. 2 | Nanna Maria | |
| Movie | 1951 | The Tall Target | Rachel | |
| Movie | 1957 | Edge of the City | Lucy Tyler | |
| Movie | 1961 | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger | |
| Movie | 1950 | The Jackie Robinson Story | Rae Robinson | |
| Movie | 1967 | The Incident | Joan Robinson | |
| Movie | 1997 | A Simple Wish | Hortence | |
| Movie | 2003 | Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives | ||
| Movie | 2005 | Their Eyes Were Watching God | Nanny | |
| Movie | 2011 | Politics of Love | ||
| Movie | 2001 | Feast of All Saints | Elsie Claviere | |
| Movie | 1972 | Black Girl | Netta's mother | |
| Movie | 2011 | Video Girl | Valerie | |
| Movie | 1990 | Decoration Day | Rowena | |
| Movie | 1968 | Uptight | Laurie | |
| Movie | 2000 | Finding Buck McHenry | Mrs. Henry | |
| Movie | 1996 | Mr. and Mrs. Loving | Sophia | |
| Movie | 1974 | It's Good to Be Alive | Ruth Campanella | |
| Movie | 2000 | A Storm in Summer | Grandmother | |
| Movie | 2013 | Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal | Self | |
| Movie | 2013 | Betty and Coretta | Narrator | |
| Movie | 2007 | Steam | Doris | |
| Movie | 1979 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Grandmother Baxter | |
| Movie | 1959 | Virgin Island | Ruth | |
| Movie | 1959 | Take a Giant Step | Christine | |
| Movie | 1995 | Tuesday Morning Ride | Jennie | |
| Movie | 1963 | Gone Are the Days! | Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins | |
| Movie | 1993 | After Goodbye | Narrator | |
| Movie | 1997 | Sports on the Silver Screen | Self (archive footage) | |
| Movie | 1946 | That Man of Mine | Joan | |
| Movie | 1969 | Deadlock | Lucinda | |
| Movie | 1982 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Mary Tyrone | |
| Movie | 2009 | A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 1999 | Passing Glory | Mommit Porter | |
| Movie | 1998 | The Wall | Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge") | |
| Movie | 1976 | Countdown at Kusini | Leah Matanzima | |
| Movie | 1994 | Whitewash | Grandmother (voice) | |
| Movie | 2001 | Taking Back Our Town | Emelda West | |
| Movie | 1990 | The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | Jackie's Mother | |
| Movie | 1998 | A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner | Narrator | |
| Movie | 1999 | Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years | Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany | |
| Movie | 1966 | Neighbours | Vicky Kingsbury | |
| Movie | 1950 | No Way Out | Connie Brooks (uncredited) | |
| Movie | 1996 | Captive Heart: The James Mink Story | Indigo | |
| Movie | 1970 | King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis | Self (archive footage) | |
| Movie | 1946 | Love in Syncopation | ||
| Movie | 1948 | The Fight Never Ends | ||
| Movie | 1948 | What a Guy | ||
| Movie | 1974 | Wedding Band | Julia Augustine | |
| Movie | 2011 | The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll | Miss Candy | |
| Movie | 1989 | Making 'Do the Right Thing' | Self | |
| Movie | 2007 | In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema | Herself | |
| Movie | 1980 | All God's Children | Irene Whitfield | |
| Movie | 1985 | Go Tell It on the Mountain | Mrs. Grimes | |
| Movie | 2004 | Beah: A Black Woman Speaks | Self | |
| Movie | 1993 | The Ernest Green Story | Lydia Wilson | |
| Movie | 2012 | A Thousand Words | Annie McCall | |
| Movie | 1990 | Zora is My Name! | Zora Neale Hurston | |
| Movie | 2004 | TV in Black: The First Fifty Years | (archive footage) | |
| Movie | 1958 | St. Louis Blues | Elizabeth | |
| Movie | 1963 | The Balcony | Thief | |
| Movie | 2002 | Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun' | Self | |
| Movie | 1992 | Color Adjustment | Narrator | |
| Movie | 1954 | Go Man Go | Irma Jackson | |
| Movie | 2006 | Discovering William Greaves | Self | |
| Movie | 1999 | Baby Geniuses | Margo | |
| Movie | 2018 | Poitier's Walter Lee | Self (archive footage) | |
| Movie | 1972 | To Be Young, Gifted and Black | Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters | |
| Movie | 1971 | The Sheriff | Sue Ann Lucas | |
| Movie | 2014 | Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee | Self | |
| Movie | 1972 | On Merit | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 1999 | The Unfinished Journey | Narrator (voice) | |
| Movie | 2007 | Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson | Self | |
| Movie | 1999 | Paul Robeson: Here I Stand | Self | |
| Movie | 1980 | The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six | ||
| Movie | 2007 | All About Us | Ms. Ella | |
| Movie | 1947 | Easy to Get | Drugstore Girl | |
| Movie | 1998 | Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood | Self | |
| TV Show | 2000 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Mary Wilson | 1 |
| TV Show | 1985 | Spenser: For Hire | 1 | |
| TV Show | 1963 | The Great Adventure | Harriet Tubman | 1 |
| TV Show | 1985 | The Golden Girls | Mammy Watkins | 1 |
| TV Show | 1988 | China Beach | 1 | |
| TV Show | 1999 | Little Bill | 47 | |
| TV Show | 1951 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Rowena Finch | 1 |
| TV Show | 1994 | The Stand | Mother Abagail Freemantle | 4 |
| TV Show | 1974 | Police Woman | 1 | |
| TV Show | 1963 | The Fugitive | Laura Smith | 1 |
| TV Show | 1979 | Roots: The Next Generations | Queen Victoria Haley | 7 |
| TV Show | 2005 | Iconoclasts | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 1992 | Middle Ages | Estelle Williams | 6 |
| TV Show | 1961 | The Defenders | Catherine Collins | 1 |
| TV Show | 1978 | The Kennedy Center Honors | Self | 1 |
| TV Show | 1988 | Lincoln | Elizabeth Keckley | 2 |
| TV Show | 1983 | Reading Rainbow | Herself - Narrator (voice) | 3 |
| TV Show | 1988 | American Experience | Narrator (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 1998 | Christianity: The First 1000 Years | Herself - Narrator | 4 |
| TV Show | 1985 | The Atlanta Child Murders | Faye Williams | 2 |
| TV Show | 1995 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Grandma (voice) | 1 |
| TV Show | 1968 | The Dick Cavett Show | Self - Guest | 1 |
| TV Show | 2002 | Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years | Narrator | 2 |
| TV Show | 1994 | Touched by an Angel | LaBelle Springbelt | 1 |
| TV Show | 1971 | Great Performances | Self | 2 |
Media | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Movie | 1968 | Uptight | Writer | Writing |
| Movie | 1983 | Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial | Vocals | Sound |
