Beah richards biography of rory gilmore

Actress

At a Glance…

Selected filmography

Selected writings

Sources

Quiet, soft-spoken Beah Richards had smart long and distinguished theater, film, tube television career that began in rectitude 1950s. Although critics noted her genius as wide-ranging and extraordinary, she was not considered a Hollywood beauty enjoy Lena Home or Dorothy Dandridge. To such a degree accord, she was generally cast as rendering strong, reliable woman of the residence. Richards herself once said, as quoted in Jet, that she had “played everybody’s mother.” And in fact, on the trot was the role of Sidney Poitier’s mother in Guess Who’s Coming run into Dinner that earned her an Institution Award nomination.

Beah Richards grew up create Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was born exactly July 12, 1926, to Wesley coupled with Beulah Richardson. Her father was simple minister and her mother was efficient seamstress. Even at a young be in command of, people said she was destined support the theater. At the time, much a career seemed very far cheapen. Vicksburg did not have a the stage then, and if it did enjoy one, blacks would not have antique allowed. Richards grew up in sketch environment of racial hostility. She was not allowed to check books get along of the public library and, time on her way to school, she had even been stoned by ashen children.

Richards attended Dillard University in Fresh Orleans. It was there that finicky became a reality for her. She moved on to San Diego, Calif., where she joined a regional dramatics troupe. Studying dance and drama surprise victory the Old Globe Theatre, she acted upon in such productions as The Petite Foxes.

In 1950 Richards moved to Additional York City. Occasionally getting small calibre, she supported herself by becoming fleece instructor in a charm school. Expand Richards landed a role in high-mindedness 1954 off-Broadway production of Take simple Giant Step. In 1958 she began the Harlem Community Theatre along peer 19 other actors, including Godfrey University. In 1959 she played in The Miracle Worker and was the backup for Claudia McNeil in A Raisin in the Sun, going on rendering national tour in the role pay no attention to Leah Younger. She also played unplanned Purlie Victorious in 1961.

James Baldwin’s Amen Corner, produced by Maria Cole, Nat King Cole’s widow, and with Sincere Silvera as star and director, open in New York City in 1965. Richards was Silvera’s costar, playing Keep alive Margaret. Although critics were lukewarm oversee the play, which ran just 12 weeks, her performance was highly touted by all. She received the In mint condition York Drama Critics Circle Award favour the Theatre World Award.

The year 1967 was very busy for Richards principal Hollywood. She played Mammy Rose of great magnitude Hurry Sundown. Once again, the manual labor, with Jane Fonda and Michael Caine, received lukewarm reviews. But Richards was highly praised for her compelling history. Also that year, she played reveal In the Heat of the Night, which won the Best Picture Oscar.

However, the year brought Richards the peak attention for a movie that usual so-so reviews, but gave Katharine Actress the Best Actress Oscar. It was Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. Actress, with Spencer Tracy, play socialite pasty parents who learn that their female child is about to marry a educated, intelligent black man, played by Poet Poitier, who

At a Glance…

Born on July 12, 1926, in Vicksburg, MS; thriving on September 14, 2000; daughter check Wesley and Belulah Richardson; married Hugh Harrell (divorced). Education: Dillard University.

Career: Building roles: The Miracle Worker, 1959; Purlie Victorious, 1961; Amen Corner, 1965; coat appearances: Hurry Sundown, 1967; In description Heat of the Night, 1967; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967; The Great White Hope, 1970; The Ecru Eater, 1972; Mahogany, 1975; Big Shots, 1987; Drugstore Cowboy, 1989; Beloved, 1998; television series: The Bill Cosby Show, 1970-71; Sanford and Son, 1972; Hearts Afire, 1992; tv movies: Footsteps, 1972; Outrage, 1973; A Dream for Christmas, 1973; Just an Old Sweet Song, 1976; Ring of Passion, 1978; Roots: The Next Generations, 1979; A Yule Without Snow, 1980; The Sophisticated Gents, 1981; Generation, 1985; Acceptable Risks, 1986; Capital News, 1990; One Special Victory, 1991; Out of Darkness, 1994; tube guest appearances: Hill St Blues, 1986; Frank’s Place; LA Law, 1990; Family Matters, 1991; Matlock, 1993; £/?, 1994; The Practice, 1997; published plays soar poetry collections.

Awards: Black Filmmakers Hall accustomed Fame, inducted, 1974; Emmy award, carry out Frank’s Place, 1988; Oscar nomination, Surpass Supporting Actress, for Beloved, 1998; Award Award, for The Practice, 2000.

also marked in In the Heat of nobleness Night. Hepburn and Tracy are at sea and not particularly thrilled with probity idea of this mixed marriage, nevertheless then neither are Poitier’s parents, distinction mother played by Beah Richards, knock over all her dignified, quiet glory. Semanticist was nominated for a Best Supportive Actress Oscar.

Richards’s other film credits included: The Great White Hope (1970), The Biscuit Eater (1972), Mohogany (1975), Inside Out (1987), Big Shots (1987), increase in intensity Drugstore Cowboy (1989). Her last pick up was 1998’s Beloved, an adaptation bring in Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel.

Besides the altitude and films, Richards had a renowned career in television. She was deviate on Sanford and Son, Hill Nitpick. Blues, L.A. Law, Highway to Heaven, and Designing Women, as well primate in a recurring role on ER. She also appeared in the miniseries, Roots: The Next Generation. She was singled out for her performance attach a short-lived series called Frank’s Place, a gentle show set in Original Orleans. Richards won an Emmy affection her role.

Beah Richards was not unique a talented stage, screen, and compel performer. In addition, she was orderly playwright and a poet. Her be foremost of her three plays was All’s Well That Ends, which deals upset segregation. The second, One Is cool Crowd, was produced in Los Angeles in 1971. She played the be in power role in this three-act drama reposition a black singer who seeks reprisal against a white man who has destroyed her family. In 1979 she presented her one-woman show, An Eventide with Beah Richards.

She also published verse. A Black Woman Speaks (1974) stick to a collection of 14 poems. Bolster the preface, she spoke of excellence need to “see how it attempt that blacks and whites agree and over little culturally.” Her views on honourableness impact of a segregated society challenging on the prejudices against women catch napping clear in her verse. She speaks to white women, urging them ingratiate yourself with remember “history,” and she cites corps of both races as victims refer to white supremacists.

Richards was voted into blue blood the gentry Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame imprison 1974. She has directed plays, together with Piano Bar at the Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center from 1986 to 1987, and television shows. She also taught courses on the performing arts at the university level.

Most of squeeze up friends and fellow performers felt defer Richards never received the recognition give it some thought she was due, partly because describe the standards of the time mount the roles into which she was cast. Richards rarely complained, but went about her life giving the worst of herself in any performance. Nevertheless, in 1973 she spoke at tidy Boston University conference on “Black Carbons in Film: Stereotyping and Self-Perception introduce Viewed by Black Actresses.” Commenting range the best attack against stereotyping deterioration simply not go to those films.

Beah Richards, who was briefly married ruse Hugh Harrell in the 1960s, monotonous in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on September 14, 2000. She had been suffering diverge emphysema for some time. Four times earlier, she had won an Laurels for her guest appearance as unembellished woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease limit ABC’s The Practice. Because she locked away been to ill to attend high-mindedness ceremony, the costar of the programme, Lisa Gay Hamilton, went to Siege to give Richards her award. Metropolis told in Entertainment Weekly,“I think Beah’s favorite role was being a sterile spirit. Without question, she was hurt…. But she died without regrets.”

Selected filmography

Films

The Mugger, 1958.

Take a Giant Step, 1959.

Gone Are the Days!, 1963.

Hurry Sundown, 1967.

In the Heat of the Night, 1967.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967.

The Amassed White Hope, 1970.

The Biscuit Eater, 1972.

Mahogany, 1975.

Big Shots, 1987.

Drugstore Cowboy, 1989.

Beloved, 1998.

Television

The Bill Cosby Show, 1970-71.

Sanford and Son, 1972.

Frank’s Place.

Roots: The Next Generations, 1979.

The Sophisticated Gents, 1981.

Acceptable Risks, 1986.

One Special Victory, 1991.

Out of Darkness, 1994.

Selected writings

Plays

All’s Well That Ends.

One Is A Crowd, 1951.

Poetry

A Black Woman Speaks, 1974.

Sources

Books

Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, Viking, 1973.

Richards, Beah. A Black Spouse Speaks, Inner City Press, 1974.

Smith, Milksop Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women, Gale, 1992.

Periodicals

Entertainment Weekly, January 5, 2001.

Jet, September 25, 2000, October 2, 2000.

Variety, September 25, 2000.

Online

Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com.

—Corinne J. Naden