Hattie McDaniel
Actor
- Born
- June 10, 1893 · Wichita, Kansas, USA
- Died
- October 26, 1952 (age 59)
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 - October 26, 1952) was an American actress whose portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939) won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first black person to win an Academy Award.
After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katharine Hepburn, she makes it clear she has little use for her employers' pretentious status seeking. By The Mad Miss Manton (1938) the character she portrays actually tells off her socialite employer Barbara Stanwyck and her snooty friends. This path extends into the greatest role of McDaniel's career, Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Mammy is, in a number of ways, superior to most of the white folk surrounding her.
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From that point, McDaniel's roles unfortunately descended, with the characters becoming more and more menial. McDaniel played on the "Amos and Andy" and Eddie Cantor radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s, the title character in her own radio show "Beulah" (1947-51), and the same part on TV (Beulah, 1950).
Known for
Gone with the Wind
December 15, 1939
Song of the South
November 20, 1946
Blonde Venus
September 23, 1932
Libeled Lady
October 9, 1936
They Died with Their Boots On
November 20, 1941
Nothing Sacred
November 25, 1937
Imitation of Life
November 23, 1934
Vivacious Lady
May 13, 1938
Carefree
September 2, 1938
I'm No Angel
October 6, 1933
Alice Adams
August 23, 1935
In This Our Life
May 8, 1942
Acting100
- 2022Becoming Marilyn as (archive footage)
- 2022The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5
- 2020Gone with the Wind – Makeup and Wardrobe Tests as Self (archive footage)
- 20091939: Hollywood's Greatest Year as Self (archive footage)
- 2004Hattie McDaniel: or A Credit to the Motion Picture Industry as Self (archive footage)
- 2001Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel as Self (archive footage)
- 1988The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind as Self (archive footage)
- 1985Musical Comedy Tonight III
- 1983Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)