Remembering LEGENDARY Actor/Writer/Activist, Ossie Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) Born, Raiford Chatman Davis, Ossie Davis was an Emmy Award & Grammy Award-Winning, Film, Television & Broadway Actor, Director, Poet, Playwright, Author, & Social Activist. He attended Howard University but Dropped out, in 1939, to Fulfill his Acting Career, in New York. He Later Attended Columbia University School of General Studies. His acting Career, which Spanned 70 Years, Began in 1939, with the Rose McClendon Players, in Harlem. He Made his Film Debut in 1950, in the Sidney Poitier Film,No Way Out. In addition to Acting, Davis, along with Melvin Van Peebles, & Gordon Parks, was One of the Notable Black Directors of his Generation. His Directed Movies Include: Gordons War, Black Girl & Popular Action Film, Cotton Comes to Harlem. However, Davis Never had the Tremendous Commercial or Critical Success that Bill Cosby & Sidney Poitier Enjoyed. As a playwright, Davis wrote Paul Robeson: All-American, which is frequently performed in theatre programs for young audiences & the1961 Play, Purlie Victorious, which was Later Made into the 1963 Film, Gone Are the Days! & which Included All of the Original Broadway Cast, Including: Davis Wife, Ruby Dee, Alan Alda, Beah Richards & Godfrey Cambridge. The Play was also Made into the Musical, Purlie, & Featured Cleavon Little, Sherman Hemsley & Melba Moore. Davis Found Recognition Late in his Life by Working in Several of Director Spike Lees Films, including: Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, She Hate Me & Get on the Bus. He served as the Narrator of the Early-1990s, CBS Sitcom, Evening Shade, Starring Burt Reynolds. In 1989, Ossie Davis & his Wife, Actress/Activist, Ruby Dee, were Named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame. In 1995, they were Awarded the National Medal of Arts, the Nations Highest Honor Conferred to an Individual Artist, on Behalf of the Country, & Presented in a White House Ceremony, by the President of the United States. And in 2004, they were Recipients of the Prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. Throughout His Life, Ossie Davis Involved Himself in the Civil Rights Struggle. He worked with Both Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. & Malcolm X, Among Others. Davis Wrote & Delivered the Eulogy at the Funeral of Malcolm X, He also Delivered a Stirring Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, at a Memorial in New Yorks Central Park, the Day after King was Assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. BLACK IN TIME ENTERPRISES
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 05:54:39 +0000
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