Ruby Dee Movies
African-American stage, film, and TV luminary Ruby Dee was born in Cleveland, the daughter of a Pullman-porter father and schoolteacher mother. While growing up in Harlem, Dee developed an interest in the theater. In 1941, she began studying under Morris Carnovsky at the American Negro Theatre. While attending Hunter College, she made her first professional stage appearance in South Pacific (not the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, but a short-lived 1943 drama). On Broadway from 1946, Dee's first major success was as the title character in Anna Lucasta. In 1948, she married actor Ossie Davis, with whom she has since appeared in everything from Shakespeare to TV margarine commercials. Though she and Davis were both uncredited in their joint film debut, 1950's No Way Out, Dee achieved second billing in her next feature, The Jackie Robinson Story (1950). Among her favorite stage roles were Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, and Luttiebelle in her husband Ossie Davis' play Purlie Victorious, roles that she would commit to film in 1961 and 1963 respectively. On TV, Dee was a regular on The Guiding Light, Roots: The Next Generations, and The Middle Ages;
Dee worked steadily throughout the 1970s, '80s, dividing her time more or less equally between television [with turns in such small-screen movies as The Atlanta Child Murders (1981), The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson (1990) and the 1990 Decoration Day, for which she won an Emmy] and the big screen, where her credits included the features Cat People (1982), Cop and a Half (1993) and A Simple Wish (1997). Dee received a career resurgence thanks to her prominent enlistment in the features of Spike Lee (alongside Davis), notably Do the Right Thing (1989) and Jungle Fever (1991). As time rolled on, she also began to participate in documentaries, such as the 1998 Christianity: The First Thousand Years and the 1999 Smithsonian World: Nigerian Art - Kindred Spirits); made guest appearances in such prime-time series as Touched by an Angel; and essayed a prominent role opposite Halle Berry in the telemovie Oprah Winfrey Presents: Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005). She continued to work steadily after Davis's death in early 2005, and in fact received her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nomination for her role in Ridley Scott's period crime saga American Gangster (2007). In 2011 she participated in Sing Your Song, a well-received biography of Harry Belafonte from HBO.
In addition to her acting credits, Ruby Dee is an accomplished writer; she has contributed a weekly column to New York's Amsterdam News, co-authored the script for the 1967 film Up Tight!, penned the 1975 TV play Twin-Bit Gardens, and published a book of poetry, Glowchild (1972). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1978
This introduction to the theater features a collection of fourteen dramas all combined in four modules. ~ Rovi
- 1972
In this melodrama a mother tries to compensate for her feelings of inadequacy and failure as a parent to her own children by taking in a troubled foster child. As she struggles to make up for her past mistakes, her jealous daughters mistreat the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1970
The made-for-TV The Sheriff borrows a bit from the premise of the theatrical feature film Tick Tick Tick (71). Ossie Davis plays an African-American county sheriff, stationed in a small California mountain village; his wife is played by Davis' real-life spouse Ruby Dee. Kaz Garas portrays the sheriff's white deputy, and Lynda Day appears as Garas' wife. Davis' case at hand is the rape of a black coed by a white insurance salesman, which sparks racial polarization in the previously peaceful community. The Sheriff was the pilot for a TV series which was left at the gate by disinterested sponsors. A few months later, another failed pilot on similar lines was developed: Crosscurrent, starring Robert Hooks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, (more)
- 1969
The made-for-TV Deadlock stars Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Sam Danforth (since this is long before the Police Squad era, Nielsen plays it straight). The white Danforth finds himself at ideological loggerheads with black district attorney Leslie Washburn (Hari Rhodes). Racial tensions are escalated when a black ghetto kid is killed by a cop, and a white reporter covering the case also turns up dead. Future stars Fred Williamson and James McEachin show up in supporting roles. First telecast February 22, 1969, Deadlock served as the pilot episode for The Professionals, a single-season component of NBC's rotating series The Bold Ones. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1967
Martin Sheen may be the Grey Eminence of movies nowadays, but back in 1967 he often as not played switchblade-wielding punks. This he does, in the company of Tony Musante, in The Incident. After mugging a helpless old man, Sheen and Musante take over a subway car, terrorizing its occupants. In Stagecoach fashion, all the best and worst qualities of the passengers are brought to the surface by the presence of danger. Among the passengers are angry black man Brock Peters and his supplicative wife Ruby Dee, ex-alcoholic Gary Merrill, timorous Jewish couple Jack Gilford and Thelma Ritter, blowhard Ed McMahon, and homosexual Robert Fields. It is furloughed army private Beau Bridges who puts an end to Sheen and Musante's reign of terror. Based on Ride with Terror a 1963 TV play by Nicholas E. Baehr, The Incident is an unpleasant but undeniably fascinating character study. And yes, that cute young blonde playing Alice Keenan is Donna Mills. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, (more)
This film version of the successful stage play was written by and stars Ossie Davis as Purlie Victorious, a flamboyant, self ordained minister. Along with wife Lutibelle (Ruby Dee), he returns to Georgia to buy an old barn and convert it into a church. He seeks out Captain Cotchipec (Sorrel Booke), the aging plantation owner entrusted with a $500 inheritance left by the preacher's sister after her death. Lutibelle is talked into posing as a long-lost cousin to get the money quickly from the dying landowner. Comedian Godfrey Cambridge reprises his stage role as the black plantation straw boss who pays lip service in the presence of the Captain but mercilessly mock the old man behind his back. Lutibelle gets the money from the old man with the help of his sympathetic son Charlie (Alan Alda), who is as liberal and progressive as his father is racially intolerant.. Religious hypocrisy, racial bigotry, civil rights issues and the changing Southern society backed by forced integration are subjects in this film that coincided with the turbulent social issues of the time. The title is taken from the first line of Stephen Foster's sentimental classic "Old Black Joe." The film was released nearly one hundred years after the famous songwriter's death. Produced and directed by Nicholas Webster, most of the actors reprised their roles from the original stage production. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, (more)
- 1963
Posing as "Ray Miller", Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) is hired as cut-man for young African American prizefighter Joe Smith (James Edwards). It turns out that Joe had once wanted to be a doctor himself, but gave up his dream, figuring that a black man in the mid-1960s didn't stand a chance of getting into a decent medical school. Meanwhile, Joe's wife Laura (a young Ruby Dee) begs him to quit the ring, but she is unable to wrest her husband from the control of his greedy manager Lou Bragan (James Dunn). Kimble realizes that one more fight will cause Joe to suffer permanent brain damage--but should he intervene in this situation and risk being arrested by the local authorities? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The denizens of a sordid brothel become embroiled in a bloody coup in this arty political satire adapted from the Jean Genet play. Shelley Winters stars as the cathouse's madam, a stern woman who supervises the fantasy role-playing of her beautiful employees and their well-heeled customers, including the local police chief (Peter Falk). As various whores and their johns dress up like judges, penitents, bishops, and generals, a revolution rages outside in the streets. The leaders of society -- including the queen -- are done away with by an angry mob. Soon, the madam and her compatriots find themselves ordered to impersonate the slain bigwigs in order to restore law and order. Shot in black-and-white by cinematographer George Folsey and producer/director Joseph Strick, The Balcony features a number of future stars in its cast, from Ruby Dee and Lee Grant to Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy would go on to produce and star in Deathwatch, another Genet adaptation. Unlike the later film, Genet was actually involved in the film version of The Balcony, collaborating with Strick on the original treatment but leaving the final screenplay to poet and novelist Ben Maddow. Strick acquired the rights to The Balcony from Genet only after failing to mount another literary adaptation, of James Joyce's Ulysses. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, (more)
- 1959
Young (19-year-old) reggae and rhythm-and-blues singer Johnny Nash stars in this conventional coming-of-age story about a well-heeled, Afro-American teen trying to find his way in a white-man's world. The realities of that world hit Spencer (Nash) hard, and at first he looks for solace and comfort in the black community, especially since like most teens his age going to his parents for support or consultation is out of the question. In his search for identity and meaning, Spencer comes to see the family maid Christine (Ruby Dee) in a way he never did before, and an implied sexual relationship with this kind-hearted, older woman begins to awaken in him a different, more adult viewpoint on life and its traumas. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Nash, Ruby Dee, (more)
- 1958
Based on Robb White's novel 3DOur Virgin Island3D (the film's original title), this harmless location-filmed comedy boasts an unusually impressive cast. With their combined life savings of $85, fiercely independent archeologist Evan (John Cassavetes) and his wife Tina (Virginia Maskell) purchase an island in the tropics. They create an idyllic home-away-from-home with the help of resourceful islander Marcus (Sidney Poitier). All is serene until Tina becomes pregnant--but the fun 3Dreally3D begins when she goes into labor while stranded with her husband in a rickety boat in the middle of the ocean. The "Philip Rush" credited as screenwriter is actually a joint pseudonym for blacklisted Hollywood scriveners Ring Lardner Jr. and Ian McClellan Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Cassavetes, Virginia Maskell, (more)
- 1958
The life of legendary bluesman W.C. Handy is highly dramatized in this tuneful biopic. The story opens as his father, a minister chastises his son for playing "the devil's music." Despite his father's admonitions, Handy is drawn to the blues. He is encouraged by two disparate women, one an earthy singer from New Orleans and the other a good-hearted girl from his hometown whose main concern is Handy's happiness. Stress causes Handy to go blind for a while, but eventually he regains his sight, becomes famous for his music, and wins the respect of his father. The highlight of the film involves the performance of Handy's music by some of the great blues and jazz singers of the 1950s including Cole, Calloway, Jackson, and Fitzgerald. Songs include "Hesitating Blues," "Chantez Les Bas," "Beale Street Blues," (W.C. Handy), "Careless Love" (based on folk music by Handy; lyrics by Spencer Williams, Martha Koenig), "Morning Star," "Way Down South Where the Blues Began," "Mr. Bayle," "Aunt Hagar's Blues" (Handy; lyrics by Tim Brymn), "They that Sow" (hymn), and "Going to See My Sarah" (spiritual). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nat "King" Cole, Pearl Bailey, (more)
- 1956
Tom Ewell plays a busy attorney who wishes to be closer to his son. To do this, he becomes manager of the boy's little league team, much to the dismay of his wife (Anne Francis), who can't stand baseball. Ewell finds that he must contend with pushy and ambitious parents who hope to live their own sports fantasies vicariously through their ballplaying children. The single mother of one of the kids (Ann Miller) goes to Ewell to plead for her boy's advancement, but the purpose of the meeting is misinterpreted by Ewell's jealous wife. Fed up with sacrificing sportsmanship to the whims of the parents, Ewell encourages his team to play for the love of the game rather than "winning at any cost." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Ewell, Anne Francis, (more)
- 1954
The inspirational story of the famed basketball tricksters The Harlem Globetrotters is chronicled in this drama. The Trotters began in the 1920s when a manager catches a group of talented players on the basketball court. He becomes obsessed with getting these young black men the recognition he feels they deserve. He gathers them together as a team and they begin barnstorming a series of small towns. The film's climax takes on overtones of the Civil Rights Movement when it depicts a major game between them and an all-white team of champions. The Globetrotters beat the tar out of their opponents. One of the main storylines concerns the friendship between Saperstein and his wife, and player Inman Jackson and his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dane Clark, Patricia Breslin, (more)
Despite its lack of production values and box-office "names," The Jackie Robinson Story is one of the best and most convincing baseball biopics ever filmed. Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman Jackie Robinson plays himself, and quite well indeed. The film traces Robinson's career from his college days, when he excelled as a track star at Pasadena College and as UCLA's All-Sports record holder. Upon his graduation, Robinson tries to get a coaching job, but this is the 1940s, and most doors are closed to black athletes. After serving in the army, Robinson plays with the Negro Baseball League, where his uncanny skills attract the attention of Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Anxious to break down the "color line" that exists in major-league baseball, Robinson is chosen in 1946 to play for the Brooklyn farm team in Montreal. In a harrowing sequence, Rickey lets Robinson know what he's in for by bombarding him with insults and racial slurs. The manager is merely testing Robinson's ability to withstand the pressure: he wants a black ballplayer "with guts enough not to fight back." Robinson agrees to ignore all racial epithets for the first two years of his Brooklyn contract. Despite the unabashed hatred to which he is subjected during his year with Montreal, Robinson steadfastly continues to turn the other cheek, and in 1947 he graduates to the Dodgers lineup. After a slow start, Robinson justifies the faith put in him by Rickey. The Dodgers win the pennant race, and slowly but surely the ban on black players vanishes in the Big Leagues. Though a model of restraint by 1990s standards, The Jackie Robinson Story is surprisingly frank in its detailing of the racial tensions of its own era. It falters only in a couple of silly vignettes involving comic-relief ballplayer Ben Lessey. The cast is uniformly fine, including Louise Beavers as Robinson's mother, Ruby Dee as his wife Rae (Dee would later play Robinson's mother in the 1990 TV movie The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson), Joel Fluellen as his brother Mac, Minor Watson as Branch Rickey, and best of all, Richard Lane as Montreal manager Clay Hopper. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jackie Robinson, Ruby Dee, (more)
A pioneering film about racial tensions, No Way Out stars Richard Widmark as a criminal named Ray Biddle, who despises African-Americans. Sidney Poitier (in his screen debut) is the black doctor, Luther Brooks, assigned to take care of the wounded Ray. Dr. Brooks, hired by the police hospital as part of an overall program to integrate the staff, keeps his temper in check as Ray spouts his racist invective. When Ray's brother, also wounded, dies in the hospital, the blustering bigot holds Dr. Brooks responsible and sends word to his gang to wreak vengeance on the city's black community. But the blacks turn the tables on the whites and fight them off. Ray then breaks out of the hospital with Dr. Brooks as hostage. His plans to kill the doctor are thwarted by Ray's girlfriend (Linda Darnell), who finally becomes fed up with his blind hatred. No Way Out was considered potent stuff in 1950; it was still regarded as a hot potato in 1962, when NBC dropped plans to telecast the film on "Saturday Night at the Movies." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, (more)
Director Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as well. When innovative businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, (more)
Based on a story by Anne Rice, this made-for-cable miniseries explores the little-known phenomenon of the "Gens de Couleur Libres," or "Free People of Color," who lived in Louisiana at a time when slavery still held a stranglehold on much of the South. In 1822, it was not at all uncommon for attractive women of color to be retained as a "placage," a sort of "kept woman" who served the wishes of wealthy landowners, and after Philippe Ferronnaire (Peter Gallagher) enters into a loveless arranged marriage with Aglae (Jenny Levine) in order to curry the favor of her elderly (and very well-to-do) father Magloire Dazincourt (John Gilbert), he soon finds himself the father of two families -- one raised by Aglae, and another raised by his "placage" Cecile Ste. Marie (Gloria Reuben), a lovely bi-racial woman from Haiti. Philippe's son with Cecile, Marcel Ste. Marie (Robert Richard), is raised with the promise that, even though Philippe cannot officially acknowledge his parenthood, he will receive a first-class education in Europe, and Marcel finds himself travelling between the worlds of wealthy whites and economically disadvantaged Creoles in New Orleans. In time, Marcel falls in love with a girl of similar circumstances, Anna Bella (Bianca Lawson), but as fate would have it, her guardian, Elsie Claviere (Ruby Dee), has already arranged for the girl to enter into a "placage" with Vincent Dazincourt (Alec McClure), who happens to be Philippe's brother-in-law. Directed by Peter Medak, Feast of All Saints also features Ben Vereen and Ossie Davis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gloria Reuben, Peter Gallagher, (more)
The novel by John Katzenbach becomes this legal thriller starring Sean Connery as Harvard Law School professor Paul Armstrong. A legal expert whose days of trying cases are long behind him, Armstrong is moved by a plea he receives from a Florida death row inmate, Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood). It seems that the educated, upstanding Earl has been railroaded by an overeager sheriff (Laurence Fishburne) zealously trying to solve the kidnapping and murder of a little girl. Once Armstrong arrives in Florida, he is able to locate the murder weapon and cast doubt on Earl's innocence, even identifying a much more likely culprit in the homicidal genius Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris). All is not as it seems in the case of Bobby Earl, however, and Armstrong is going to end up regretting his interest in the case. Ruby Dee, Kate Capshaw, and Ned Beatty costar in this film from producer-turned-director Arne Glimcher. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, (more)
Spike Lee defines "jungle fever" as sexual attraction between members of two races. In his film Jungle Fever, he examines the repercussions of an interracial affair upon two very distinct communities. Wesley Snipes is Flipper, a happily married and successful architect, and Annabella Sciorra is Angie, an office temp. When she starts working in Flipper's Manhattan office, one day they look at each other and are soon having sex over a blueprint-strewn desk. Their liaison causes an explosion on both homefronts. Flipper's family consists of his father Doctor Purify (Ossie Davis), a former preacher; his mother Lucinda (Ruby Dee); his violent, crackhead brother Gator (Samuel L. Jackson); and his wife Drew (Lonette McKee), whom he loves, despite his sexual attraction to Angie. Angie's family is a typical Italian-American household from Bensonhurst. She's engaged to Paulie Carbonne (John Turturro), who works in a deli owned by his father Lou (Anthony Quinn). When the two families find out about Flipper and Angie's affair, their shock leads to recriminations and racial animosity. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, (more)
Director Alan Rudolph's 1989 model mood piece stars Tom Berenger as shabby private eye Harry Dobbs, who is hired by the mysterious Miss Dolan (Anne Archer). Dolan wants Dobbs to tail her abusive boyfriend, Rick (Neil Young). Dobbs immediately demonstrates his uncanny powers of detection by trailing the wrong man (Ted Levine), whose story turns out to be far more fascinating than Rick's. Meanwhile, Dobbs is himself pursued by female P.I. Stella Wynkowski (Elizabeth Perkins), which hardly pleases Dobbs' jealous girlfriend, Doris (Ann Magnuson). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Elizabeth Perkins, (more)
Director Spike Lee dives head-first into a maelstrom of racial and social ills, using as his springboard the hottest day of the year on one block in Brooklyn, NY. Three businesses dominate the block: a storefront radio station, where a smooth-talkin' deejay (Samuel L. Jackson) spins the platters that matter; a convenience store owned by a Korean couple; and Sal's Famous Pizzeria, the only white-operated business in the neighborhood. Sal (Danny Aiello) serves up slices with his two sons, genial Vito (Richard Edson) and angry, racist Pino (John Turturro). Sal has one black employee, Mookie (Spike Lee), who wants to "get paid" but lacks ambition. His sister Jade (Joie Lee, Spike's sister), who has a greater sense of purpose and a "real" job, wants Mookie to start dealing with his responsibilities, most notably his son with girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez). Two of Mookie's best friends are Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), a monolith of a man who rarely speaks, preferring to blast Public Enemy's rap song Fight The Power on his massive boom box; and Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), nicknamed for his coke-bottle glasses and habit of losing his cool. When Buggin' Out notes that Sal's "Wall of Fame," a photo gallery of famous Italian-Americans, includes no people of color, he eventually demands a neighborhood boycott, on a day when tensions are already running high, that incurs tragic consequences. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Spike Lee, (more)
In this loose adaptation of the 1942 horror classic of the same name, a 2001-style opening montage establishes some sort of sacrificial, mystical union between panthers and an ancient tribe of humans. Flash forward to 1980's New Orleans, where waifish Irina (Natassja Kinski) meets her older brother, Paul (Malcolm McDowell), a minister, for the first time since their animal trainer parents died and she was sent to a series of foster homes. Paul's Creole housekeeper, Female (Ruby Dee), helps Irina settle into her brother's home, but Paul himself disappears. Cut to a fleabag motel where a blasé prostitute finds an angry panther instead of a client; after mauling her, the cat is captured by police and a team of zoologists: Oliver (John Heard), Alice (Annette O'Toole), and Joe (Ed Begley Jr.). The next day Irina finds herself in the zoo where these scientists work; drawn to the newly captured panther, she befriends Oliver and takes a job in the gift shop. Shortly after the panther's violence turns deadly, it escapes, and soon Paul turns up spouting an unbelievable story about his family's were-cat heritage and his inevitable sexual union with little Irina. On the run from her dangerous brother, Irina takes refuge in a sexually frustrated romance with Oliver, afraid of what might happen if she consummates their passion. Astute viewers will notice that the zoologist characters refer to the film's panthers as leopards; "panther" is actually a generic term for any large cat, especially a black one, but Cat People's panthers are in fact leopards whose black color comes from a recessive trait known as melanism. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, (more)
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