Biography
Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ossie Davis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Known For
Complete Filmography

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
2024
Writer
The comedic play tells the story of a Black preacher’s scheme to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.

Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
2022
as Self (archive footage)
An intimate and revealing look at the world-changing musician, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and...
The Peace!
2005
as Self
Amid an escalating war in Iraq, rising terror levels and the threat of nuclear attack, a growing body of intellectuals, religious leaders and communit...

Deacons for Defense
2005
as Reverend 'Rev' Gregory
Inspired by a true story, this drama is set in 1965, not long after passage of the Civil Rights Act. Despite the Act, the African-American citizens of...

The History Makers: Success
2005
as Self
Ossie Davis, Terry McMillan, Horace Julian Bond, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick and many others share their inspiring stories of success in the first ins...
Unstoppable
2005
as Self
An interview/overview on the influential careers of Gordon Parks, Ossie Davis, and Melvin Van Peebles.

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005
as Self
A short documentary about the making of Spike Lee's biopic, "Malcolm X."

She Hate Me
2004
as Judge Buchanan
Fired from his job, a former executive turns to impregnating wealthy lesbians for profit.
Proud
2004
as Lorenzo DuFau
The true story of the only African-American crew to take a Navy warship into combat in World War II.

Baadasssss!
2004
as Granddad
Director Mario Van Peebles chronicles the complicated production of his father Melvin's classic 1971 film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." Playin...

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
2004
as Self
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated actress Beah Richards. Directed by Lisa Gay Hamilton, it wo...

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003
as Self
Spike Lee's filmmaking career is examined in this partial making-of for the film 25th Hour (2002). Interviews with cast members from this film and his...
The Tuskegee Airmen: They Fought Two Wars
2003
as Narrator
A documentary filmed at Moton Field in Tuskegee Alabama, home to the airmen of the 99th Fighter Squadron. They were the first African American fighter...

Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property
2003
as Himself
In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in the United States that resulted in the murder of local slave owners and their families, the eventual exec...

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
2003
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors wer...

Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
2002
as Self
Panel discussion about the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the Sun."

Bubba Ho-tep
2002
as John F. "Jack" Kennedy
Bubba Ho-tep tells the "true" story of what really did become of Elvis Presley. We find Elvis as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, who s...

Feast of All Saints
2001
as Jean-Jacques
Set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Colour, a dazzling yet damned class caught b...

Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco - The Fillmore
2001
as Narrator
From the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning PBS series NEIGHBORHOODS: THE HIDDEN CITIES OF SAN FRANCISCO comes the remarkable story of San Francisco's Fil...

The Legend of the Candy Cane
2001
as Julius (voice)
The night a mysterious stranger rode into the lonely prairie town of West Sage, no one realized their lives would never be the same.

Here's to Life!
2000
as Duncan Cox
Owen is the head administrator of an old age home in Washington. One day, a resident discovers he is cheating on his taxes, and orders that Owen takes...

Dinosaur
2000
as Yar (voice)
An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sancturary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.

Finding Buck McHenry
2000
as Buck McHenry
Jason Ross is an 11-year-old boy whose love for baseball exceeds his talent for the game. When cut from his little league team, Jason's undefeatable s...
The Unfinished Journey
1999
as Narrator (voice)
A short about American life and history produced for the millennium New Year's Eve celebration.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
1999
as Caretaker
Enchanting holiday tale of a young runaway who has broken into an old movie palace, looking for shelter on a snow-filled Christmas Eve. Closed for dec...

The Soul Collector
1999
as Mordecai
Zachariah, makes a few mistakes and it is decided that he is to live as a human being for thirty days. Mordecai is his supervisor. Rebecca's husband d...

The Secret Path
1999
as Too Tall
14-year-old Jo Ann Foley lives in squalor in a rural Southern community during World War II. Abused by her bootlegging grandfather Hank, Jo Ann has, l...

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
1999
as Self
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic ch...

A Vow to Cherish
1999
as Alexander Billman
John and Ellen have a picture-perfect life: while John runs a successful business, Ellen works as a schoolteacher, and they've raised two beautiful ch...

Doctor Dolittle
1998
as Archer Dolittle
A successful physician and devoted family man, John Dolittle seems to have the world by the tail, until a long suppressed talent he possessed as a chi...

Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
1998
as Self
Louis Gossett Jr. takes viewers through a special documentary celebration of the groundbreaking achievements of African-American performers and their ...

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
1998
as Self
A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles o...

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
1998
Thanks
A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles o...

12 Angry Men
1997
as Juror 2
During the trial of a man accused of his father's murder, a lone juror takes a stand against the guilty verdict handed down by the others as a result ...

4 Little Girls
1997
as Self - Actor and Playwright
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a cri...
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers
1997
as Narrator
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers celebrates the ground-breaking career of the first-ever African-American to join the major leagues, talented athlet...

Miss Evers' Boys
1997
as Mr. Evers
The true story of the US Government's 1932 Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiments, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure...

Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
1997
as Self
A profile of the life of actor Walter Matthau.

I'm Not Rappaport
1996
as Midge Carter
Old Nat Moyer is a talker, a philosopher, and a troublemaker with a fanciful imagination. His companion is Midge Carter, who is half-blind, but still ...

Get on the Bus
1996
as Jeremiah
Several Black men take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in 1995. On the bus are an eclectic set of character...

The Android Affair
1995
as Dr. Winston
Karen Garrett, a promising young doctor, is assigned to perform a difficult operation on Teach, an advanced android who has never "blanked" (had his m...

Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder
1995
as Uncle Phil
Ray investigates the murder of a judge.

The Client
1994
as Harry Roosevelt
A street-wise kid, Mark Sway, sees the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a prominent Louisiana lawyer, whose current client is Barry 'The Blade' Muldano, a ...

Ray Alexander: A Taste For Justice
1994
as Uncle Phil
Ray investigates the murder of a psychiatrist.

The Stand
1994
as Judge Richard Farris
After a deadly plague kills most of the world's population, the remaining survivors split into two groups - one led by a benevolent elder and the othe...

Malcolm X: Make It Plain
1994
as Self
Narrated by actress Alfre Woodard, this trenchant, eye-opening doc traces the radical civil rights leader’s life from his tumultuous childhood, throug...
Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World
1994
as Narrator
Join tennis greats John McEnroe and Billie Jean King and world leader Nelson Mandela as they pay homage to the life and work of Arthur Ashe, the sport...

Grumpy Old Men
1993
as Chuck
For decades, next-door neighbors and former friends John and Max have feuded, trading insults and wicked pranks. When an attractive widow moves in nea...

Cop & ½
1993
as Detective in Squad Room
When a pint-sized 8-year-old kid witnesses a murder he offers to help the police, if they make him a cop, too. Saddled with this streetwise sidekick, ...

Goin' Back to T-Town
1993
as Narrator
Goin’ Back to T-Town tells the story of Greenwood, an extraordinary Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that prospered during the 1920s and 30s despit...

The Ernest Green Story
1993
as Grandfather
Follows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to integrate into an all white school.
Lincoln
1992
as Frederick Douglas (voice)
Famous actors read testimonies from people close to Lincoln about him and his actions during the Civil War.

Malcolm X
1992
as Eulogy Performer (voice)
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he b...

Gladiator
1992
as Noah
Tommy Riley has moved with his dad to Chicago from a 'nice place'. He keeps to himself, goes to school. However, after a street fight he is noticed an...

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
1991
as Self
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such me...

Jungle Fever
1991
as Reverend Purify
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference wo...

Joe Versus the Volcano
1990
as Marshall
Hypochondriac Joe Banks finds out he has six months to live, quits his dead end job, musters the courage to ask his co-worker out on a date, and is th...

The Red Shoes
1990
In this animated contemporary interpretation of a Hans Christian Andersen morality tale, a pair of magic slippers help two young African-American girl...
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
1989
as Self
The Behind-the-Scenes documentary of the dramatic comedy Do the Right Thing.

Do the Right Thing
1989
as Da Mayor
Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzer...

School Daze
1988
as Coach Odom
Fraternity and sorority members clash with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend.

Sesame Street: Sleepytime Songs & Stories
1986
as Anansi the Spider (Sleepytime Songs and Stories) (voice)
Bedtime Stories & Songs is a 1986 Sesame Street direct-to-video compilation, released on VHS as part of the My Sesame Street Home Video label. The vid...

Avenging Angel
1985
as Capt. Harry Moradian
Molly Stewart, now a law student at UCLA, is determined to leave her prostitute past behind. After learning that the detective who helped save her lif...
Tyler Texas Black Film Collection
1985
as Himself
"Tyler Texas Black Film Collection" (1985) is a promotional film hosted by Ossie Davis.

Harry & Son
1984
as Raymond
Widower Harry Keach is a construction worker who was raised to appreciate the importance of working for a living. He takes a dim view of his sensitive...
Marcus Garvey: Toward Black Nationhood
1984
as Narrator
A documentary, combining archival material and live interviews with Marcus Garvey, Jr., and others, which introduces the life and work of the pioneer ...

The House of God
1984
as Dr. Sanders
Comedy about a couple of interns in a hospital named 'The House of God'.

For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers
1983
Writer
This film is the true story of Medgar Evers, a successful insurance agent who moves to Jackson, Mississippi to direct the regional headquarters of the...

Purlie
1981
Musical
Purlie is a musical based on Ossie Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious. In the early days of the civil rights movement, a Southern plantation owner ho...

Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige
1981
as Chuffy Russell
The story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige, the legendary pitcher, from his barnstorming days in the 1920s, hoping to break into organized "negro" baseball, t...

Death of a Prophet
1981
After breaking ties with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became a man marked for death...and it was just a matter of time before his enemies closed in....

All God's Children
1980
as Blaine Whitfield
Big city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long career. The friendship between two families -- one white...

Freedom Road
1979
as Narrator
Ex-slave and former Union soldier Gideon Jackson represents other ex-slaves at the constitutional convention, and is soon elected to the U.S. Senate d...

Hot Stuff
1979
as Captain John Geiberger
When a police department's burglary task force is facing the possibility of being shut down because of their low conviction rate decides to try a new ...
Freedom Man
1979
as Benjamin Banneker
The story of Benjamin Banneker, the early American patriot whose achievements rival those of Benjamin Franklin!! Risking his life, working with the U...

Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid
1977
as Dr. Fredericks
A young ghetto kid despairs of ever getting out of that environment and making something of himself, until one day he gets a job as an assistant in a ...

The Tenth Level
1976
as Reed
Inspired by the Stanley Milgram obedience research, this TV movie chronicles a psychology professor's study to determine why people, such as the Nazis...

Countdown at Kusini
1976
as Ernest Motapo
An American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in Africa.

Countdown at Kusini
1976
Director, Screenplay
An American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in Africa.

Let's Do It Again
1975
as Elder Johnson
Clyde Williams and Billy Foster are a couple of blue-collar workers in Atlanta who have promised to raise funds for their fraternal order, the Brother...

Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
1975
as Narrator
Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.

Gordon's War
1973
Director
A black soldier comes home to Harlem after a tour in Vietnam and discovers that his wife had become a heroin addict and died of an overdose. Infuriate...

Wattstax
1973
as Self (uncredited)
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage ...

Black Girl
1972
Director
An aspiring dancer and her two wicked sisters resent their mother's love for a foster daughter.

Malcolm X
1972
as Eulogy (voice)
James Earl Jones narrates this fascinating and moving documentary about the life of the assassinated black leader through various sources.

The Sheriff
1971
as James Lucas
A rape case opens racial divisions in a small town. A black sheriff and his white deputy investigate allegations that a wealthy white businessman rape...

Cotton Comes to Harlem
1970
Director, Screenplay
Harlem's African-American population is being ripped off by the Rev. Deke O'Malley, who dishonestly claims that small donations will secure parcels of...

Kongi's Harvest
1970
as Narrator
An African dictator (Wole Soyinka) needs to convince the former king (Rashidi Onikoyi) to legitimize his reign by offering him the ceremonial yam at t...

Kongi's Harvest
1970
Director
An African dictator (Wole Soyinka) needs to convince the former king (Rashidi Onikoyi) to legitimize his reign by offering him the ceremonial yam at t...

Night Gallery
1969
as Osmond Portifoy
This anthology telefilm aired on NBC on November 8, 1969, and tells three strange tales: "The Cemetery," directed by Boris Sagal; "Eyes," directed by ...

Slaves
1969
as Luke
A Kentucky slave (Davis) fights for his freedom from a cruel overseer whose mistress eventually joins him and the other slaves in their revolt.

Sam Whiskey
1969
as Jed Hooker
A widow hires an ex-gambler to retrieve gold bars from a sunken river boat in Colorado and discreetly return them to the Federal Mint, from where they...

Teacher, Teacher
1969
as Charles Carter
Hamilton Cade is an alcoholic teacher striving to put his life back together. He accepts a job tutoring an "exceptional child" only to find that young...

The Fall
1969
"The Fall" depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a ve...

The Scalphunters
1968
as Joseph Lee
Forced to trade his valuable furs for a well-educated escaped slave, a rugged trapper vows to recover the pelts from the Indians and later the renegad...

Still A Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class
1968
as Narrator
The Black middle class, torn between white goals and Black needs, are examined by producers William Greaves and William Branch in a 90-minute NET Jour...

The Outsider
1967
as Lt. Wagner
Darren McGavin is David Ross, a private investigator playing a game of follow the money. A simple case of embezzling turns bad quickly when bodies sta...

Black Liberation
1967
as Narrator
Produced in collaboration with Malcolm X and narrated by Ossie Davis, this call to arms layers revolutionary text from multiple sources with gritty, s...

A Man Called Adam
1966
as Nelson Davis
A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
The Sun... the Sand... the Hill
1965
as Jason King (archival footage)
Promotional film depicting the production and Cannes premiere of the Sidney Lumet film "The Hill."
The Sun... the Sand... the Hill
1965
as Jason King (archive footage)
Promotional film depicting the production and Cannes premiere of the Sidney Lumet film "The Hill."

The Hill
1965
as Jacko King
North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objec...

Shock Treatment
1964
as Capshaw
A private investigator endures the rigors of an insane asylum in order to locate $1 million in stolen loot.

The Cardinal
1963
as Father Gillis
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.

Gone Are the Days!
1963
as Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson
A young, idealistic man returns home to the plantation where he grew up in servitude. With him, he brings his fiance, Lutiebelle, in hopes of convinci...

Gone Are the Days!
1963
Writer
A young, idealistic man returns home to the plantation where he grew up in servitude. With him, he brings his fiance, Lutiebelle, in hopes of convinci...

Hands of Inge
1962
as Narrator (voice)
The work of sculptor Inge Hardison is the subject of this beautiful short portrait of an artist. Hardison is perhaps best known for "Negro Giants in H...

John Brown's Raid
1960
as Dangerfield Newby
White abolitionist John Brown and twenty of his men attempt to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virgini...

Fourteen Hours
1951
as Cab Driver (uncredited)
A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of being not capable to make his girlfriend happy, rises on the ledge of ...

No Way Out
1950
as John Brooks (uncredited)
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
Haití: Killing the Dream
N/A
A documentary focusing on the the events in Haiti following the coup of September 30, 1991. The program includes interviews with exiled President Jean...