Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee

1922-10-27 Cleveland, Ohio, USA 91 Credits

Biography

Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 - June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Do the Right Thing (1989) and American Gangster (2007).

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Poitier's Walter Lee

Poitier's Walter Lee

2018

as Self (archive footage)

Acting

An interview with film scholar Mia Mask, co-editor of Poitier Revisited.

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee

Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee

2014

as Self

1.5
Acting

In this open-letter style documentary, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis' rich lives guide their grandson on his personal quest to master lasting love, conscious...

Betty and Coretta

Betty and Coretta

2013

as Narrator

7.2
Acting

The widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the assassination of their husbands.

Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal

Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal

2013

as Self

10.0
Acting

The film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

A Thousand Words

A Thousand Words

2012

as Annie McCall

6.1
Acting

Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own s...

Video Girl

Video Girl

2011

as Valerie

6.3
Acting

Lorie Walker is a small town girl whose big dreams of becoming a dancer come true when she becomes a star in the Hip-Hop video world. But she soon lea...

Politics of Love

Politics of Love

2011

3.3
Acting

Politics makes strange bedfellows, but never stranger than when a sexy, savvy, African-American conservative Republican reluctantly falls for his Demo...

The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll

The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll

2011

as Miss Candy

5.4
Acting

In this film, childhood friends come face to face with the demons of rock and roll (lust, drugs, and passion) on a cross-country road trip that compel...

A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School

A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School

2009

as Narrator (voice)

7.3
Acting

For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African-Americans, and discrimination was law and custom, The Bordentown S...

America

America

2009

as Mrs. Harper

3.5
Acting

In "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her newest patient, a bi-racial boy named America. Through t...

Steam

Steam

2007

as Doris

3.1
Acting

Three women — a young coed, a forty-something single mother, and one a senior-aged widow — meet in the sauna of the local gym, where they gradually ge...

American Gangster

American Gangster

2007

as Mama Lucas

7.6
Acting

Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American...

All About Us

All About Us

2007

as Ms. Ella

4.4
Acting

Two Hollywood filmmakers attempt to find Morgan Freeman in Mississippi and convince him to star in their next movie. When life gets in their way they ...

In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema

In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema

2007

as Herself

6.5
Acting

This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race m...

Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson

2007

as Self

Acting

A retrospective look at the career of Paul Robeson and his legacy as both an American and a citizen of the world.

Discovering William Greaves

Discovering William Greaves

2006

as Self

7.0
Acting

A documentary on the career of William Greaves, featuring Greaves, his wife and co-producer Louise Archambault, actor Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bo...

No. 2

No. 2

2006

as Nanna Maria

6.0
Acting

A matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor. The heart has gone out of Nanna Maria's family. There are no part...

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God

2005

as Nanny

5.5
Acting

A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford's search for happiness leads her through several different marriages, challenging the mor...

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

2004

as Self

Acting

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...

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

2004

as (archive footage)

4.0
Acting

Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the medium's first half-century. Actors, writers and hi...

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

2003

4.8
Acting

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'

Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'

2002

as Self

Acting

Panel discussion about the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the Sun."

Taking Back Our Town

Taking Back Our Town

2001

as Emelda West

1.0
Acting

A true story about a concerned housewife, Pat Melancon, who tries to block Shintech, a massive Japanese petrochemical conglomerate, from building a pl...

Feast of All Saints

Feast of All Saints

2001

as Elsie Claviere

4.7
Acting

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...

Finding Buck McHenry

Finding Buck McHenry

2000

as Mrs. Henry

Acting

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...

A Storm in Summer

A Storm in Summer

2000

as Grandmother

5.8
Acting

Set in 1969, Abel Shaddick, a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in his upstate New York town of Fairview, particularly aga...

The Unfinished Journey

1999

as Narrator (voice)

6.0
Acting

A short about American life and history produced for the millennium New Year's Eve celebration.

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years

1999

as Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany

7.5
Acting

Tells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored") sisters who both lived past the age of 100. They grew up o...

Baby Geniuses

Baby Geniuses

1999

as Margo

4.1
Acting

BabyCo is the world's leading manufacturer in baby products. However, what the public doesn't know, is that Drs Kinder and Heep, two of its most brill...

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand

1999

as Self

Acting

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

Passing Glory

Passing Glory

1999

as Mommit Porter

5.8
Acting

A true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and challenged an all-white prep school basketball team i...

A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner

1998

as Narrator

Acting

This intimate, uncannily moving documentary profiles Norma Canner, a pioneer in dance movement therapy, who found in dance a way to help people who ha...

The Wall

The Wall

1998

as Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")

5.7
Acting

The story of three items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall: a pencil holder, a sheriff's badge, and an electric guitar. Each item connects th...

Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood

Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood

1998

as Self

Acting

Louis Gossett Jr. takes viewers through a special documentary celebration of the groundbreaking achievements of African-American performers and their ...

A Simple Wish

A Simple Wish

1997

as Hortence

5.5
Acting

Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver...

Sports on the Silver Screen

1997

as Self (archive footage)

10.0
Acting

HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from t...

Captive Heart: The James Mink Story

Captive Heart: The James Mink Story

1996

as Indigo

3.8
Acting

James Mink is a black man in Canada who has built a very successful livery business, and enjoys a white wife and a beautiful daughter, Mary. An excell...

Mr. and Mrs. Loving

Mr. and Mrs. Loving

1996

as Sophia

5.6
Acting

A moving and uplifting drama about the effects of interracial marriage in the 1960s. Friends since childhood, and loved by both families, this couple ...

Just Cause

Just Cause

1995

as Evangeline Ferguson

6.2
Acting

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific...

Tuesday Morning Ride

Tuesday Morning Ride

1995

as Jennie

6.3
Acting

Tuesday Morning Ride is based on the short story "A Summer Tragedy" by Arna Bontemps, a Harlem Renaissance writer. Set in the 1930s, the story depicts...

Whitewash

Whitewash

1994

as Grandmother (voice)

6.0
Acting

When Helene Angel walks home from school with her older brother she is attacked by a street gang and painted white. The effect on Helene and her famil...

The Stand

The Stand

1994

as Mother Abagail Freemantle

Acting

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...

After Goodbye

After Goodbye

1993

as Narrator

Acting

Award-winning actress Ruby Dee narrates this powerful documentary about the impact of AIDS on the families, friends and members of the acclaimed Turtl...

Cop & ½

Cop & ½

1993

as Rachel

4.5
Acting

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, ...

The Ernest Green Story

The Ernest Green Story

1993

as Lydia Wilson

6.9
Acting

Follows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to integrate into an all white school.

Color Adjustment

Color Adjustment

1992

as Narrator

6.9
Acting

From Amos 'n' Andy to Nat King Cole, from Roots to The Cosby Show, black people have played many roles on primetime television. Brilliantly weaving cl...

Jazztime Tale

Jazztime Tale

1991

as Narrator (voice)

Acting

Family - Set in Harlem in 1919, two girls - one white, one black - form a lifelong friendship through a chance encounter and the jazztime music of you...

Jungle Fever

Jungle Fever

1991

as Lucinda Purify

6.4
Acting

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...

Decoration Day

Decoration Day

1990

as Rowena

7.0
Acting

A cantankerous widower (Garner) who is virtually living the life of a recluse is forced to rejoin his community when his Godchild (Skaggs) gets in tro...

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson

1990

as Jackie's Mother

7.0
Acting

A film about the early life of the baseball star in the army, particulary his court-martial for insubordination regarding segragation.

Love at Large

Love at Large

1990

as Corrine Dart

4.9
Acting

Inept private investigator Harry Dobbs meets vampish new client Miss Dolan, who wants him to follow her abusive lover. But Dobbs sets about tailing a ...

Zora is My Name!

Zora is My Name!

1990

as Zora Neale Hurston

Acting

A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th Century and grew to be an important voice with her written portr...

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

1989

as Self

6.7
Acting

The Behind-the-Scenes documentary of the dramatic comedy Do the Right Thing.

Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing

1989

as Mother Sister

7.8
Acting

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...

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Go Tell It on the Mountain

1985

as Mrs. Grimes

6.4
Acting

This film adaptation of James Baldwin's celebrated novel tells the journey of a family from the rural South to "big city" Harlem seeking both salvatio...

Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial

Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial

1983

Vocals

"Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial" was a 1983 episode of the PBS science documentary series NOVA. It explored the field of anthropology, partic...

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Long Day's Journey Into Night

1982

as Mary Tyrone

6.0
Acting

Over the course of one day in August 1912, the family of retired actor James Tyrone grapples with the morphine addiction of his wife Mary, the illness...

Cat People

Cat People

1982

as Female

6.0
Acting

After years of separation, Irena Gallier and her minister brother, Paul, reunite in New Orleans. When zoologists capture a wild panther, Irena is draw...

All God's Children

All God's Children

1980

as Irene Whitfield

4.0
Acting

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...

The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six

The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six

1980

Acting

In 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned them the nickname "The Harlem Six." Intent on protecting...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

1979

as Grandmother Baxter

4.2
Acting

Based on writer Maya Angelou's eloquent reminiscences of her days as a gifted youngster growing up in the South during the Depression years where she ...

Countdown at Kusini

Countdown at Kusini

1976

as Leah Matanzima

Acting

An American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in Africa.

Wedding Band

Wedding Band

1974

as Julia Augustine

Acting

A drama which examines the enduring nature of love between a white man and a black woman in 1918 South Carolina.

It's Good to Be Alive

It's Good to Be Alive

1974

as Ruth Campanella

6.6
Acting

This movie details the struggles of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella to adapt to life in a wheelchair following his crippling automobile ...

Black Girl

Black Girl

1972

as Netta's mother

6.1
Acting

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

Buck and the Preacher

Buck and the Preacher

1972

as Ruth

6.2
Acting

A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

1972

as Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters

5.0
Acting

A mosaic biopic on Lorraine Hansberry, based on the stage play combining her unpublished writings, letters, and diaries.

On Merit

1972

as Narrator (voice)

Acting

Examines the history and purpose of the "merit system" used by the U.S. Civil Service in hiring and promoting Federal Government workers. Shows how th...

The Sheriff

The Sheriff

1971

as Sue Ann Lucas

6.0
Acting

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...

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis

1970

as Self (archive footage)

7.1
Acting

Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activi...

Deadlock

Deadlock

1969

as Lucinda

Acting

The murder of a journalist, coming shortly after the killings of a black teenager and a white cop, threatens to inflame passions in the city. To preve...

Uptight

Uptight

1968

as Laurie

6.5
Acting

Black militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a race war are betrayed by one of their own.

Uptight

Uptight

1968

Writer

6.5
Writing

Black militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a race war are betrayed by one of their own.

The Incident

The Incident

1967

as Joan Robinson

7.3
Acting

Two hoodlums terrorize the passengers of a late-night New York City subway train.

Neighbours

1966

as Vicky Kingsbury

Acting

The Robinson's like to see themselves as liberals. So when their new black neighbours the Kingsbury's move into their apartment block they are invited...

Gone Are the Days!

Gone Are the Days!

1963

as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins

6.7
Acting

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...

The Balcony

The Balcony

1963

as Thief

5.2
Acting

The Madam of a brothel satisfies the erotic fantasies of her customers, while a revolution is sweeping the nation. Preserved by the Academy Film Arch...

A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

1961

as Ruth Younger

7.7
Acting

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like a...

Take a Giant Step

Take a Giant Step

1959

as Christine

5.2
Acting

This pioneering film in the history of African-American cinema, released two years before "A Raisin In The Sun", is the coming-of-age story of a Black...

Virgin Island

Virgin Island

1959

as Ruth

5.0
Acting

A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.

St. Louis Blues

St. Louis Blues

1958

as Elizabeth

7.8
Acting

Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he...

Edge of the City

Edge of the City

1957

as Lucy Tyler

7.1
Acting

An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt manager.

Go Man Go

Go Man Go

1954

as Irma Jackson

5.7
Acting

The story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Tall Target

The Tall Target

1951

as Rachel

6.8
Acting

A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.

No Way Out

No Way Out

1950

as Connie Brooks (uncredited)

6.9
Acting

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.

The Jackie Robinson Story

The Jackie Robinson Story

1950

as Rae Robinson

6.4
Acting

Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major l...

The Fight Never Ends

The Fight Never Ends

1948

Acting

Joe Louis, portraying himself, is a good influence on a group of Harlem youths who are tempted to "go bad" by a gangster known as Caper, an older brot...

What a Guy

What a Guy

1948

Acting

Mantan Moreland's comedy feature.

Easy to Get

Easy to Get

1947

as Drugstore Girl

Acting

U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.

Love in Syncopation

Love in Syncopation

1946

Acting

Follows the band's rise in show business, starting with its origins in the Navy during World War II and their struggle to make it.

That Man of Mine

That Man of Mine

1946

as Joan

Acting

Featuring the swinging sounds of the all-woman band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and a young Ruby Dee, the 1946 musical showcases tendernes...