This week's passing of actress-activist Ruby Dee marks the closing chapter in a career that began in the 1940s and included landmark roles in theater, movies and television.
The 91-year-old performer continued working throughout her life. Just last week, a film co-starring Dee, the heartrending drama "1982," was among the highlights of the Cinetopia International Film Festival in Detroit and Ann Arbor.
■ Related: Actress, activist Ruby Dee dead at 91
Along with her longtime husband, Ossie Davis, who died in 2005, Dee was a tireless voice for civil rights and, for 60-plus years, a force for opening doors and minds in a Hollywood that historically had ignored or stereotyped African-American actors.
Dee's career ran the gamut from soap operas to society-quaking plays and films. Here are five of her standout performances:
"The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950): In this early look at the baseball icon, Robinson portrayed himself while Dee played his wife. She later was cast as Roy Campanella's wife in a TV movie and played Robinson's mother in another small-screen drama.
"A Raisin in the Sun" (1961): Dee was Sidney Poitier's wife in both the original stage and big-screen versions of Lorraine Hansberry's classic play about the aspirations and struggles of an African-American family. It's the same role that just earned a Tony for Sophie Okonedo in the current Broadway revival.
"Do the Right Thing" (1989): Dee and Davis had a long, rich partnership as spouses and performers. In Spike Lee's acclaimed look at a neighborhood about to implode from racial tensions, she was Mother Sister, a woman who watches life pass by from her window and bickers with Davis, a neighborhood regular who drinks too much.
"Decoration Day" (1990): From sudsers like "Peyton Place" to sitcoms like "Evening Shade," Dee was a frequent star on TV, where earned seven Emmy nominations. She finally won one for this TV movie starring James Garner as a retired Southern judge and Dee as his housekeeper.
"American Gangster" (2007): As the tough mother of Denzel Washington's drug lord, Dee was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar. It was an example of how a great actor can do more with just a few minutes of screen time than most can with a lead role.
Source : http://www.freep.com/article/20140612/ENT01/306120171/Ruby-Dee-performances-Oscar-Emmy
