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Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel

· Wichita, Kansas, USA

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Biography

Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 - October 26, 1952) was an American actress whose portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939) won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first black person to win an Academy Award. After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katharine Hepburn, she makes it clear she has little use for her employers' pretentious status seeking. By The Mad Miss Manton (1938) the character she portrays actually tells off her socialite employer Barbara Stanwyck and her snooty friends. This path extends into the greatest role of McDaniel's career, Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Mammy is, in a number of ways, superior to most of the white folk surrounding her. From that point, McDaniel's roles unfortunately descended, with the characters becoming more and more menial. McDaniel played on the "Amos and Andy" and Eddie Cantor radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s, the title character in her own radio show "Beulah" (1947-51), and the same part on TV (Beulah, 1950).

Known for

Filmography

Acting (99)

  1. 2022

  2. 2018

  3. 2014

  4. 2009

  5. 2004

  6. 1988

  7. 1985

  8. 1983

  9. 1961

  10. 1950

  11. 1949

  12. 1948

  13. 1947

  14. 1946

  15. 1944

  16. 1943

  17. 1942

  18. 1941

  19. 1940

  20. 1939

  21. 1938

  22. 1937

  23. 1936

  24. 1935

  25. 1934

  26. 1933

  27. 1932

  28. 1930

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