Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Mady Norman , Madie Norman

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Villa Rica, Georgia, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 26

TV Involvements: 12


Most Famous Work

Biography

Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.

Most Famous Work

The F.B.I.
Average
6

The F.B.I.

(1965) Caregiver
The Twilight Zone
Average
8

The Twilight Zone

(1959) Maid (uncredited)
Letter to Loretta
Average
7

Letter to Loretta

(1953) Josi
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Average
8
Cavalcade of America
Average
4

Cavalcade of America

(1952) Aunt Nellie
Adam-12
Average
7

Adam-12

(1968) Mary Handlin
The Incredible Hulk
Average
7

The Incredible Hulk

(1977) Mrs. Dennison
Dr. Kildare
Average
5

Dr. Kildare

(1961) Mrs. Johnson

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2020 Self (archive footage)
1983 Neddy
1982 Nurse Agnes
N/A
N/A
N/A
1981 N/A
Self
Ruth Thornwell
1979 Sister Scrap Scott
1978 Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
1977 Mrs. Dennison
Dorothy
1976 Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
1975 N/A
N/A
1974 N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Weedy Warren
N/A
1973 Jennie Daley
Mrs. Stokes
Janine
1972 N/A
Coralee
Nurse Ferguson
N/A
Aunt Ada
1971 N/A
N/A
1968 Ethel May
Mary Handlin
1967 N/A
N/A
N/A
1966 N/A
1965 Caregiver
1964 Mama Lou
1963 Burden's Maid
1962 Elvira Stitt
1961 N/A
Mrs. Johnson
1959 Maid (uncredited)
1956 Violet (uncredited)
Bertha
1955 Sarah (uncredited)
N/A
Eloise
Miss Lovett
Suma
1954 Camilla
Georgette
Housekeeper
1953 Emma
Anne
Flora
Josi
Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
1952 Aunt Nellie
Coralee
1951 Lurie
N/A
Martha Crawford
1950 Flora
Maid
1949 Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
1947 Lucretia
Year Character Movie/Tv

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