Beah Richards

Beah Richards ( born July 12, 1920 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA, † September 14, 2000 ibid, actually: Beulah Richardson ) was an American film and theater actress and author.

Biography

Beah Richards was born in humble circumstances; so her father a Baptist minister and her mother was a seamstress. Due to the lack of financial support as Richards was able to graduate at the Dillard University in New Orleans in 1948 to draw 1950 to New York City.

As Richards was black, it was hard for her in America at the time of prevailing racial discrimination in the theater to get a foothold. Most of them gave a Statistin or supporting role. Only in 1955 she succeeded in the play Take a Giant Step breakthrough on Broadway. Here, the 35 -year-old represented a 84 -year-old grandmother - without mask effects. When the play was adapted into a film in 1959, Richards was also required; it was after her movie debut - 1958 in The Mugger - Richards ' second film.

In James Baldwin's play The Amen Corner, which was staged in 1962 by Frank Silvera, Richards presented a nun is, and in 1965 was nominated for a Tony Award.

1967 was Richards in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in front of the camera, and was nominated for her portrayal of movie mother Sidney Poitiers in 1968 for both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award.

In the coming years, Richards was predominantly in television series in front of the camera, it was from 1989 to 1990 in LA Law or 1991 in all under one roof. Her most famous films included the 1989 comedy film produced Homer and Eddie. Your last major film role she took over in 1994 until 1995, when they film the mother Eriq La Salle aka Dr. Peter Benton embodied in eight episodes of ER.

She was also among one of the few actresses who were fighting for their right to be "black" called, although the customary term in those days " Negro " was. She has published three books in which she brought poetry to paper, and the title had to act very provocative. One is A Crowd, A Black Woman Speaks and A Black Woman Speaks and Other Poems.

Despite the numerous mother roles into which they slipped, Richards had no children themselves. She was only three years married to the African-American sculptor Hugh Harrell Jr..

She died in September 2000 at the age of 80 years from emphysema.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

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