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Biography of Ossie DavisName: Ossie DavisBirth Date: December 18, 1917 Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: Cogdell, Georgia, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: actor, playwright, director Ossie Davis Ossie Davis (born 1917) was a leading African American playwright, actor, director, and television and movie star.Ossie Davis was born in Cogdell, Georgia, on December 18, 1917. He grew up in Waycross. At Howard University in Washington, D.C., he was encouraged to pursue an acting career. He joined an acting group in Harlem in New York City and took part in the American Negro Theater, founded there in 1940.Davis made his debut in the play Joy Exceeding Glory (1941). During Army service in World War II he wrote and produced shows. While playing his first Broadway role in Jeb (1946), he met actress Ruby Dee, and they were married two years later.Davis's first movie role was in No Way Out (1950). This was followed by Broadway performances in No Time for Sergeants, Raisin in the Sun, and Jamaica. Other movie roles included The Cardinal, Shock Treatment, Slaves, and, in 1989, Do the Right Thing. …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Howard University Alumni Achievement Award in dramatics, and the Frederick A. Douglass Award (with Ruby Dee) from the New York Urban League. The Davises had three children and made their home in New Rochelle, New York. Further Reading The autobiographical work With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together (1998) gives an interesting look at the lives of Ossie and Ruby Dee Davis, while also showing the evolution of African American roles in theater. Lindsay Patterson, ed., Anthology of the American Negro in the Theatre: A Critical Approach (2nd edition, 1968), includes a short article by Davis. Other works which discuss him are Harry A. Ploski and Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., The Negro Almanac (1967); Mitchell Loften, Black Drama: The Story of the American Negro in the Theatre (1967); and Doris E. Abramson, Negro Playwrights in the American Theatre, 1925-1959 (1969). Bogle, Donald, Blacks in American Film and Television, Garland (New York), 1988.American Visions, April/May, 1992. |