Hattie McDaniel
Born: 1893-06-10 in Wichita, Kansas, USA
Died: 1952-10-26
Known For: Acting
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).
Filmography
2018
- Explained as Self - First Black Oscar Winner (archive footage)
2009
- 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year as Self (archive footage)
2004
- Hattie McDaniel: or A Credit to the Motion Picture Industry as Self (archive footage)
1988
- The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind as Self (archive footage)
1983
- Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1950
- The Beulah Show as Beulah
1949
- The Big Wheel as Minnie
1948
- Mickey as Bertha
- Family Honeymoon as Phyllis
1947
- The Flame as Celia
1946
- Margie as Cynthia
- Song of the South as Aunt Tempy
- Never Say Goodbye as Cozy
- Janie Gets Married as April
1944
- Janie as April, Conway's Maid
- Since You Went Away as Fidelia
- 3 Is a Family as Maid
- Hi, Beautiful as Millie
1943
- Johnny Come Lately as Aida
- Thank Your Lucky Stars as Gossip in "Ice Cold Katie" Number
1942
- The Male Animal as Cleota
- George Washington Slept Here as Hester
- In This Our Life as Minerva Clay
1941
- The Great Lie as Violet
- Affectionately Yours as Cynthia, Sue's Cook
- They Died with Their Boots On as Callie
1940
- Maryland as Aunt Carrie
- Cavalcade of the Academy Awards as Self
1939
- Gone with the Wind as Mammy
- Zenobia as Dehlia
- Everybody's Baby as Hattie
1938
- Carefree as Hattie (uncredited)
- Vivacious Lady as Hattie (uncredited)
- The Mad Miss Manton as Hilda
- The Shopworn Angel as Martha
- Battle of Broadway as Agatha
- The Shining Hour as Belvedere
1937
- Nothing Sacred as Mrs. Walker (uncredited)
- Mississippi Moods
- True Confession as Ella
- 45 Fathers as Beulah
- Sky Racket as Jenny
- Racing Lady as Abby
- Merry Go Round of 1938 as Maid
- The Crime Nobody Saw as Ambrosia
- Over the Goal as Hannah
- Don't Tell the Wife as Mamie (uncredited)
- Saratoga as Rosetta
- The Wildcatter as Pearl (uncredited)
- Quick Money as Hattie (uncredited)
1936
- Arbor Day as Buckwheat's Mother (uncredited)
- Gentle Julia as Kitty Silvers
- High Tension as Hattie
- Show Boat as Queenie
- Libeled Lady as Scrubwoman in Grand Plaza Hall (uncredited)
- Reunion as Sadie
- Valiant Is the Word for Carrie as Ellen Belle
- Postal Inspector as Deborah
- Can This Be Dixie? as Lizzie
- Star for a Night as Hattie
- The Singing Kid as Maid (uncredited)
- The First Baby as Dora
- The Bride Walks Out as Mamie
1935
- Alice Adams as Malena Burns - Maid Serving Dinner
- Anniversary Trouble as Maid
- Traveling Saleslady as Martha Smith (uncredited)
- China Seas as Isabel McCarthy, Dolly's Maid (uncredited)
- Another Face as Nellie (uncredited)
- Murder by Television as Isabella
- Music Is Magic as Hattie (Amanda in credits)
- We're Only Human as Molly
- The Little Colonel as Becky "Mom Beck" Porter
- Okay Toots! as Maid (uncredited)
- Wig-Wag as Cook
1934
- Operator 13 as Annie (uncredited)
- Imitation of Life as Woman at Funeral (uncredited)
- King Kelly of the U.S.A. as Mop Buyer
- Lost in the Stratosphere as Ida Johnson
- Merry Wives of Reno as Bunny's Maid (uncredited)
- The Chases of Pimple Street as Hattie - Gertrude's Maid (uncredited)
- Judge Priest as Aunt Dilsey
- Babbitt as Rosalie (uncredited)
- Mickey's Rescue as Maid
- City Park as Tessie
- Flirtation as Abigail (uncredited)
- Fate's Fathead as Mandy - the Maid
1933
- Hello, Sister! as Woman in Apartment House
- I'm No Angel as Manicurist (uncredited)
- Good-bye Love as Edna the Maid
1932
- Blonde Venus as Cora, Helen's Maid in New Orleans (uncredited)
- The Washington Masquerade as Maid (uncredited)
- Are You Listening? as Performer entering radio station
- The Impatient Maiden as Injured Patient (uncredited)
- Hypnotized as Powder Room Attendant
- The Boiling Point as Caroline - the Cook (uncredited)