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
2024
- Hollywood Black as Self (archive footage)
2022
- Becoming Marilyn as (archive footage)
- The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 5
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)
2001
- Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel 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)
1961
- Hollywood: The Selznick Years as Self - Actress 'Gone with the Wind' screen test (archive footage) (uncredited)
1950
- The Beulah Show as Beulah
1949
- The Big Wheel as Minnie
1948
- Family Honeymoon as Phyllis
- Mickey as Bertha
1947
- The Flame as Celia
1946
- Song of the South as Aunt Tempy
- Never Say Goodbye as Cozy
- Margie as Cynthia
- Janie Gets Married as April
1944
- Since You Went Away as Fidelia
- 3 Is a Family as Maid
- Janie as April, Conway's Maid
- Hi, Beautiful as Millie
1943
- Thank Your Lucky Stars as Gossip in "Ice Cold Katie" Number
- Johnny Come Lately as Aida
1942
- In This Our Life as Minerva Clay
- George Washington Slept Here as Hester
- The Male Animal as Cleota
1941
- They Died with Their Boots On as Callie
- Affectionately Yours as Cynthia, Sue's Cook
- The Great Lie as Violet
1940
- Cavalcade of the Academy Awards as Self
- Maryland as Aunt Carrie
1939
- Gone with the Wind as Mammy
- Zenobia as Dehlia
- Everybody's Baby as Hattie
1938
- Vivacious Lady as Hattie (uncredited)
- The Shopworn Angel as Martha
- Carefree as Hattie (uncredited)
- The Shining Hour as Belvedere
- The Mad Miss Manton as Hilda
- Battle of Broadway as Agatha
1937
- Racing Lady as Abby
- Nothing Sacred as Mrs. Walker (uncredited)
- Saratoga as Rosetta
- True Confession as Ella
- Mississippi Moods
- The Wildcatter as Pearl (uncredited)
- Over the Goal as Hannah
- Merry Go Round of 1938 as Maid
- Sky Racket as Jenny
- Don't Tell the Wife as Mamie (uncredited)
- Quick Money as Hattie (uncredited)
- The Crime Nobody Saw as Ambrosia
- 45 Fathers as Beulah
1936
- Libeled Lady as Scrubwoman in Grand Plaza Hall (uncredited)
- Show Boat as Queenie
- The Singing Kid as Maid (uncredited)
- The Bride Walks Out as Mamie
- Postal Inspector as Deborah
- Star for a Night as Hattie
- Reunion as Sadie
- High Tension as Hattie
- The First Baby as Dora
- Valiant Is the Word for Carrie as Ellen Belle
- Gentle Julia as Kitty Silvers
- Arbor Day as Buckwheat's Mother (uncredited)
- Can This Be Dixie? as Lizzie
1935
- China Seas as Isabel McCarthy, Dolly's Maid (uncredited)
- Wig-Wag as Cook
- The Little Colonel as Becky "Mom Beck" Porter
- Music Is Magic as Hattie (Amanda in credits)
- Alice Adams as Malena Burns - Maid Serving Dinner
- We're Only Human as Molly
- Okay Toots! as Maid (uncredited)
- Traveling Saleslady as Martha Smith (uncredited)
- Another Face as Nellie (uncredited)
- Murder by Television as Isabella
- Anniversary Trouble as Maid
1934
- Imitation of Life as Woman at Funeral (uncredited)
- Operator 13 as Annie (uncredited)
- Judge Priest as Aunt Dilsey
- King Kelly of the U.S.A. as Mop Buyer
- Fate's Fathead as Mandy - the Maid
- Babbitt as Rosalie (uncredited)
- The Chases of Pimple Street as Hattie - Gertrude's Maid (uncredited)
- Merry Wives of Reno as Bunny's Maid (uncredited)
- Mickey's Rescue as Maid
- Flirtation as Abigail (uncredited)
- Lost in the Stratosphere as Ida Johnson
- City Park as Tessie
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)
- Hypnotized as Powder Room Attendant
- Are You Listening? as Performer entering radio station
- The Impatient Maiden as Injured Patient (uncredited)
- The Washington Masquerade as Maid (uncredited)
- The Boiling Point as Caroline - the Cook (uncredited)
- The Golden West as Mammy Lou