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
2020
- Gone with the Wind – Makeup and Wardrobe Tests as Self (archive footage)
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
- Janie as April, Conway's Maid
- 3 Is a Family as Maid
- Hi, Beautiful as Millie
1943
- Thank Your Lucky Stars as Gossip in "Ice Cold Katie" Number
- Johnny Come Lately as Aida
1942
- George Washington Slept Here as Hester
- The Male Animal as Cleota
- In This Our Life as Minerva Clay
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 Shining Hour as Belvedere
- The Mad Miss Manton as Hilda
- The Shopworn Angel as Martha
- Battle of Broadway as Agatha
- Carefree as Hattie (uncredited)
1937
- Nothing Sacred as Mrs. Walker (uncredited)
- Saratoga as Rosetta
- Racing Lady as Abby
- Over the Goal as Hannah
- True Confession as Ella
- Quick Money as Hattie (uncredited)
- Don't Tell the Wife as Mamie (uncredited)
- Sky Racket as Jenny
- The Crime Nobody Saw as Ambrosia
- Mississippi Moods
- 45 Fathers as Beulah
- The Wildcatter as Pearl (uncredited)
- Merry Go Round of 1938 as Maid
1936
- Libeled Lady as Scrubwoman in Grand Plaza Hall (uncredited)
- Show Boat as Queenie
- Postal Inspector as Deborah
- The Singing Kid as Maid (uncredited)
- The Bride Walks Out as Mamie
- Valiant Is the Word for Carrie as Ellen Belle
- Star for a Night as Hattie
- High Tension as Hattie
- Can This Be Dixie? as Lizzie
- Gentle Julia as Kitty Silvers
- Reunion as Sadie
- The First Baby as Dora
- Arbor Day as Buckwheat's Mother (uncredited)
1935
- China Seas as Isabel McCarthy, Dolly's Maid (uncredited)
- Alice Adams as Malena Burns - Maid Serving Dinner
- We're Only Human as Molly
- The Little Colonel as Becky "Mom Beck" Porter
- Okay Toots! as Maid (uncredited)
- Traveling Saleslady as Martha Smith (uncredited)
- Another Face as Nellie (uncredited)
- Music Is Magic as Hattie (Amanda in credits)
- Murder by Television as Isabella
- Wig-Wag as Cook
- Anniversary Trouble as Maid
1934
- Imitation of Life as Woman at Funeral (uncredited)
- Operator 13 as Annie (uncredited)
- Judge Priest as Aunt Dilsey
- Babbitt as Rosalie (uncredited)
- Lost in the Stratosphere as Ida Johnson
- King Kelly of the U.S.A. as Mop Buyer
- City Park as Tessie
- Fate's Fathead as Mandy - the Maid
- Mickey's Rescue as Maid
- Merry Wives of Reno as Bunny's Maid (uncredited)
- Flirtation as Abigail (uncredited)
- The Chases of Pimple Street as Hattie - Gertrude's Maid (uncredited)
1933
- Good-bye Love as Edna the Maid
- I'm No Angel as Manicurist (uncredited)
- Hello, Sister! as Woman in Apartment House
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
- Hypnotized as Powder Room Attendant
- The Golden West as Mammy Lou
- The Impatient Maiden as Injured Patient (uncredited)
- The Boiling Point as Caroline - the Cook (uncredited)