Ruby Dee Biography

Fast Facts

• As a teenager in Harlem, studied at the America Negro Theater; classmates included Sidney Poitier, with whom she later appeared in both the 1959 Broadway production and 1961 film version of A Raisin in the Sun
• Made her Broadway debut in a 1943 non-musical version of South Pacific
• Met husband Ossie Davis while performing in the Broadway drama Jeb in 1946
• It was the first of some 50 performances together
• Earned recognition in the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story, as Robinson's wife, Rachel; Jackie Robinson played himself
• Was a regular on the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light in 1967
• With Davis, wrote a memoir, In This Life Together; also published volumes of poetry as well as several film and stage scripts
• With Davis, was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame (1989); was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts (1995); and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors (2004)
• Was honored at a celeb-filled bash in Harlem for her 90th birthday in October 2012 that included an excerpt from a documentary about her life with Ossie Davis produced by grandson Muta'Ali Muhammad