Ruby Dee

Beloved Actress And Civil Rights Activist Ruby Dee Dies At 92

By Victoria Pavlova in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 13 June 2014

A look back on Dee's career and civil rights work.

Actress Ruby Dee, who first came to prominence as the star of n A Raisin in the Sun and Do the Right Thing, has died at the age of 91. Dee’s daughter, Nora Davis Day has confirmed the sad news.

"She died of natural causes," said Arminda Thomas, who works for Dee's family, for Reuters. "She was blessed with old age."

Ruby Dee
Dee wasn't just known for her considerable acting talent.

Continue reading: Beloved Actress And Civil Rights Activist Ruby Dee Dies At 92

Ruby Dee Dies Aged 91: Remembering The Actress, Poet And Activist

By Lauren James in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 12 June 2014

Ruby Dee

The 'American Gangster' star has passed away.

Ruby Dee, star of stage, screen and written word, died yesterday at her home in New Rochelle, New York. A pioneer at a time when African-American actors were given very little space on stage or screen, Dee was the proud winner of an Emmy, a Grammy, a Screen Actors Guild award, and an Oscar nomination during her long and illustrious career.

A family member confirmed the new today, via NY Daily News, but declined to comment further on any more details, such as the cause of death.

Born Ruby Wallace on the 27th October 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, Dee was raised in Harlem, New York. She made several appearances on Broadway before her first film role in 1949, in the musical drama That Man of Mine. She then played Rachel Robinson in The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950, and starred alongside Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway in 1958's St. Louis Blues.

Continue reading: Ruby Dee Dies Aged 91: Remembering The Actress, Poet And Activist

Angela Bassett, Ruby Dee and Mary J Blige - Premiere of 'Betty & Coretta' New York City USA Monday 28th January 2013

American Gangster Review

By Chris Barsanti

There's something dead in Denzel Washington's eyes nearly all of the way through Ridley Scott's American Gangster, which takes what should have been a mesmerizing slice of urban historical grit and grinds it into roughly two hours of standard issue cinema. Washington is playing Frank Lucas, a real-life crime boss who for a period lasting from the late 1960s into the following decade, ran Manhattan "from 110th to 155th, river to river." A real slick character who doesn't need to strut his worth on the street, Lucas hates flash like a junkie hates rehab: It reminds him of all he truly is but doesn't want to be. Facing off against him is New Jersey narc Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a womanizing tough guy with a short fuse but a heart of gold (aren't they all), who's so clean that when he and his partner come across $1 million in untraceable cash he had the bad manners to turn it all in without taking a single bill for himself. In a big-city police department in the 1970s, boy scout behavior like that will just plain get you killed -- the guy who's not on the take is the guy who could very well sell you down the river when the grand jury comes sniffing around for who is on the take.

Ridley Scott has a good thing going here, tossing these two Hollywood bigshots into the ring and letting them play cops and robbers while he slathers on the period detail with a trowel. There's some serious Superfly outfits (including a godawful $50,000 chinchilla coat that plays a surprisingly key part in a plot twist), a generous helping of soul music, enough fantastic character actors to choke a horse (Idris Elba, Jon Polito, Kevin Corrigan, an incredibly sleazy Josh Brolin, and so on), the specter of Vietnam playing on every television in sight, and the odd enjoyment one gets from watching cops in the pre-militarized, pre-SWAT days take down an apartment with just revolvers, the occasional shotgun, and a sledgehammer to whack down the door. Scott's smart enough to let the story cohere organically and without rush, keeping his main contenders apart for as long as could possibly be borne, making them fully developed characters in their own right and not just developed in opposition to the other. But there's something in this broad and expansive tale that can't quite come together, and it seems to start in Denzel's eyes.

Continue reading: American Gangster Review

A Raisin In The Sun Review

By Christopher Null

Excellent

Sidney Poitier is on fire, as usual, in this play adaptation -- something in the vein of A Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey into Night, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Poitier's family faces racial prejudice as it moves into a new home in an all-white neighborhood while entering an ill-advised business venture that leaves them penniless. The struggle to triumph in the face of adversity transcends the film being pegged as a civil rights picture, and thanks to the leadership of Poitier, a classic is born.

Ruby Dee

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Beloved Actress And Civil Rights Activist Ruby Dee Dies At 92

Ruby Dee Dies Aged 91: Remembering The Actress, Poet And Activist

American Gangster Review

A Raisin In The Sun Review

Ruby Dee Quick Links

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Public Memorial Service Set For Ruby Dee In New York

Ruby Dee dies aged 91

Ruby Dee Dies Aged 91: Remembering The Actress, Poet And Activist

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American Gangster Movie Review