On this day in history, October 27, 1922, Ruby Dee, actress, activist and poet, was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
Raised in Harlem, Dee’s journey began at the American Negro Theatre, where she trained alongside greats like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. After graduating from Hunter College in 1945, she broke onto Broadway in South Pacific and later found her breakout role as Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Her performance became one of the defining performances of American theater.
Dee made her Hollywood debut in That Man of Mine (1946) and became a household name with stellar performances in a slew of movies, including The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Edge of the City (1957) and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989). In 2007, at age 85, Dee earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in American Gangster.
Ruby Dee’s marriage to Ossie Davis was one of the great love stories of Black America. From co-starring in Purlie Victorious to sharing the screen in Buck and the Preacher, the two built a partnership that stood as an example of love in action. Their 50-year marriage, chronicled in their joint autobiography With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, was as much about shared purpose as it was about affection.
Dee served as an emcee at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Just two years later, Davis delivered Malcolm X’s eulogy.
Throughout her career, Dee earned some of the highest honors in the arts: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Obie, a Drama Desk Award and the National Medal of Arts. She became the first Black woman to perform lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival. Yet even as accolades poured in, Dee remained grounded in her mission to use art as a tool for liberation.
In her later years, Dee lent her voice to projects like Unchained Memories, bringing to life the words of enslaved Africans recorded in WPA slave narratives. She also voiced “Alice the Great” in the beloved children’s show Little Bill.
Ruby Dee sadly passed away on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes. She was 91.
The marquee at the Apollo Theater read, “A TRUE APOLLO LEGEND RUBY DEE 1922–2014.” Her ashes rest with Ossie Davis, engraved with the words: “In this thing together.”
