About
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress born on June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, and died on October 26, 1952, in Woodland Hills, California. She was the first African American to win an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). She appeared in over 300 films, though she received screen credit for only about 80, often playing maids and servants. She was also the first African American woman to sing on radio and the first to star in a weekly radio program aimed at a general audience, The Beulah Show. McDaniel received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 2006.
* 1893-06-10 — † 1952-10-26
Major works
- Gone with the Wind (1939)film
- Alice Adams (1935)film
- Show Boat (1936)film
- The Great Lie (1941)film
- The Beulah Show (1947)radio show
Key milestones
- 1940Becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress) for Gone with the Wind.
- 1926Records her first blues sides, becoming one of the first African American women to sing on radio.
- 1952Dies of breast cancer at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California.
Themes
CinemaRadioAfrican American historyAcademy AwardsRacial segregation
Sources: britannica.com · lincoln.kshs.org · walkoffame.com