Georgette Harvey

Georgette Harvey (December 31, 1884 – February 17, 1952) was an American singer and actress born in St. Louis, Missouri, whose career spanned Broadway, international cabaret, and film. She is best known for originating the role of Maria in the 1927 Broadway production of Porgy and for reprising that role in George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess when it opened on Broadway in 1935.

Harvey left St. Louis at age eighteen and made her way to New York City, where she formed a vocal group called the Creole Belles. The quartet performed briefly in the United States before traveling to Europe, where the group eventually disbanded. Rather than returning home, Harvey remained abroad, working in nightclubs and cabarets across the continent. She spent sixteen years living and performing in Russia, departing when the Russian Revolution began. Before coming back to the United States, she performed for a period in Japan.

Upon her return, Harvey established herself as a character actress and singer on the Broadway stage. Her career there extended from 1923 to 1949 and encompassed a wide range of productions, including Stevedore, Mamba's Daughters, Brown Sugar (1937), Pastoral, The Morning Star, Anna Lucasta, and Lost in the Stars, in addition to her celebrated work in Porgy and Porgy and Bess.

Harvey also pursued a film career, appearing in Social Register (1934), Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934), Back Door to Heaven (1939), and The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939). She completed a screen test for the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), though the part ultimately went to Hattie McDaniel. Harvey's test footage survives and is visible in the 1988 documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind. She died on February 17, 1952, at the age of sixty-nine.