Mildred Boyd

Mildred Boyd (1908–1999) was an actress, singer, and dancer born in Kingston, Tennessee, to Creed Boyd and Rachel Finley. The family relocated to Nebraska shortly after her birth, and Boyd later moved to Los Angeles as a young adult.

In Los Angeles, Boyd found early work as a chorus girl at Frank Sebastian's Cotton Club, a Black nightclub in Culver City, where she performed as part of a group called the Creole Cuties. During the same period she began building a film career in Hollywood, working regularly from the 1920s through the 1950s and accumulating credits in more than 200 films. As was common for Black actresses of her era, she was frequently cast in roles such as maids and nurses.

Her film work spanned several decades and included appearances in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928), Riley the Cop (1928), Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), Murder at the Vanities (1934), The Singing Kid (1936), Strike Me Pink (1936), The Duke Is Tops (1938), Gang Smashers (1938), Double Deal (1938), Spirit of Youth (1938), Way Down South (1939), Irene (1940), Lady for a Night (1942), Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Carolina Blues (1944), Phantom Lady (1944), I Love a Bandleader (1945), The Red Dragon (1945), Variety Girl (1947), Out of the Past (1947), Force of Evil (1948), The Decision of Christopher Blake (1948), No Time for Romance (1948), Sun Tan Ranch (1948), The Doctor and the Girl (1949), Pinky (1949), The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), The Harlem Globetrotters (1951), I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (1951), Skirts Ahoy! (1952), and Lydia Bailey (1952).

Boyd also worked in the theater, appearing on Broadway in The Duchess Misbehaves in 1946.