Ruby Dee

Born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, Ruby Dee was the daughter of Gladys and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace. After attending Hunter College, she apprenticed with the American Negro Theater and performed at the American Shakespeare Festival. In 1941 she married blues singer Frankie Dee Brown. She later married actor Ossie Davis, whom she met while costarring in Robert Ardrey's Jeb on Broadway. Together, the couple became prominent civil rights activists and received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. Their three children: Guy Davis, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad.

Film credits include "American Gangster," "Do the Right Thing," "Cat People," "Just Cause," "A Thousand Words," "Baby Geniuses," "Jungle Fever," "A Raisin in the Sun," "A Simple Wish," and "Buck and the Preacher." Among her television credits: "The Golden Girls," "Touched by an Angel," "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," "Guiding Light," "China Beach," "Today," and "The Fugitive."

She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for "Decoration Day" in 1991. In 2004, she and Ossie Davis received the Kennedy Center Honors. The pair also earned a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for "With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together" in 2007.

Ruby Dee appeared alongside Ossie Davis in nine films. On June 13, 2014, Broadway theater marquees were dimmed in her honor.