An Evening with Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee (2002)

This hour-long, one-on-one interview provides a candid glimpse into the lives of actors and "National Treasures" Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Taped on October 18, 2002 at The Art Institute of Chicago in front of a live audience, the couple was interviewed by activist and scholar Angela Davis. Master of Ceremonies Micah Materre, WGN-TV morning news anchor, began the program speaking of the profound influence Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee had on her life. Mr. Davis and Ms. Dee begin the interview describing their involvement in political and social campaigns. They then lovingly describe when they met, during the American Negro Theater's production of Jeb, and getting married in New Jersey in 1948. The interview continues as they explain the American Negro Theater's role in fighting segregation and discrimination after World War II as well as the struggles of actors and artists during the McCarthy era. Mr. Davis and Ms. Dee then tell stories of their relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X as well as how they included their children in their political activism. After speaking of their roles in Cotton Comes to Harlem and Roots, Angela Davis asks them to describe their professional and personal relationship with film director Spike Lee. Though their entertainment careers blossomed, their commitment to humanitarian and political activism never waned. As the interview comes to a close, they reflect on the connection between art and politics and offer ideas on how to encourage younger generations to work for positive change in the world. At the time of the taping, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee had been married for more than fifty years. Not long after the taping, Ossie Davis passed away on February 4, 2005.

Keywords: african-american, angela-davis, reference-to-ossie-davis, ruby-dee

Genres

Taglines:

Quotes:

Davis, Ossie Filmography

• Play in Full Screen For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots

  2010, role: actor
• Play in Full Screen Segregating the Greatest Generation

  2006, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Making of 'King'

  2005, role: actor
• Play in Full Screen The Black Movie Awards

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself - Memorial Tribute
• Play in Full Screen 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself - Memorial Tribute
• Play in Full Screen The Peace! DVD

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen The Civil Rights Movement

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen The 77th Annual Academy Awards

  2005, role: actor , character name: Memorial Tribute
• Play in Full Screen A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho

  2005, role: actor
• Play in Full Screen The Struggle

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen The History Makers

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis

  2005, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Making of 'Bubba Ho-tep'

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

  2004, role: actor
• Play in Full Screen The Story Behind Baadasssss!: The Birth of Black Cinema

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself - Honoree
• Play in Full Screen Emmy's Greatest Moments

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Proud

  2004, role: actor , character name: Lorenzo DuFau
• Play in Full Screen A Wealth of Wisdom

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself - Panelist
• Play in Full Screen Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem

  2004, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen She Hate Me

  2004, role: actor , character name: Judge Buchanan
• Play in Full Screen Deacons for Defense

  2003, role: actor , character name: Reverend 'Rev' Gregory
• Play in Full Screen Spike Lee's '25th Hour': The Evolution of an American Filmmaker

  2003, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass

  2003, role: actor , character name: Granddad
• Play in Full Screen Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

  2003, role: actor , character name: Reader
• Play in Full Screen Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

  2003, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen 2003 Trumpet Awards

  2003, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property

  2003, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen An Evening with Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee

  2002, role: actor , character name: Himself - Interviewee
• Play in Full Screen The Tuskegee Airmen

  2002, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Play in Full Screen Bubba Ho-Tep

  2002, role: actor , character name: Jack
• Play in Full Screen Broadway Legends

  2002, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Hughes' Dream Harlem

  2002, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Play in Full Screen Inside TV Land: African Americans in Television

  2002, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen School's Out: Self-taught Artists

  2002, role: actor , character name: Bill Traylor
• Play in Full Screen The Last Poets

  2002, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Why Can't We Be a Family Again?

  2002, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Play in Full Screen That's Black Entertainment: Westerns

  2002, role: actor , character name: Interviewee
• Play in Full Screen Legend of the Candy Cane

  2001, role: actor , character name: Julius
• Play in Full Screen We Shall Not Be Moved

  2001, role: miscellaneous crew
• Play in Full Screen Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years

  2001, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Play in Full Screen Voice of the Voiceless

  2001, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore

  2001, role: actor , character name: Narrator
• Play in Full Screen 7th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards

  2001, role: actor , character name: Himself
• Play in Full Screen Feast of All Saints

  2001, role: actor , character name: Jean-Jacques
• Play in Full Screen Dinosaur

  2000, role: actor , character name: Yar
• Play in Full Screen Here's to Life!

  2000, role: actor , character name: Duncan Cox
• Play in Full Screen J.C. Leyendecker: The Great American Illustrator

  2000, role: actor , character name: Narrator

Famous quotes by Ossie Davis:

"I wish we had been more organized and determined with respect to carving out the time that we needed to write,"

"He was like one of those messenger boys for God ... doing what he could, where he could and hoping that he got it right."

"I couldn't think of a better way to pay tribute to him, ... I can't imagine his spirit being any happier than to receive this kind of honor."

"I cannot put into words how happy I was to have had the opportunity to be around him as much as I was. He had a great sense of humor, and through his humor, one could find his wisdom."

"It's not the man, it's the plan. It's not the rap, it's the map."

"Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change - it can not only move us, it makes us move."

"I find, in being black, a thing of beauty: a joy; a strength; a secret cup of gladness."

"College ain't so much where you been as how you talk when you get back"

"Struggle is strengthening. Battling with evil gives us the power to battle evil even more."

"Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change it can not only move us, it makes us move."

"College ain't so much where you been as how you talk when you get back."

Ossie Davis

Born: 1917-12-08

Died: 2005-02-04