Louise Beavers

Here's an interesting article I found on another site about a ground breaking actress:

Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 - October 26, 1962) The prolific African-American film actress, appearing in countless films from the 1920s to the 1950s, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

But before Miss Beavers began took off in films, early on she spent a dozen years as real-life maid/nanny for silent film actress Leatrice Joy (one-time wife of film idol John Gilbert).

Among the many films she appeared in were "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1927), "Manslaughter" (1930), "Freaks" (1932), "What Price Hollywood?" (1932), "She Done Him Wrong" (1933), "General Spanky" (1936), "Holiday Inn" (1942), "The Big Street" (1942), "Mr.Blandings Builds His Dream House" (1948) as 'Gussie' ("...If it ain't 'WHAM' it ain't HAM!...", "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) as Jackie's mom, "The Goddess" (1958), "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (1960), and in her last film, the Bob Hope/Lucille Ball comedy "The Facts of Life" (1960). In all she appeared in over 150 films !

Beavers' most famous and noted role was her portrayal of 'Delilah Johnson', the housekeeper/cook whose employer of Claudette Colbert, transforms her into an Aunt Jemima-like celebrity in the 1934 film "Imitation of Life".

Though in reality, Beavers was given fourth billing in the now classic film, her role was nearly equal in importance to Claudette Colbert's, and was the first instance of a Hollywood film in which a black woman's maternal problems were given equal importance to those of the leading white character in a film. But, in the end Colbert's character cherish their strong friendship, it is clear the Hollywood system kept the main characters still segregated in the end.

One of the film's main conflicts was that between 'Delilah' and her light-skinned daughter 'Peola' (played by Fredi Washington), who wanted to pass for white. Despite being only a year younger than her film daughter Washington in real-life, Beavers stepped up and gave a heart-felt performance as her long-suffering mother 'Delilah'.

The vast majority of Beavers' other film roles, however, were not as prestigious. Along with Hattie McDaniel, she became the on-screen personification of the "mammy" stereotype: a large, matronly black woman with a quick temper, a large laugh, and a subservient manner. Beavers' employers had her overeat so that she could maintain her "mammy"-like figure.

Although Beavers did not approve of how her characters were scripted, she nonetheless continued appearing in films, because, as her contemporary McDaniel once stated, "it's better to play a maid than be a maid.".

Beavers was one of four actresses (including McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray the title role on the "Beulah" television show from 1950-53. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American, even though the role was a somewhat subservient one. Besides the "Beulah" series, she also was featured on T.V. in the late 1950's on NBC's "Disneyland's 'Swamp Fox'" series of shorts, as 'Delia'.

When not busy making film, on her off hours Miss Beavers reportedly was a' night owl', with her lights burning into the wee hours playing poker with friends. Though her film colleague Hattie McDaniels lived only a few minutes walking distance, in the same West Adams area of Los Angeles (known as Sugar Hill), the two saw very little of each other.

Beavers was known as a friendly, giving person, but the woman famous as Mae West's maid in films, actually has a husband who waited on his wife hand-and-foot, whenever she was home. A professional chef, her husband Leroy Moore, along with his famous wife, reportedly hosted some of the best poker parties in town. From time to time the couple would off er other artists the opportunity to board and rent out parts of their home to them. One of these long-time residence was singer-musician Earl Grant, who occupied the second floor of the Beavers home, at 2219 Hobart St.

Actresses Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, and Ethel Waters joined other local leaders to overturn the demeaning racial covenants: "Their efforts resulted in the dismissal of the [discriminatory] injunction by the Los Angeles Superior Court. Thus, women who founded careers playing docile and submissive servants helped fire the opening shots in the legal battle against residential segregation in California - a battle that would culminate in the landmark Supreme Court decision… which outlawed restrictive covenants in 1948"

Miss Beavers is also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. Also in 1976, she was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Louise Beavers died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26, 1962, EXACTLY a decade to the DAY, as her famed counterpart Hattie McDaniel! Miss Beavers was 60. Louise Beavers was buried (though unmarked) alongside her mother E. Monroe Beavers, at Los Angeles' Evergreen Cemetery.

Thanks for reading!