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<html> <head> <title>Ossie Davis</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap>This is a beta version of NNDB</td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/215/000042089/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0>Ossie Davis<img src="ossie-davis-med.jpg" height=305 width=251 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Ossie Davis">AKA Raiford Chatman DavisBorn: <a href="/lists/870/000106552/" class=proflink>18-Dec</a>-<a href="/lists/916/000105601/" class=proflink>1917</a> Birthplace: Cogdell, GA Died: <a href="/lists/918/000106600/" class=proflink>4-Feb</a>-<a href="/lists/515/000106197/" class=proflink>2005</a> Location of death: <a href="/geo/602/000069395/" class=proflink>Miami, FL</a> Cause of death: Heart Failure Remains: Cremated Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: Black Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Actor, <a href="/lists/199/000068992/" class=proflink>Activist</a>, <a href="/lists/205/000068998/" class=proflink>Playwright</a>Nationality: United States Executive summary: Do The Right ThingMilitary service: US Army (1942-45)He was born Raiford Chatman Davis, which was promptly shortened to "R.C.", and heard by friends and neighbors as "Ossie." He studied drama at Howard University, but dropped out to pursue a career on stage -- plans which were interrupted by World War II. He served in the Army Medical Corps in Liberia for nearly three years, helping to establish a hospital there for African-American soldiers -- the Army, of course, was still segregated. After his tour of duty, Davis came to New York, and made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb. The play closed one week after it opened, but in the cast was <a href="/people/673/000083424/">Ruby Dee</a>. Neither remembered the moment they met, but they toured together in a production of Anna Lucasta, and were married in 1948. It was a long, loving, happy and wide open marriage that lasted till death did them part in early 2005. <BLOCKQUOTE>"It occurred to us, from observation and reasoning, that extramarital sex was not what really destroyed marriages, but rather the lies and deception that invariably accompanied it -- that was the culprit. So we decided to give ourselves permission to sleep with other partners if we wished -- as long as what we did was honest as well as private, and that neither of us exposed the family to scandal or disease. We had to be discreet and, if the word can be apt, honorable in our behavior, both to ourselves, to whomever else might be involved, and most of all, to the family. And for the most part, we were."</BLOCKQUOTE> Davis returned to Broadway often. He wrote and starred in the title role in Purlie Victorious with <a href="/people/625/000043496/">Sorrell Booke</a> and <a href="/people/887/000023818/">Alan Alda</a>, a controversial play about segregation. He also wrote and starred in the film adaptation, titled Gone Are the Days!. He later re-wrote the play as the stage musical Purlie, which played on Broadway with <a href="/people/538/000072322/">Cleavon Little</a> and <a href="/people/338/000088074/">Melba Moore</a>, and was filmed with <a href="/people/241/000023172/">Robert Guillaume</a> and <a href="/people/012/000023940/">Sherman Hemsley</a>. As an actor, Davis appeared on stage in A Raisin in the Sun, I'm Not Rappaport, and of course, many other plays over his long career. In his first film, 1950's No Way Out with <a href="/people/701/000022635/">Richard Widmark</a> and <a href="/people/200/000023131/">Sidney Poitier</a>, Davis's role was so small he didn't even receive screen credit -- and Dee played his wife, as she often did. In later films, he was the neighborhood elder who gave <a href="/people/710/000024638/">Spike Lee</a> the titular advice: "Do the right thing." He played Martin Luther King Sr. to <a href="/people/272/000024200/">Paul Winfield</a>'s <a href="/people/085/000028998/">Junior</a> in the top-notch miniseries King, and <a href="/people/113/000024041/">John F. Kennedy</a> in Bubba Ho-tep, opposite <a href="/people/598/000025523/">Bruce Campbell</a>'s <a href="/people/363/000024291/">Elvis Presley</a>. He played Omar on Car 54, Where Are You?, and wrote For Us the Living: The <a href="/people/335/000088071/">Medgar Evers</a> Story. He was one of the first blacks permitted to direct major Hollywood films, beginning with Cotton Comes to Harlem in 1970, with <a href="/people/337/000088073/">Godfrey Cambridge</a> and <a href="/people/698/000022632/">Redd Foxx</a>. Davis and Dee raised their three children with blanket permission to smoke marijuana and have sex, so long as they did these things in the safety of the family home. Davis delivered the eulogy in Lee's <a href="/people/168/000026090/">Malcolm X</a> -- the same eulogy he had actually delivered at Malcolm X's memorial service. Davis and Dee were always politically active, in a time when it was not only unpopular but downright dangerous to speak out for the civil rights movement, and in vigorous opposition to Senator <a href="/people/490/000051337/">Joseph McCarthy</a>'s Communist witch hunt. Davis did voice-overs for the United Negro College Fund for many years, speaking the words, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." He co-founded Third World Cinema, a production company to help African-American and Puerto Rican filmmakers. In his later years, Davis worked to obtain a new trial for <a href="/people/376/000025301/">Mumia Abu-Jamal</a>. Father: Kince Charles Davis (railroad engineer) Mother: Laura (Cooper) Davis (housewife) Sister: Essie Mae Brother: Kenneth Brother: William Brother: James Wife: <a href="/people/673/000083424/">Ruby Dee</a> (actress, m. 9-Dec-1948, one son, two daughters) Son: Guy Davis (blues musician, b. 12-May-1952) Daughter: Nora Day Daughter: Hasna Muhammad (doctor)     High School: Center High School, Waycross, GA     University: <a href="/edu/677/000068473/">Howard University (dropped out)</a>     University: <a href="/edu/477/000068273/">Columbia University</a>     <a href="/org/790/000080550/">Congress of Racial Equality</a>     <a href="/org/781/000167280/">Gore 2000</a>     <a href="/org/813/000041690/">NAACP</a>     <a href="/org/446/000177912/">National Leadership PAC</a>     <a href="/org/843/000041720/">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a>     <a href="/org/140/000048993/">United Negro College Fund</a>     <a href="/org/716/000041593/">Urban League</a>     <a href="/honors/021/000111685/">Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame</a> 1974     <a href="/honors/109/000048962/">Kennedy Center Honor</a> 2004     <a href="/honors/902/000044770/">National Medal of Arts</a> 1995     TELEVISION     <a href="/tv/249/000051096/">The L Word</a> Melvin Porter (2004-05)     <a href="/tv/082/000063890/">Promised Land</a> Erasmus Jones (1996-98)     <a href="/tv/579/000269769/">The Client</a> Judge Harry Roosevelt (1995-96)     <a href="/tv/992/000069785/">Evening Shade</a> Ponder Blue (1990-94)     <a href="/tv/047/000353982/">B. L. Stryker</a> Oz Jackson (1989-90)     <a href="/tv/406/000068202/">Car 54, Where Are You?</a> Omar (1962-63)     FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR     <a href="/films/446/000203834/">Countdown at Kusini (16-Apr-1976)</a>     <a href="/films/225/000042099/">Gordon's War (9-Aug-1973)</a>     <a href="/films/968/000206350/">Black Girl (9-Nov-1972)</a>     <a href="/films/107/000034005/">Cotton Comes to Harlem (27-May-1970)</a>     FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR     <a href="/films/334/000372215/">Proud (11-Nov-2004)</a>     <a href="/films/302/000058128/">She Hate Me (28-Jul-2004)</a> · Judge Buchanan     <a href="/films/973/000072757/">Baadasssss! (7-Sep-2003)</a> · Granddad     <a href="/films/339/000131943/">Deacons for Defense (2003)</a>     <a href="/films/594/000036486/">Bubba Ho-Tep (9-Jun-2002)</a> · Jack     <a href="/films/036/000130643/">Feast of All Saints (11-Nov-2001)</a>     <a href="/films/182/000040062/">Dinosaur (13-May-2000)</a> [VOICE]     <a href="/films/636/000275808/">Finding Buck McHenry (16-Apr-2000)</a> · Buck McHenry     <a href="/films/077/000089807/">The Soul Collector (24-Oct-1999)</a>     <a href="/films/762/000140342/">The Secret Path (4-Apr-1999)</a>     <a href="/films/752/000036644/">Doctor Dolittle (13-Jun-1998)</a> · Archer Dolittle     <a href="/films/463/000037352/">12 Angry Men (17-Aug-1997)</a>     <a href="/films/056/000061870/">4 Little Girls (9-Jul-1997)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/324/000088060/">Miss Evers' Boys (22-Feb-1997)</a>     <a href="/films/216/000042090/">I'm Not Rappaport (24-Dec-1996)</a> · Midge     <a href="/films/991/000033892/">Get on the Bus (16-Oct-1996)</a> · Jeremiah     <a href="/films/357/000088093/">Baseball (18-Sep-1994)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/688/000034586/">The Client (20-Jul-1994)</a>     <a href="/films/052/000067848/">The Stand (8-May-1994)</a>     <a href="/films/022/000033920/">Grumpy Old Men (25-Dec-1993)</a> · Chuck     <a href="/films/355/000090085/">Queen (14-Feb-1993)</a>     <a href="/films/949/000246211/">The Ernest Green Story (17-Jan-1993)</a>     <a href="/films/446/000036338/">Malcolm X (18-Nov-1992)</a> · Eulogy Performer [VOICE]     <a href="/films/311/000034209/">Gladiator (6-Mar-1992)</a>     <a href="/films/344/000033245/">Jungle Fever (5-Jun-1991)</a> · The Good Rev. Dr. Purify     <a href="/films/565/000040445/">Joe Versus the Volcano (9-Mar-1990)</a>     <a href="/films/453/000387289/">The Red Shoes (7-Feb-1990)</a> [VOICE]     <a href="/films/106/000034004/">Do the Right Thing (14-Jan-1989)</a> · Da Mayor     <a href="/films/327/000040207/">School Daze (12-Feb-1988)</a>     <a href="/films/555/000034453/">Avenging Angel (10-May-1985)</a>     <a href="/films/218/000042092/">Harry and Son (2-Mar-1984)</a>     <a href="/films/217/000042091/">The House of God (1984)</a> · Dr. Sanders     <a href="/films/604/000129217/">Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige (31-May-1981)</a>     <a href="/films/688/000253926/">Death of a Prophet (1981)</a> · Himself     <a href="/films/992/000229305/">All God's Children (28-Apr-1980)</a>     <a href="/films/593/000254828/">Freedom Road (29-Oct-1979)</a> · Narrator     <a href="/films/223/000042097/">Hot Stuff (May-1979)</a>     <a href="/films/050/000159570/">King (12-Feb-1978)</a>     <a href="/films/446/000203834/">Countdown at Kusini (16-Apr-1976)</a>     <a href="/films/583/000037472/">Let's Do It Again (11-Oct-1975)</a>     <a href="/films/994/000257223/">Malcolm X (24-May-1972)</a> [VOICE]     <a href="/films/809/000220149/">Slaves (2-Jul-1969)</a>     <a href="/films/698/000133299/">Sam Whiskey (1-Apr-1969)</a> · Jed Hooker     <a href="/films/927/000033828/">The Scalphunters (2-Apr-1968)</a> · Joseph Lee     <a href="/films/267/000240544/">A Man Called Adam (3-Aug-1966)</a> · Nelson Davis     <a href="/films/222/000042096/">The Hill (2-Aug-1965)</a> · Jacko King     <a href="/films/219/000042093/">Shock Treatment (22-Jul-1964)</a> · Capshaw     <a href="/films/221/000042095/">The Cardinal (12-Dec-1963)</a> · Fr. Gillis     <a href="/films/636/000173117/">Gone Are the Days! (9-Aug-1963)</a> · Rev. Purlie Victorious Judson <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;">New! <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=42089"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=42089">Ossie Davis</a></td> </tr> </table> Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript. 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