African American Actresses - A Tribute Quiz

Answer: Lena Horne

Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1917. She began her career in show business singing and dancing at the Cotton Club in Harlem. She developed quite a following, and in time she signed a long-term contract to appear in movies at MGM studios. However, Lena Horne had a rough time in Hollywood. It's well-known that her movie scenes (musical numbers) were filmed in such a way that they could be edited out of any film when it played in the South. Lena eventually married Lennie Hayton, a top arranger and conductor at MGM. In 1943 she appeared in "Cabin in the Sky" and "Stormy Weather", both with all African-American casts, and both movies very successful. She finally left Hollywood, for lack of decent roles for black actresses, and concentrated on her music career.

In the early 1970s, Lena's husband, father and son all died within about a year's time. Depressed, she stopped performing for a time. Her singing career enjoyed a renaissance in 1981, when she appeared on Broadway in her one-person show "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music", which was a huge success. She emerged triumphant, singing better than ever, and as beautiful in her 60s as when she was a young woman just starting out. It should be added that the song "Stormy Weather" (1933) was originally written for Ethel Waters by Harold Arlen and that Ms Waters also appeared in "Cabin in the Sky."

Answer: Ghost

In "Ghost", an enormously popular 1990 film, Whoopi Goldberg played the role of Oda Mae Brown, a bogus psychic who discovers she actually has real powers. She is able to communicate with a recently murdered man, and with his help is able to save his beloved from a plot to murder her as well.

Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Johnson in New York in 1955. She is one of the very few performers to have won the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. She started out as a stand-up comedian, and went on to star in a one-woman show on Broadway in 1984. Her first film was "The Color Purple" (1985), Steven Spielberg's film based on the 1982 Alice Walker novel. She was impressive in her debut, and was nominated for an Oscar for it. She has since appeared in over 150 films and TV programs. She won an Emmy for appearing in "The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel" (2001), her Grammy Award for "Whoopi, Direct from Broadway" (1985), and the Tony award as a producer of the Broadway play "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (2002). She was the first woman to host the Academy Awards, in 1994.

Answer: Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel played the role of Mammy in "Gone With the Wind", the epic story of Scarlett O'Hara and her family and the tragic consequences of the Civil War. The character of Mammy was a servant in the O'Hara household, who had cared for Scarlett all her life. Mammy was a very feisty woman, beautifully played by Ms McDaniel.

Hattie McDaniel was born in 1895. Her father was a preacher, born into slavery. She began her career as a singer and radio performer. She came to Hollywood in the early 1930s, playing maids and nannies in over 300 films. She actually received screen credit for only about 80 of those. She became friends with several of the top Hollywood stars of the time, including Clark Gable, who helped her get the role in "Gone With the Wind". Not only was she the first African American to receive an Oscar, she was the first to be allowed to attend the Oscar ceremony. She continued working in movies, radio and television up until her death in 1952 at age 57.

Answer: Monster's Ball

"Monster's Ball" is the story of Leticia Musgrove (played by Berry) whose husband has been executed. The prison guard who executed him ends up falling in love with Leticia. It's an interracial romance with some plot twists, a very good movie.

Halle Berry was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. She was an honor society member, school newspaper editor, cheerleader, class president and prom queen while in high school. She was a beauty pageant winner and model before embarking on a career in films and TV. Her first film was Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever". She went on to star in "Losing Isaiah" (1995), "Bulworth" (1998), and the very well-received TV movie "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" (1999). She is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She was excellent in all the above-mentioned movies, and considered to be one of the most beautiful and glamorous women in Hollywood.

Answer: Pam Grier

Pam Grier was born in North Carolina in 1949. Grier was given her start by director Roger Corman, who cast her in the so-called blaxploitation movies of the early seventies, playing tough and sexy women-in-prison, among other parts. After some time without work, she returned to the screen in "Fort Apache the Bronx" in 1981.
"Jackie Brown" was a real breakthrough for her, a good movie with a fine performance from Grier. Pam Grier plays a stewardess in this movie, who smuggles large amounts of money for a crook played by Samuel L. Jackson. She gets into trouble with the police, and the story is about how she outsmarts just about everyone. This film has an awesome cast: Robert DeNiro, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert Forster in a great part.

Pam Grier began her career in the early 1970s. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1988, and given a short time to live, but she survived. She's one of my favorites - try to catch "Jackie Brown" if you haven't already!

Answer: Tina Turner

"What's Love Got To Do With It?" (1993) is the story of the great singer Tina Turner, and her difficult life with her husband Ike Turner, played by Laurence Fishbourne. Bassett and Fishbourne were both nominated for Oscars for their performances.

Angela Bassett was born in New York City in 1958. She attended Yale University for seven years, three of them in post-graduate study at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. She went on to appear in several film and TV roles, until she landed the role of a lifetime in "What's Love Got To Do With It?"(1993), the life story of Tina Turner. She has also starred in "Waiting to Exhale"(1995) and "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" (1998). Angela married actor Courtney Vance in 1997.

Answer: Diahann Carroll

She was born in the Bronx, New York in 1935, and attended the New York City School for the Performing Arts. Ms Carroll won the Tony award for Best Actress in a musical for "No Strings" in 1962. She sang the lovely song "The Sweetest Sounds" in that play.

Her 1968 television series was a ground-breaker. Diahann Carroll's career began in the 1950s. She's made many movie and television appearances, including the 1974 film "Claudine", for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Answer: Sidney Poitier

"A Raisin in the Sun" is the story of a family struggling to make a living, and when they come into some money after a relative's death, they must decide how to spend it. The film was based on the 1958 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. Ruby Dee was born in Cleveland in 1924, and graduated from Hunter College.

She made her stage debut in "Anna Lucasta" in 1946. She appeared in several movies, and has made many appearances on television and the stage as well. She has been a long-standing civil rights activist.

She starred with her equally distinguished husband Ossie Davis in many plays and movies. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis were great friends of both Dr Martin Luther King and Malcom X, and have been continually active in the civil rights movement. Ossie Davis died in 2005.

Answer: Dorothy Dandridge

Her life story is well known, in part due to the film biography of her life. Although her childhood appears to have been a fairly happy one, her adult life was fraught with problems; an unhappy marriage (to one of the famous Nicolas Brothers), a handicapped daughter, and discrimination everywhere she turned. She attained true stardom with the 1954 film "Carmen Jones", directed by Otto Preminger. But things went downhill after that, roles for her were scarce, and she began to drink heavily.

With many personal problems facing her, she was found dead on the floor of her bathroom in 1965. It is believed that her death was caused by an overdose of the antidepressants she was taking, perhaps accidental. She was in her early forties when she died.

Answer: Nashville

Oprah was living with her father in Nashville and going to college when she landed her first job as news anchor at WTVF in Nashville. She was 19 at the time. She soon moved to a news anchor job in Baltimore, then on to Chicago, where her career really took off. She began hosting a morning talk show, "AM Chicago", in 1984. Her show was a success, and was soon renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show." In 1986 the show went national and Oprah began addressing themes of importance to women, and her show became a national phenomonon.
She has become very influential, with features such as Oprah's Book Club, which introduces new and interesting books and authors to the public. Such is her influence that the books she recommends usually become immediate best sellers. As well as her top-rated television show, she has two magazines, "O" and "Oprah at Home" and a television network, dedicated to issues mainly of interest to women. She has appeared in several movies for the big screen and for television, most notably in "The Color Purple." (1985) She gave a touching performance, and was nominated for an Academy Award for it.
Her fortune is estimated to be well over a billion dollars.