Ossie Davis Biography

Actor, playwright, director. Born December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Georgia. Interested in literature from an early age, he finished school at the height of the Depression, and although offered scholarships to Savannah State College and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama he was unable to accept. Later he was able to take up a place at Howard University in Washington (1935) where he began acting with a Harlem theatre company and also became an active lifelong campaigner for civil rights.

During World War II, Davis worked in an army hospital in Liberia, spending his free time writing and producing plays to entertain troops and local people. He made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb, where he met his future wife, Ruby Dee. They co-starred in many stage productions and films, and during the 1970s had their own radio show The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story Hour. Among his best-known film roles are The Joe Louis Story (1953) and Purlie Victorious (1963), and his directorial debut was a comedy-action film Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970).