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Home · Celebrity

Ruby Dee's Life In Pictures

Ruby Dee—born Ruby Ann Wallace—lived a remarkable life. From Harlem to Hollywood, she set the bar for a life lived with passion, dedication, and most of all, love for humanity, family, and her beloved Ossie Davis. Here, we take a look at her extraordinary life.

By Yolanda Sangweni · June 12, 2014October 27, 2020
01
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

The legendary actress, poet and playwright passed away at the New Rochelle, New York she had shared with her beloved husband Ossie Davis for over four decades.

AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
02
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

The legendary actress was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, but raised in Harlem after her parents separated. She found her calling while studying at Hunter College and joined the American Negro Theater.

George Mattson/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
03
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee met her soon-to-be husband, Ossie Davis, in 1945, while rehearsing for the Broadway production of Jeb. They married in 1948. Davis passed away in 2005.

Life’s Essentials With Ruby Dee
04
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

“One thing is certain: The best of me has been subsidized by the best of what you are. I have no hungers that you do not feed,” Dee said of her husband of 57 years.

CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
05
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

“The idea that a good marriage is made in heaven and swung down on a golden cord like a gift from God did not coincide with my lifelong observations, Dee told ESSENCE.com. “Yes the wedding can be a beautiful and exciting, expensive event, or it can be a handshake, or a jump over a broom, but it is just that – an event, the one that precedes the marriage.” 

Moneta Sleet, Jr./Ebony Collection via AP Images
06
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee and Davis’ personal lives went hand in hand with their professional lives. They starred in countless productions on stage and screen. Here, they are pictured on the set of Go Down, Moses, which featured Dee as Harriet Tubman and Davis as John Ross in July 22, 1963.

CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
07
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee and Davis were also staunch civil rights activists, standing on the front lines with organizations like the NAACP, and figures like Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here, Dee is pictured at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963 where Dr. King delivered his iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

Photo by Paul Schutzer/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
08
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee is pictured on the set of Roots The Next Generation in 1979.

ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images
09
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

“The great thing about marriage is that it gives a man time to find out what love is all about. Love, in the end, is the object of existence,” Dee told ESSENCE.

Life’s Essentials With Ruby Dee
10
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee is pictured with her family, son Guy, granddaughter Ihsanna Muhammad, and daughter Dr. Hasna Muhammad Davis at home.

Life’s Essentials With Ruby Dee
11
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Dee lost her beloved husband in 2005. “You spread your spirit over me, too, like a warm blanket on a cold night,” said Dee of Davis in the forthcoming documentary of their love.

Jon Naso/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
12
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

The pioneer played a large role in African American history. She was an active member of  the Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Here she attends the The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross screening at The Paris Theatre in New York City. 

Michael Stewart/WireImage
13
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee as Cora Sanders in Police Woman, Season 1 for NBC.

NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
14
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

In 1959 Ruby Dee starred as Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Arguably her most famous performance, the play ran on Broadway for 530 performances and was turned into a film in 1961.

Theodore Williams/Ebony Collect/AP Images
15
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

After moving from Cleveland to Harlem with her family as a child, the actress remained a life-long resident of New York. Here she is attending a celebration at Melba’s restaurant in New York City.

Amy Sussman/Getty Images
16
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

“The largest piece of unfinished business before humankind is, in our opinion, poverty, spiritual as well as material,” Ms. Dee wrote in With Ossie and Ruby. “Racism, yes, and sexism, too; unemployment, drugs, child abuse, black boys too much in prison — oh, yes, Struggle is all there is, and we are still committed.”

Ben Hider/Getty Images
17
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee poses with the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for her work in American Gangster at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles

AP Photo/Reed Saxon
18
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Ruby’s first marriage was in 1941 to Freddie Dee Brown, a distillery worker. The marriage only lasted four years but she kept the “Dee” for a lifetime.

AF archive / Alamy
19
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

In 2007, Ruby Dee’s role in the film American Gangster garnered her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
20
Rest in Peace, Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee recieved many awards for her work over the years including the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. Here she recieves Beacon of Change Award before the Civil Rights Game at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Read More

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