| Louise Beavers | |
|---|---|
with Carole Lombard in Made for Each Other (1939) |
|
| Born | March 8, 1902 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | October 26, 1962 (aged 60) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Louise Beaver |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1923–1960 |
| Spouse | Leroy Moore (m. 1952–1962) (her death) |
Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio,[1] Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities.
Contents |
Louise Beavers was a breakthrough actress for African Americans. Beavers became known as a symbol of a “mammy” on the screen. A mammy archetype “is the portrayal within a narrative framework or other imagery of a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud”.[2]
Louise Ellen Beavers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to school teacher Ernestine Monroe Beavers and William M. Beavers, who was originally from Georgia. Due to her mother's illness, Louise and her parents moved to Pasadena, California.[3]
In Pasadena, she attended school and engaged in several after school activities such as basketball and church choir. Her mother also worked as a voice teacher and taught Louise how to sing for concerts.[4] In June 1920, she graduated from Pasadena High School and “worked as a dressing room attendant for a photographer and served as a personal maid to white film star Leatrice Joy”.[5]
There is some controversy as to how Louise Beavers began her acting career. She was in a group called the Lady Minstrels who were "a group of young women who staged amateur production and appeared on stage at the Loews State Theatre". It was either her performance in this group or in a contest at the Philharmonic Auditorium, which occurred later. Charles Butler from the Central Casting Bureau, who was known for being an agent for African American actors, saw the performance and recommended that Louise try out for a role for a movie.”[6] At first she was hesitant to try out for movies because of how African Americans were portrayed in movies and how Hollywood encouraged these roles. She once said, “In all the pictures I had seen…they never used colored people for anything except savages.”[7] Despite this, she tried out for a role in the film Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1927 and landed the part.
Louise Beavers started her career in the 1920s during the time of racism towards African Americans because African Americans on film were stuck in the same roles over and over again. She played the mammy in many of the movies she acted in. She started to gain more attention in the acting world after she played the role of Julia in Coquette, which starred Mary Pickford. In this film she played the black maid and mother figure to a young white woman.[8] She once received a review which stated, "Personally Miss Beavers is just splendid, just as fine as she appears on screen, but she also has a charm all her own, which needs no screen role for recognition. She has a very pleasing personality, one that draws people to her instantly and makes them feel that they are meeting a friend instead of a Hollywood Star.”[9] Beavers had a personality that brought people towards her and caused a common reaction, people wanted to watch her charm in more movies. In most of her films, she is the one who helps one of the white protagonists mature throughout the movie. In most of the movies, her roles were written so that as an African American she would be a fund, “of servitude and/or comic relief”.[10]
It was in 1934, when Beavers played Delilah in Imitation of Life that gave her a leading role that was not overshadowed by a white actor or actress. Her character, Delilah, plays a black maid again but instead of the usual subservience, Delilah has a story equivalent to the white lead. The main line of the movie parallels that of African Americans in real life. After the movie was made, the public was reportedly quite impressed by her performance.[11] It was not only a huge breakthrough for Beavers, but it was also, “the first time in American cinema history that a black woman's problems were give major emotional weight in a major Hollywood motion picture”.[12] California Graphic Magazine wrote, “the Academy could not recognize Miss Beavers. She is black!”[13]
As her career grew over time, she received criticism for allegedly choosing roles that made African Americans subservient to whites, but as she said, given the limited opportunities available, she was “only playing the parts. I don't live them”. Beavers had to learn the southern “Negro” dialect. But as she became more popular, it was harder for her earn roles in Hollywood. As she became more famous, she started to speak out against how the Hollywood industry was portraying African Americans and how they were treated during production and also after promoting the films.[14]
Beavers was one of four actresses (including Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray housekeeper Beulah on the Beulah television show. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American. She also played a maid, Louise, on the first two seasons of The Danny Thomas Show (1953–1955).
Beavers started to become involved in aspects of life other than acting, where she helped support African Americans. She endorsed Robert S. Abbott, the editor of the Chicago Defender, who helped fight for African Americans' civil rights. She supported Richard Nixon, whom she believed would help African Americans in the United States in the civil rights battle.[15]
Beavers married a man named Robert Clark in 1936. He later became her manager and helped her to manage her very busy schedule. She not only worked on roles for the films she was in, but also "her twenty-week tours of theaters that she conducted annually”.[16] They later divorced and remarried. Many years later, in 1952, Beavers married Leroy Moore, who was either an interior designer or a chef (varying sources); they stayed together until her death in 1962.[17] She had no children.
In her later life, the actress was plagued by health issues, including obesity and diabetes. She lost her fight on October 26, 1962, aged 60, following a heart attack, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles. She died on the day of the 10th anniversary of the death of Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award.[18]
Beavers was a central influence in the United States adapting to the African-American presence in film. Her performances in the films, her personality, and her character thus led her to the great honor of being placed into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in the year, 1976.[19]
Features:
Short subjects: