Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Do the Right Thing (1989) and American Gangster (2007).
Do the Right Thing
Mother Sister
Jungle Fever
Lucinda Purify
American Gangster
Mama Lucas
America
Mrs. Harper
Cat People
Female
Love at Large
Corrine Dart
Jazztime Tale
Narrator (voice)
Just Cause
Evangeline Ferguson
Cop & ½
Rachel
Buck and the Preacher
Ruth
No. 2
Nanna Maria
The Tall Target
Rachel
Edge of the City
Lucy Tyler
A Raisin in the Sun
Ruth Younger
The Jackie Robinson Story
Rae Robinson
The Incident
Joan Robinson
A Simple Wish
Hortence
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Nanny
Politics of Love
Feast of All Saints
Elsie Claviere
Black Girl
Netta's mother
Video Girl
Valerie
Decoration Day
Rowena
Uptight
Laurie
Finding Buck McHenry
Mrs. Henry
Mr. and Mrs. Loving
Sophia
It's Good to Be Alive
Ruth Campanella
A Storm in Summer
Grandmother
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Self
Betty and Coretta
Narrator
Steam
Doris
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Grandmother Baxter
Virgin Island
Ruth
Take a Giant Step
Christine
Tuesday Morning Ride
Jennie
Gone Are the Days!
Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins
After Goodbye
Narrator
Sports on the Silver Screen
Self (archive footage)
That Man of Mine
Joan
Deadlock
Lucinda
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Mary Tyrone
A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
Narrator (voice)
Passing Glory
Mommit Porter
The Wall
Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge")
Countdown at Kusini
Leah Matanzima
Whitewash
Grandmother (voice)
Taking Back Our Town
Emelda West
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
Jackie's Mother
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
No Way Out
Connie Brooks (uncredited)
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
Indigo
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Self (archive footage)
Love in Syncopation
The Fight Never Ends
What a Guy
Wedding Band
Julia Augustine
The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
Miss Candy
In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
Herself
All God's Children
Irene Whitfield
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Mrs. Grimes
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
Self
The Ernest Green Story
Lydia Wilson
A Thousand Words
Annie McCall
Zora is My Name!
Zora Neale Hurston
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
(archive footage)
St. Louis Blues
Elizabeth
The Balcony
Thief
Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
Self
Color Adjustment
Narrator
Go Man Go
Irma Jackson
Discovering William Greaves
Self
Baby Geniuses
Margo
Poitier's Walter Lee
Self (archive footage)
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters
The Sheriff
Sue Ann Lucas
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Self
The Unfinished Journey
Narrator (voice)
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Self
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
All About Us
Ms. Ella
Easy to Get
Drugstore Girl
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
Self
The Way Back Home
Maude