Ossie Davis was born Raiford Chatman Davis on December 18, 1917 in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia. He became known as "Ossie" when the courthouse clerk who was filing his birth certificate misunderstood his mom and thought she said his name was Ossie instead of his initials R.C. Ossie came up during a time when racism was high. The KKK once threatened to shoot his dad. Following the wishes of his parents, Ossie went to Howard University but ended up dropping out in 1939 to go to New York and fulfill his dreams of becoming an actor. That same year his acting career began with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem.
Meanwhile, Ruby Dee, born Ruby Ann Wallace on October 27, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio was also pursuing her acting career in New York. She started acting when she was a teen and had her first major breakthrough in 1946 when she took on the lead title in the Broadway production Anna Lucasta. It was in that same year when the young beauty and a handsome Ossie crossed each other's path while performing the play Jeb. The two soon became a couple and in 1948 they decided to get married. In 1950, came Ossie's film debut in Sidney Poitier's No Way Out, Ossie admired Sidney and often modeled his acting technique after him by playing more distinguished roles.
Ruby Dee was getting a lot of work, she was featured in the Jackie Robinson Story playing the wife of the baseball great and in 1959 she landed a starring role on Broadway in Lorraine Hansbury's play A Raisin in the Sun. She received rave reviews for her work and two years later starred in the film version of the play. It was around this time Ruby and Ossie joined forces to work together on a play called Purlie Victorious. It was a southern comedy written by Ossie and both he and Ruby co-starred in it. They also starred in the film adaptation of the play together. From that moment on, this power couple worked together on many different projects both on and off the big screen. Ossie and Ruby were very active in the Civil Rights Movement. The couple participated in marches and they were very outspoken about racial equality.
Even though they experienced happiness and success in their careers as a young, Black actors their marriage and love life was different. Like most couples, they faced moments of uncertainty and wondered if there was something more... something else out there and decided to act on it. Later in 1988, the couple wrote an autobiography "With Ossie & Ruby In This Life Together" in which they discussed their "open marriage,"
Ossie: "So we decided to give ourselves
permission to sleep with other partners if we wished -- as long as what we did was honest as well as private, and that neither of us exposed the family to scandal or disease. We had to be discreet and, if the word can be apt, honorable in our behavior, both to ourselves, to whomever else might be involved, and most of all, to the family. And for the most part, we were... But looking back, I'd say no matter what did or did not happen, we freed each other. And in doing that, we also freed ourselves...Sex is fine, but love is better. That's the most important part of being free. In light of what we learned, is extramarital sex something we recommend as a regular part of marriage? Not now...not anymore. Not since AIDS has entered the equation, and genital herpes, syphilis, and other venereal diseases..."
Ruby: "But, we both came to realize that we were very fortunate that, in all of the deep profound, fundamental ways, we really, really only wanted each other. It was like a rediscovery of something from the beginning. It's not something that you'd recommend to everybody. But often Ossie has said - and I've though too - the best way to have somebody is to let it go. If it doesn't come back you are free in another kind of sense - in that you find the strength to let go and wish somebody well. So, we thought an open marriage was appropriate for us but it turned out not to be. But then that's what we're all about, we are moving from one position to another in the process of trying to unravel this thing call life."
In the words of Chaka Khan "through the fire, to the limit, to the wall, for the chance to be with you, I'd gladly risk it all" ... and that's just what Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee did, they took the risk to fortunately discover they were all they ever wanted and needed. These two lovers continued to shine bright on the big screen, appearing in several Spike Lee movies during their later years. Ruby Dee also found herself in several TV roles and received an Emmy Award for her work on the show Decoration Day. Over years the couple received many honors including being named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame (1989), The National Medal of Arts (1995), the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors (2004), the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award (2005), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for their autobiography (2007).
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee shared a wonderful life together filled with stellar career opportunities, activism and 57 years of marriage! They had three children a son, blues musician Guy Davis and two daughters Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad. On February 4, 2005 Ruby Dee lost her partner in life when Ossie Davis died unexpectedly.
After his death she worked through her grief appearing in the 2007 film American Gangster opposite Denzel Washington, playing the role of his mother, Mama Lucas which she won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for. Today, in her 90's, Ruby Dee is still performing. She is the narrator for the Lifetime movie Betty and Coretta, which was released in 2013 about the lives of Betty Shabazz and Coretta Scott King after the assassinations of their husbands. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee... Strength, Courage, Black Love.
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