![Image of Louise Beavers](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w342/paY7aYpB9erGe3KetPLZ3P0Yd39.jpg)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows from the 1920s until 1960, most often cast in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. She was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. Beavers was a breakthrough actress for black women and 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 black domestic servant, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud". Louise Beavers started her career in the 1920s. At the time, black people in films were limited to acting in only very few roles, usually as slaves or domestic help. 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. 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.” Beavers had an attractive personality, and often played roles in which she helps a white protagonist mature in the course of the movie. In most of Beavers' movies, her role was written such that she would serve, as often black characters did, a fund, “of servitude and/or comic relief”. Louise Beavers with Bobby Breen in Rainbow on the River (1936) In 1934, Beavers played Delilah in Imitation of Life in a dramatic role. Her character again plays a black maid, but instead of the usual stereotypical comedic or purely functional role, Delilah's story line is a secondary parallel plot. The public reacted positively to Beavers' performance. It was not only a breakthrough for Beavers, but was also “the first time in American cinema history that a black woman's problems were given major emotional weight in a major Hollywood motion picture”. Some in the media recognized the unfairness of Hollywood's double standard regarding race. For example, California Graphic Magazine wrote, “the Academy could not recognize Miss Beavers. She is black!” In the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, in the performance of "Lincoln's Birthday," there was a big minstrel show number, "Abraham," which featured performances by Bing Crosby (Jim Hardy) in blackface makeup and by Beavers as Mamie. This number, as well as the scene itself, are sometimes cut from the film's show on television, presumably because of the offensiveness of blackface. In later life, Beavers was plagued by health issues, including diabetes. She died on October 26, 1962, at the age of 60, following a heart attack, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles. Beavers was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1976.
Series | Make Room for Granddaddy | Unknown | 1970-09-23 |
Movie | All the Fine Young Cannibals | Rose | 1960-09-15 |
Movie | The Facts of Life | Gussie | 1960-11-14 |
Series | Bourbon Street Beat | Unknown | 1959-10-05 |
Series | The Swamp Fox | 1959-10-23 | |
Movie | The Goddess | The Cook | 1958-06-24 |
Movie | Tammy and the Bachelor | Osia | 1957-06-14 |
Movie | You Can't Run Away from It | Maid | 1956-10-30 |
Movie | Good-bye, My Lady | Bonnie Drew | 1956-05-12 |
Movie | Teenage Rebel | Willamay | 1956-11-01 |
Movie | Never Wave at a WAC | Artamesa | 1953-01-28 |
Series | The Danny Thomas Show | Louise Evans | 1953-09-29 |
Movie | Colorado Sundown | Mattie, Jackie's Maid | 1952-02-08 |
Movie | I Dream of Jeanie | Mammy | 1952-06-15 |
Movie | The Jackie Robinson Story | Jackie's Mother | 1950-05-16 |
Series | The Beulah Show | Beulah | 1950-10-03 |
Movie | My Blue Heaven | Selma | 1950-09-15 |
Movie | Tell It to the Judge | Cleo, Marsha's Maid (uncredited) | 1949-11-18 |
Movie | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Gussie | 1948-03-25 |
Movie | A Southern Yankee | Laundry Woman | 1948-08-05 |
Movie | Good Sam | Chloe | 1948-09-01 |
Movie | For the Love of Mary | Bertha | 1948-09-01 |
Movie | Banjo | Lindy | 1947-05-15 |
Movie | Young Widow | Rosie | 1946-03-01 |
Movie | Lover Come Back | Martha | 1946-06-21 |
Movie | Delightfully Dangerous | Hannah | 1945-03-31 |
Movie | Dixie Jamboree | Sam the Deckhand | 1944-08-15 |
Movie | South of Dixie | Magnolia Brown / Chloe | 1944-06-23 |
Movie | Barbary Coast Gent | Bedelia | 1944-09-01 |
Movie | Good Morning, Judge | Cleo | 1943-05-07 |
Movie | Du Barry was a Lady | Niagara | 1943-08-13 |
Movie | All by Myself | Willie | 1943-06-11 |
Movie | Top Man | Cleo | 1943-09-17 |
Movie | There's Something About a Soldier | Birdie | 1943-11-30 |
Movie | Young America | Pansy | 1942-02-06 |
Movie | Reap the Wild Wind | Maum Maria | 1942-03-26 |
Movie | The Vanishing Virginian | Aunt Emmeline | 1942-02-01 |
Movie | Seven Sweethearts | Petunia, the Maid | 1942-11-13 |
Movie | Holiday Inn | Mamie | 1942-07-10 |
Movie | The Big Street | Ruby, Gloria's Maid (Uncredited) | 1942-08-13 |
Movie | Virginia | Ophelia | 1941-01-28 |
Movie | Sign of the Wolf | Beulah | 1941-03-25 |
Movie | Kisses for Breakfast | Clotilda | 1941-07-05 |
Movie | Shadow of the Thin Man | Stella | 1941-11-21 |
Movie | Belle Starr | Mammy Lou | 1941-09-12 |
Movie | Parole Fixer | Aunt Lindy | 1940-02-02 |
Movie | Women Without Names | Ivory | 1940-03-14 |
Movie | I Want a Divorce | Celestine | 1940-09-20 |
Movie | Primrose Path | Woman Talking to Police (uncredited) | 1940-03-22 |
Movie | No Time for Comedy | Clementine | 1940-09-14 |
Movie | Made for Each Other | Lily (uncredited) | 1939-02-10 |
Movie | The Lady's from Kentucky | Aunt Tina | 1939-04-27 |
Movie | Scandal Street | Clairce | 1938-02-11 |
Movie | Brother Rat | Jenny | 1938-10-29 |
Movie | Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus | Cassey | 1938-12-02 |
Movie | Make Way for Tomorrow | Mamie | 1937-05-09 |
Movie | Wings Over Honolulu | Mammy | 1937-05-16 |
Movie | The Last Gangster | Gloria | 1937-11-12 |
Movie | Wives Never Know | Florabelle | 1936-09-18 |
Movie | Bullets or Ballots | Nellie LaFleur | 1936-06-06 |
Movie | Rainbow on the River | Toinette | 1936-12-18 |
Movie | General Spanky | Cornelia | 1936-12-11 |
Movie | Annapolis Farewell | Miranda | 1935-08-23 |
Movie | Glamour | Millie | 1934-04-09 |
Movie | The Woman Condemned | Sally | 1934-04-03 |
Movie | Registered Nurse | Flo - Sadie's Maid | 1934-04-06 |
Movie | Bedside | Pansy | 1934-01-27 |
Movie | Palooka | Crystal | 1934-01-26 |
Movie | I've Got Your Number | Crystal | 1934-02-24 |
Movie | Gambling Lady | Suzy - Peter's Cook (uncredited) | 1934-03-08 |
Movie | Cheaters | Lily | 1934-05-11 |
Movie | West of the Pecos | Mauree | 1934-12-27 |
Movie | Merry Wives of Reno | Derwent's Client - Black Mother of 12 Wanting a Divorce (uncredited) | 1934-04-18 |
Movie | I Give My Love | Maid | 1934-07-17 |
Movie | Imitation of Life | Delilah Johnson | 1934-11-23 |
Movie | Dr. Monica | Sarah - Mary's Maid (uncredited) | 1934-06-23 |
Movie | The Merry Frinks | Camille | 1934-05-26 |
Movie | A Modern Hero | Azais's Maid | 1934-04-21 |
Movie | Pick-up | Magnolia (uncredited) | 1933-03-24 |
Movie | Central Airport | Hotel Maid (uncredited) | 1933-04-15 |
Movie | The Big Cage | Mandy | 1933-05-01 |
Movie | The Story of Temple Drake | Minnie | 1933-05-06 |
Movie | The Phantom Broadcast | Minnie | 1933-03-14 |
Movie | Hunting Trouble | Lucy | 1933-02-08 |
Movie | What Price Innocence? | Hannah | 1933-06-24 |
Movie | She Done Him Wrong | Pearl | 1933-02-09 |
Movie | Girl Missing | Julie, Daisy's Maid (Uncredited) | 1933-03-04 |
Movie | 42nd Street | Pansy (uncredited) | 1933-03-11 |
Movie | Hold Your Man | Elite Club Attendant (uncredited) | 1933-06-30 |
Movie | Her Splendid Folly | Anastasia | 1933-10-07 |
Movie | Only Yesterday | Abby (Uncredited) | 1933-11-01 |
Movie | In the Money | Lily | 1933-11-06 |
Movie | Notorious But Nice | Ophelia | 1933-08-04 |
Movie | Bombshell | Loretta | 1933-10-13 |
Movie | The Midnight Patrol | Maid (scenes deleted) | 1933-08-03 |
Movie | Midnight Mary | Mary's Maid Anna (uncredited) | 1933-06-30 |
Movie | Her Bodyguard | Margot's Maid | 1933-07-21 |
Movie | A Shriek in the Night | Maid | 1933-07-22 |
Movie | Night World | Maid (uncredited) | 1932-05-04 |
Movie | The Strange Love of Molly Louvain | Washroom Attendant (uncredited) | 1932-05-28 |
Movie | Young America | Maid (Uncredited) | 1932-04-17 |
Movie | The Expert | Lulu | 1932-03-05 |
Movie | Street of Women | Mattie, Natalie's maid | 1932-06-04 |
Movie | The Greeks Had a Word for Them | Beautician (uncredited) | 1932-02-03 |
Movie | It's Tough to Be Famous | Ada, Janet's Maid | 1932-04-02 |
Movie | What Price Hollywood? | Mary's Maid Bonita | 1932-06-24 |
Movie | Too Busy to Work | Mammy | 1932-12-02 |
Movie | The Dark Horse | Kay's Maid Levinnia | 1932-06-16 |
Movie | Wild Girl | Mammy Lou (uncredited) | 1932-11-09 |
Movie | Hell's Highway | Rascal's Sweetheart at Visitor's Center (uncredited) | 1932-09-23 |
Movie | Unashamed | Amanda | 1932-07-02 |
Movie | Doctor X | Louise (Uncredited) | 1932-08-03 |
Movie | Divorce In The Family | Rosetta | 1932-08-27 |
Movie | Don't Bet on Women | Maid (uncredited) | 1931-02-15 |
Movie | Millie | Maid (uncredited) | 1931-02-06 |
Movie | Party Husband | Laura's Maid | 1931-06-06 |
Movie | Girls About Town | Hattie | 1931-11-07 |
Movie | Sundown Trail | Auntie Jenny | 1931-09-11 |
Movie | Good Sport | September | 1931-12-12 |
Movie | Ladies of the Big House | Ivory | 1931-12-26 |
Movie | Honey | Black Revivalist | 1930-03-29 |
Movie | True to the Navy | Maid (uncredited) | 1930-05-25 |
Movie | She Couldn't Say No | 1930-02-15 | |
Movie | Wide Open | Easter | 1930-02-01 |
Movie | Safety in Numbers | Messalina | 1930-05-30 |
Movie | Second Choice | Maid (uncredited) | 1930-01-04 |
Movie | Bright Lights | Angela | 1930-09-21 |
Movie | Back Pay | Nellie - Hester's Maid | 1930-06-01 |
Movie | Paid | Convict (uncredited) | 1930-12-30 |
Movie | Outside the Law | Judy the Maid | 1930-09-18 |
Movie | Manslaughter | Rose | 1930-07-22 |
Movie | Our Blushing Brides | Amelia the Mannequins' Maid (uncredited) | 1930-07-19 |
Movie | Coquette | Julia | 1929-03-30 |
Movie | Election Day | Farina's mother | 1929-01-12 |
Movie | Glad Rag Doll | Hannah | 1929-05-04 |
Movie | Wall Street | Magnolia | 1929-12-01 |
Movie | Barnum Was Right | Maid | 1929-09-22 |
Movie | Thunderbolt | Black Cat Cafe Patron (uncredited) | 1929-06-20 |