By Marisol Nicholson
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 2006 became the first Black Oscar winner honored with a U.S. postage stamp. In 2010, she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
In addition to acting, McDaniel recorded 16 blues sides between 1926 and 1929 and was a radio performer and television personality; she was the first Black woman to sing on radio in the United States. Although she appeared in more than 300 films, she received on-screen credits for only 83. Her best known other major films are Alice Adams, In This Our Life, Since You Went Away, and Song of the South.
McDaniel experienced racism and racial segregation throughout her career, and was unable to attend the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta because it was held at a whites-only theater. At the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, she sat at a segregated table at the side of the room. In 1952, McDaniel died of breast cancer. Her final wish to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery was denied because the graveyard was restricted to whites only at the time.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Alessandro Striggio (composer) –
- Jerome Lawrence (playwright) –
- Davy Jones (musician; member of The Monkees) –
Born
- Jimmy Dorsey (bandleader) –
- Dinah Shore (singer) –
- Jack Lousma (astronaut) –
- Willi Donnell Smith (fashion designer) –
Events
- Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in the film Gone With the Wind–
- In Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence received his 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics–
- Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau announced his resignation –
- In Bethel, Maine, the largest snowwoman (122 feet, 1 inch tall) was dedicated–
Weather
- A heavy snowstorm dumped 30 inches on Salem, Massachusetts–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
