Beah Richards

Beah Richards
Born: Jul 12, 1920
Vicksburg, MS
Career: 1959-2000
Countries: USA
Genre/Type: Drama
Biography by Andrea LeVasseur
Born in Vicksburg, MS, in 1920, actress Beah Richards studied at Dillard University in New Orleans before pursuing an acting career on-stage in New York City. She appeared in Louis S. Peterson's off-Broadway play Take a Giant Step and in the film adaptation in 1959. In 1965, she received a Tony nomination for her role as Sister Margaret in James Baldwin's play The Amen Corner, and two years later she received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role as Sidney Poitier's mother in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. She continued playing matriarch characters in the feature films Hurry Sundown, In the Heat of the Night, and The Great White Hope. During the '70s, she took over for Lillian Randolph as Bill Cosby's mother on The Bill Cosby Show, played Aunt Ethel on Sanford and Son, and played several grandmotherly characters in made-for-TV movies. More television appearances followed in the '80s, with recurring roles on Designing Women, Beauty and the Beast, Hill Street Blues, Roots: The Next Generations, and L.A. Law. In 1987, she received her first Emmy award for playing Olive Varden on Frank's Place. She has also directed plays at the Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center, appeared in her own one-woman show, and published several plays and novels, including the poetry collection A Black Woman Speaks and Other Poems. After playing the substance abuse counselor in Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy, she made a bit of a comeback as Dr. Benton's (Eriq LaSalle) mother on the NBC medical drama ER and as Grandma Baby in Jonathan Demme's Beloved, based on the novel by Toni Morrison. She received an Emmy for her final television appearance as Gertrude Turner on the ABC drama The Practice. She died of emphysema in 2000.

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Filmography

Movie/Film Released Rating Role Buy
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks 2003 Participant [Starring]
Beloved 1998 Actor [Starring]
ER: Full Moon, Saturday Night 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: House of Cards 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: Love's Labor Lost 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: Luck of the Draw 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: Make of Two Hearts 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: Motherhood 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: Sleepless in Chicago 1995 Actor [Starring]
ER: 9 1/2 Hours 1994 Actor [Starring]
Out of Darkness 1994 Actor [Starring]
Hearts Afire: Season 01 1992 Actor [Starring]
Murder, She Wrote: Judge Not 1991 Actor [Starring]
One Special Victory 1991 Actor [Starring]
Capital News 1990 Actor [Starring]
Drugstore Cowboy 1989 Actor [Starring]
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Beah Richards was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA
Beah Richards died on on September 14, 2000
Beah Richards (July 12, 1920 - September 14, 2000) was an American actress with a long career on stage, screen and television. She was also a poet, playwright and author. Born Beulah Richardson in Vicksburg, Mississippi, her mother was a se...

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Awards

Year Movie/Film Role
1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Best Supporting Actress (Nom)
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