Louise Beavers Biography

American actress (1900–1962)

Louise Beavers (March 8, 1900 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress who appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows from the 1920s to 1960. She played a prominent role in advancing the lives of Black Americans through her work and collaborated with fellow advocates to improve the social standing and media image of the Black population.

Early life

Beavers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to school teacher Ernestine (Monroe) Beavers and William M. Beavers, who was originally from Georgia. Her mother's illness caused the family to move to Pasadena, California.

In Pasadena, she attended school and engaged in several after-school activities, such as basketball and church choir. Her mother also worked as a voice teacher and taught her how to sing. In 1920, Beavers graduated from Pasadena High School. She then worked as a dressing-room attendant for a photographer and served as a personal maid to film star Leatrice Joy.

Career

Beavers' acting career began as a member of the Lady Minstrels, a group of young women who staged amateur productions and appeared on stage at the Loews State Theatre. Charles Butler, an agent for African-American actors, saw one of her early performances and recommended that she audition for a film role.

Beavers was initially hesitant to audition for film roles because of the negative portrayal of blacks in film. She once said, "In all the pictures I had seen… they never used colored people for anything except savages." However, she won a role in the film Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927) and went on to play stereotypical black roles such as those of a slave, a mother figure, a maid or domestic servant.

With Claudette Colbert in Imitation of Life (1934)

After playing the role of Julia, the maid and mother figure to a young white woman, in Coquette (1929), Beavers gained more attention for her work and was able to transition to less stereotypical roles. Beavers played Delilah in Imitation of Life (1934), again in the role of a housekeeper, but instead of the usual stereotypical comedic or purely functional role, Delilah's storyline cons*utes a secondary parallel plot in which her problems are given considerable emotional gravity. Some in the media recognized the unfairness of Hollywood's double standard regarding race. A contributor to California Graphic Magazine wrote: "the Academy could not recognize Miss Beavers. She is black!"

Beavers played the lead role in the film Reform School (1939), once thought to be a lost film, as a forward-thinking probation officer who becomes the superintendent of a reform school and implements major changes.

In the film Holiday Inn (1942), Beavers performed a song during a minstrel show number celebrating Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Because the number features Bing Crosby and others in blackface, some consider it racially offensive and it is often excised from television screenings of the film.

Lobby card for the Million Dollar Productions film Life Goes On with "Harry M. Popkin Presents Louise Beavers" logo inset

Beavers was one of three actresses (including Hattie McDaniel and Ethel Waters) to portray housekeeper Beulah on the Beulah television show, the first television sitcom to star a black person. She also played a maid for the first two seasons of The Danny Thomas Show (1953–1955).

In addition to her film work, Beavers conducted theater tours as long as 20 weeks each year.

As Beavers' career grew, some criticized her for the roles that she accepted, alleging that such roles ins*utionalized the view that blacks were subservient to whites. Beavers dismissed the criticism, acknowledging the limited opportunities available but saying: "I am only playing the parts. I don't live them." As she became more widely known, Beavers began to speak against Hollywood's portrayal and treatment of African Americans, both during production and after promoting the films. Beavers became active in public life, seeking to help support African Americans. She endorsed Robert S. Abbott, the editor of The Chicago Defender, who fought for African-Americans' civil rights. She supported Richard Nixon, who she believed would help black Americans in the struggle for civil rights.

Personal life

Beavers' cousin George Beavers, Jr. was a cofounder of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company.

She became a prominent and active member of the black community in Los Angeles. She was involved in community functions, including those at the People’s Independent Church, where she helped develop the theater program of the Young People’s Lyceum. She was also involved in the 1939 public ceremonies celebrating development of the all-black resort Val Verde County Park.

In 1936, Beavers married Robert Clark, who later became her manager. Beavers and Clark later divorced and remarried.

In 1952, Beavers married Leroy Moore, with whom she remained until her death in 1962. She had no children.

In later life, Beavers was plagued by health issues, including diabetes. She died on October 26, 1962 at the age of 62, following a heart attack, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.

Honors

Beavers was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1976.

She was an honorary member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities.

Filmography

Features

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) as Slave at Wedding (uncredited)
Coquette (1929) as Julia
Glad Rag Doll (1929) as Hannah
Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) as Sadie, the Maid
Barnum Was Right (1929) as Maid (uncredited)
Wall Street (1929) as Magnolia
Nix on Dames (1929) as Magnolia
Second Choice (1930) as Maid (uncredited)
Wide Open (1930) as Easter
She Couldn't Say No (1930) as Cora
Honey (1930) as Black Revivalist (uncredited)
True to the Navy (1930) as Maid (uncredited)
Safety in Numbers (1930) as Messalina
Back Pay (1930) as Nellie, Hester's Maid (uncredited)
Recaptured Love (1930) as Maid (uncredited)
Our Blushing Brides (1930) as Amelia, the Mannequins' Maid (uncredited)
Manslaughter (1930) as Rose (prison inmate) (uncredited)
Outside the Law (1930) as Judy the Maid (uncredited)
Bright Lights (1930) as Angela - the Maid (uncredited)
Paid (1930) as Black Convict (uncredited)
Scandal Sheet (1931)
Millie (1931) as Maid (uncredited)
Don't Bet on Women (1931) as Maid (uncredited)
Six Cylinder Love (1931, uncredited)
Party Husband (1931) as Laura's Maid (uncredited)
Annabelle's Affairs (1931) as Ruby
Sundown Trail (1931) as Auntie Jenny
Reckless Living (1931) as Maid
Girls About Town (1931) as Hattie
Good Sport (1931) as September
Ladies of the Big House (1931) as Ivory
The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932) as Beautician (uncredited)
The Expert (1932) as Lulu
It's Tough to Be Famous (1932) as Ada, Janet's Maid
Young America (1932) as Maid (uncredited)
Night World (1932) as Maid (uncredited)
The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932) as Washroom Attendant (uncredited)
Street of Women (1932) as Mattie, Natalie's maid
The Dark Horse (1932) as Levinnia, Kay's Maid (uncredited)
What Price Hollywood? (1932) as The Maid
Unashamed (1932) as Amanda Jones
Divorce in the Family (1932) as Rosetta
Hell's Highway (1932) as Rascal's Sweetheart at Visitor's Center (uncredited)
Wild Girl (1932) as Mammy Lou (uncredited)
Too Busy to Work (1932) as Mammy
She Done Him Wrong (1933) as Pearl
Her Splendid Folly (1933) as Anastasia
42nd Street (1933) as Pansy, Dorothy's Maid (uncredited)
Girl Missing (1933) as Julie - Daisy's Maid (uncredited)
The Phantom Broadcast (1933) as Penny (uncredited)
Pick-Up (1933) as Magnolia (uncredited)
Central Airport (1933) as Hotel Maid (uncredited)
The Big Cage (1933) as Mandy (uncredited)
The Story of Temple Drake (1933) as Minnie
What Price Innocence? (1933) as Hannah
Hold Your Man (1933) as Elite Club Attendant (uncredited)
Midnight Mary (1933) as Anna, Mary's Maid (uncredited)
Her Bodyguard (1933) as Margot's Maid
A Shriek in the Night (1933) as Maid
Notorious But Nice (1933) as Ophelia (uncredited)
Bombshell (1933) as Loretta
Only Yesterday (1933) as Abby, the Emerson's Maid (uncredited)
In the Money (1933) as Lily
Jimmy and Sally (1933) as Maid (uncredited)
Palooka (1934) as Crystal
Bedside (1934) as Pansy
I've Got Your Number (1934) as Crystal
Gambling Lady (1934) as Suzy - Peter's Cook (uncredited)
A Modern Hero (1934) as Azais' Maid (uncredited)
The Woman Condemned (1934) as Sally - Jane's Maid
Registered Nurse (1934) as Flo, Sadie's Maid (uncredited)
Glamour (1934) as Millie
I Believed in You (1934) as Prisoner (uncredited)
Merry Wives of Reno (1934) as Derwent's Client, Black Mother of 12 Wanting a Divorce (uncredited)
Cheaters (1934) as Lily
The Merry Frinks (1934) as Camille, Hattie's Maid
Dr. Monica (1934) as Sarah - Mary's Maid (uncredited)
I Give My Love (1934) as Maid
Beggar's Holiday (1934) as Heliotrope
Imitation of Life (1934) as Delilah Johnson
West of the Pecos (1934) as Mauree
Million Dollar Baby (1934) as Black Mother
Annapolis Farewell (1935) as Miranda
Bullets or Ballots (1936) as Nellie LaFleur
Wives Never Know (1936) as Florabelle
General Spanky (1936) as Cornelia
Rainbow on the River (1936) as Toinette
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) as Mamie
Wings Over Honolulu (1937) as Mammy
Love in a Bungalow (1937) as Millie
The Last Gangster (1937) as Gloria
Scandal Street (1938) as Clairce
Life Goes On (1938) as Sally Weston
Brother Rat (1938) as Jenny
The Headleys at Home (1938) as Hyacinth
Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938) as C*ey
Made for Each Other (1939) as Lily, Cook #3 (uncredited)
The Lady's from Kentucky (1939) as Aunt Tina
Reform School (1939) as Mother Barton
Parole Fixer (1940) as Aunt Lindy
Women Without Names (1940) as Ivory
Primrose Path (1940) as Woman Talking to Police (uncredited)
I Want a Divorce (1940) as Celestine
No Time for Comedy (1940) as Clementine
Virginia (1941) as Ophelia
Sign of the Wolf (1941) as Beulah
Kisses for Breakfast (1941) as Clotilda
Belle Starr (1941) as Mammy Lou
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) as Stella
The Vanishing Virginian (1942) as Aunt Emmeline
Young America (1942) as Pansy
Reap the Wild Wind (1942) as Maum Maria
Holiday Inn (1942) as Mamie
The Big Street (1942) as Ruby - Gloria's Maid (uncredited)
Seven Sweethearts (1942) as Petunia, the Maid
Tennessee Johnson (1942) as Addie (uncredited)
Good Morning, Judge (1943) as Cleo
DuBarry Was a Lady (1943) as Niagara
All by Myself (1943) as Willie
Top Man (1943) as Cleo - the Warrens' Maid
Jack London (1943) as Mammy Jenny
There's Something About a Soldier (1943) as Birdie (uncredited)
Follow the Boys (1944) as Louise Beavers (uncredited)
South of Dixie (1944) as Magnolia Brown / Chloe
Dixie Jamboree (1944) as Opal
Barbary Coast Gent (1944) as Bedelia
Delightfully Dangerous (1945) as Hannah
Young Widow (1946) as Rosie, the Cook (uncredited)
Lover Come Back (1946) as Martha, Kay's Maid
Banjo (1947) as Lindy
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) as Gussie
A Southern Yankee (1948) as Laundry Woman (uncredited)
For the Love of Mary (1948) as Bertha
Good Sam (1948) as Chloe
Tell It to the Judge (1949) as Cleo, Marsha's Maid (uncredited)
Girls' School (1950) as Hattie
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950) as Jackie's Mother
My Blue Heaven (1950) as Selma
Colorado Sundown (1952) as Mattie - Jackie's Maid
I Dream of Jeanie (1952) as Mammy
Never Wave at a WAC (1953) as Artamesa, Jo's Maid
Good-bye, My Lady (1956) as Bonnie Drew
You Can't Run Away from It (1956) as Maid
Teenage Rebel (1956) as Willamay
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) as Osia
The Goddess (1958) as The Cook
All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) as Rose
The Facts of Life (1960) as Gussie

Short subjects

Oriental Hugs (1928)
Election Day (1929) as Farina's Mother
Knights Before Christmas (1930)
You're Telling Me (1932) as The Maid (uncredited)
Hesitating Love (1932)
The Midnight Patrol (1933) (scenes deleted)
Grin and Bear It (1933)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louise Beavers.

Louise Beavers at IMDb
Louise Beavers at AllMovie
Louise Beavers at Find a Grave

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