Actor Ossie Davis dies
NEW YORK (AP) — Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, has died, an aide said Friday. He was 87.
Davis, the husband and partner of actress Ruby Dee, was found dead Friday in his hotel room in Miami, where he was making a film called Retirement, according to Arminda Thomas, who works in his office in suburban New Rochelle.
Davis, who wrote, acted, directed and produced for the theater and Hollywood, was a central figure among black performers of the last five decades. He and Dee celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998 with the publication of a dual autobiography, In This Life Together.
Davis had just started his movie on Monday, said Michael Livingston, his Hollywood agent.
"I'm shocked," Livingston said. "I'm absolutely shocked. He was the most wonderful man I've ever known. Such a classy, kindly man." Dee had gone to New Zealand to make a movie there, Livingston said.
In 2004, Davis and Dee were among the artists selected to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.
Their partnership called to mind other performing couples, such as the Lunts, or Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Davis and Dee first appeared together in the plays Jeb, in 1946, and Anna Lucasta, in 1946-47. Davis' first film, No Way Out in 1950, was Dee's fifth.
Both had key roles in the television series Roots: The Next Generation (1978), Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum (1986) and The Stand (1994). Davis appeared in three Spike Lee films, including School Daze,Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. Dee also appeared in the latter two; among her best-known films was A Raisin in the Sun, in 1961.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, has died, an aide said Friday. He was 87.
Davis, the husband and partner of actress Ruby Dee, was found dead Friday in his hotel room in Miami, where he was making a film called Retirement, according to Arminda Thomas, who works in his office in suburban New Rochelle.
Davis, who wrote, acted, directed and produced for the theater and Hollywood, was a central figure among black performers of the last five decades. He and Dee celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998 with the publication of a dual autobiography, In This Life Together.
Davis had just started his movie on Monday, said Michael Livingston, his Hollywood agent.
"I'm shocked," Livingston said. "I'm absolutely shocked. He was the most wonderful man I've ever known. Such a classy, kindly man." Dee had gone to New Zealand to make a movie there, Livingston said.
In 2004, Davis and Dee were among the artists selected to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.
Their partnership called to mind other performing couples, such as the Lunts, or Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Davis and Dee first appeared together in the plays Jeb, in 1946, and Anna Lucasta, in 1946-47. Davis' first film, No Way Out in 1950, was Dee's fifth.
Both had key roles in the television series Roots: The Next Generation (1978), Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum (1986) and The Stand (1994). Davis appeared in three Spike Lee films, including School Daze,Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. Dee also appeared in the latter two; among her best-known films was A Raisin in the Sun, in 1961.
