Actress Ruby Dee dies at 91

(CNN) -- Ruby Dee, the award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, has died. She was 91.

Dee died peacefully Wednesday at her New Rochelle, New York, home, according to her representative, Michael Livingston.

Dee -- often with her late husband, Ossie Davis -- was a formidable force in both the performing arts community and the civil rights movement. The couple were master and mistress of ceremonies at the 1963 March on Washingon, and she was friends with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Dee received the Frederick Douglass Award in 1970 from the New York Urban League.

As an actress, her film credits included "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950), "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961), "Buck and the Preacher" (1972), "Do the Right Thing" (1989) and "American Gangster" (2007).

Dee earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in "Gangster." She won an Emmy and Grammy for other work.

Broadway star Audra McDonald paid tribute to Dee when she accepted a Tony Award on Sunday, crediting Dee, Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll and Billie Holiday for making her career possible. McDonald won a best actress Tony in 2004 for playing the same role Dee created on Broadway in 1959 and in the 1961 film version of "Raisin."

In a statement, Gil Robertson IV of the African American Film Critics Association praised Dee's contributions.

"The members of the African American Film Critics Association are deeply saddened at the loss of actress and humanitarian Ruby Dee," said Robertson. "Throughout her seven-decade career, Ms. Dee embraced different creative platforms with her various interpretations of black womanhood and also used her gifts to champion for Human Rights. Her strength, courage and beauty will be greatly missed."

Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1922, and moved to New York's Harlem as a child. She took the surname Dee after marrying blues singer Frankie Dee two decades later. She divorced Dee after a short marriage and was wedded to Davis in 1948. Davis preceded his wife in death in 2005.

'With Ossie and Ruby'

Her acting career started in New York in the 1940s, first appearing onscreen in the 1946 musical "That Man of Mine." A role in "The Jackie Robinson Story" brought her national attention.

Dee became known to a younger generation with roles in two Spike Lee films. She co-starred with Davis in Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and in his 1991 film "Jungle Fever."

First lady Michelle Obama tweeted that she was "deeply saddened" by Dee's death. "I'll never forget seeing her in 'Do the Right Thing' on my first date with Barack."

Dee's television work included 20 episodes of "Peyton Place" in 1969 and the role of Queen Haley in the 1979 miniseries "Roots: The Next Generation."

'The finest performance I have ever seen'

She was regularly praised for her acting.

In the 1961 film version of "Raisin," Lorraine Hansberry's play about a working-class black family trying to move up in the world, she played Ruth Younger, the wife of Sidney Poitier's striving Walter.

"Miss Dee is quietly magnificent as the angry young man's hard-working wife," wrote Bosley Crowther in The New York Times.

Her stage work was equally lauded.

"Ruby Dee as Lena is giving the finest performance I have ever seen," wrote The New York Times' Clive Barnes in 1970 of Dee in Athol Fugard's play "Boesman and Lena." "Never for a moment do you think she is acting."

She won an Obie for that performance in 1971.

Other awards included a 1972 Drama Desk award for "Wedding Band," a 1991 Emmy for "Decoration Day," a 2007 Grammy for spoken-word album and a Golden Globe for "American Gangster."

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who was in "Jungle Fever" and "Do the Right Thing" with Dee, tweeted: "We Lost A Jewel Today, Mrs Ruby Dee, So Great, So Loved! R.I.P. All sympathy to her family."

Director Spike Lee tweeted that he was "crushed" by the loss of Dee, whom he called "'spiritual mother."

Always an activist

Dee and Davis -- the two, who were married 56 years, always seemed connected -- were an odd couple in some ways: She from New York, he from Waycross, Georgia. She was small and stylish, he was big and bluff. But their beliefs were often as one, and they practiced what they preached.

"We shared a great deal in common; we didn't have any distractions as to where we stood in society. We were black activists. We had a common understanding," she told Ebony in 1988.

Dee and Davis met while acting in the 1945 Broadway play "Jeb" in 1945. He proposed three years later with a telegram he sent from Chicago, where he was touring in a play, according to their joint autobiography "With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together," published near their 50th anniversary. The telegram to his girlfriend said he "might as well marry" her. Dee wrote back, "Don't do me any favors."

Their book revealed the challenges of their long marriage, including a phase in the 1960s in which they agreed they could sleep with others when work separated them. The arrangement lasted only a short time, they said. "We ultimately decided that what we had chosen as a possibility didn't really work for us," Davis said in 1999.

"You have to learn how to be married," Dee said. "You have to learn to love somebody."

There was no television in their home for years, The New York Times observed in a 1995 profile, because "television represented an industry that refused to hire black people in significant numbers or in anything other than stereotypical roles."

They appeared at protest rallies and took their children with them. She admitted to a fiery temperament: In a famous "American Gangster" scene, she slaps star Denzel Washington across the face, noting she put everything into the motion.

"It's not far from my nature to whack," she told USA Today. "There's a streak in me."

Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis arrested at protest

Dee and Davis were arrested in 1999 while protesting outside New York City police headquarters against the police shooting of an unarmed African immigrant, Amadou Diallo. Dee told reporters the shooting "reminds me of when there were lynchings all over the country."

"We've got to start saying 'No further. This must stop,' " Dee said.

Even before the appearances in Spike Lee movies made them famous faces again, Dee and Davis were always working, always pushing, whether it was producing a 1986 PBS special on King or creating a two-person show drawing on the work of African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston.

The two also shared a lot of laughter.

"The life is the fun," she told the Times in 1995.

"We walk in the middle of humor every day, and we laugh," Davis responded.

"And we fight, too," Dee replied. "Yeah. I win."

Dee is survived by three children, Guy Davis, Hasna Muhammad Davis and Nora Day Davis.

女星紅寶石迪去世，享年91

（CNN） -紅寶石迪，獲獎的女演員，其七十年的職業生涯包括在舞台和銀幕上的勝利，已經死亡。她是91。

迪伊平靜地去世週三在她的新羅謝爾，紐約，家，據她的代表，邁克爾·利文斯頓。

迪伊 - 經常與她已故的丈夫，奧西·戴維斯 - 是在演藝界和民間維權運動既是一種強大的力量。這對夫妻是主人和儀式於1963年3月上Washingon的情婦，她是朋友與牧師馬丁·路德·金紀念日和Malcolm X迪來自紐約城市聯盟收到的弗雷德里克·道格拉斯獎於1970年。

作為一個演員，她的電影作品包括“的傑基羅賓遜的故事”（1950），“一個外冷內熱的太陽”（1961），“巴克和傳道者”（1972），“做正確的事”（1989）和“美國黑幫“（2007年）。

迪贏得了奧斯卡提名，她在表演“大佬”。她贏得了艾美獎和格萊美等工作。

百老匯明星奧德拉麥當勞讚揚迪時，她接受了托尼獎上週日，計入迪，瑪雅安吉羅，Diahann卡羅爾和Billie Holiday的製作她的職業生涯可能。麥當勞贏得 ​​了最佳女演員托尼在2004年播放迪伊在百老匯於1959年，在1961年的電影版本中創建相同的作用“外冷內熱”。

在一份聲明中，非裔美國人影評人協會的吉爾·羅伯遜四稱讚Dee的貢獻。

“非裔美國人影評人協會的成員深感悲痛在演員和人道主義紅寶石迪伊的損失，”羅伯遜說。“在她七十年的職業生涯中，迪女士接受不同的創作平台，與她不同的黑色女大十八變的詮釋，也用她的禮物鼓吹人權，她的力量，勇氣和美麗將永遠懷念。”

迪伊出生紅寶石安華萊士在美國俄亥俄州克里夫蘭市，在1922年，搬到了紐約的哈林區作為一個孩子。她把姓迪結婚藍調歌手迪勳奇後二十年後。她離婚了迪伊一段短暫的婚姻後，並執著於戴維斯於1948年。戴維斯之前他的妻子在2005年去世。

“隨著奧西和紅寶石'

她的演藝生涯開始於紐約在20世紀40年代，首先出現在屏幕上的1946年音樂劇“我的那個男人。” 在“的傑克·魯賓遜的故事”一個角色給她帶來了國家的重視。

迪出名的年輕一代與兩斯派克·李的電影角色。她在李的“做正確的事”，並在他的1991年電影合作出演戴維斯“叢林熱”。

第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬在推特上說，她“深感痛心”由Dee的死亡。“我永遠忘不了看到她在”做正確的事“在我的第一次約會巴拉克。”

Dee的電視作品包括20集的“冷暖人間”在1969年和海利女王在1979年的電視連續劇中的作用“根：下一代”

“我所見過的最好的表現”

她經常稱讚了她的演技。

在1961年的電影版“外冷內熱”，韓絲貝莉的關於工人階級黑人家庭試圖在世界上移劇中，她扮演露絲雅戈爾，西德尼·波蒂埃的奮鬥沃爾特的妻子。

“迪伊小姐悄悄宏偉的憤怒的年輕人的勤勞的妻子，”在紐約時報寫了博斯利克勞瑟。

她的舞台工作同樣稱讚。

“紅寶石迪伊為莉娜是給我所見過的最好的表現，寫道：”紐約時報“克萊夫·巴恩斯在迪伊在1970阿瑟爾富加德的戲劇”Boesman和莉娜。““從來沒有一個時刻，你認為她是演戲。”

她在1971年贏得了奧比該性能。

其他獎項包括1972年的戲劇書桌獎“結婚戒指”，1991年艾美獎“家裝節”，2007年的格萊美說唱專輯和一個金球獎“美國黑幫”。

演員塞繆爾·傑克遜，誰是在“叢林熱”和“做正確的事”與迪伊，啾啾：“我們失去了珠寶今天，紅寶石夫人迪，如此之大，如此愛RIP所有同情她的家人！”

始終是一個活動家

迪和戴維斯 - 這兩個，誰結婚56年，似乎總是連接 - 是一個奇怪的夫婦在某些方面：她來自紐約，他從Waycross，喬治亞州。她是小巧時尚，他又大又虛張聲勢。但他們的信仰往往為一體，練什麼，他們鼓吹。

“我們共同的共通之處;。我們沒有任何分心的地方，我們站在社會，我們都是黑人活動家我們有一個共同的認識，”她告訴烏木於1988年。

迪和戴維斯見面作用在1945年百老匯​​，而在1945年扮演“傑布”，他建議三年後用電報，他從芝加哥，在那裡他在巡迴演出一出戲發送，根據他們的聯合自傳“隨著奧西和Ruby：在這白頭偕老，“近50週年出版。將電報交給他的女朋友，他說“不如嫁”了她。迪伊回信說，“不要做我任何好處。”

他們的著作揭示其長期婚姻的挑戰，包括在20世紀60年代一個階段中，他們同意，他們可以跟別人睡覺的時候工作，把他們分開。這項安排只持續了很短的時間，他們說。“我們最終決定，我們選擇了作為一種可能性並沒有真正為我們工作，”戴維斯在1999年說。

“你必須學會如何要結婚了，”迪伊說。“你要學會愛別人。”

有沒有電視在他們的家了多年，紐約時報在1995年的輪廓觀察，因為“電視為代表的行業，拒絕僱用黑人的顯著數字或以外的任何定型角色等。”

他們出現在抗議集會，並把自己的孩子與他們。她考上了火熱的氣質：在一個著名的“美國黑幫”的場景，她摑明星丹澤爾·華盛頓在臉上，並指出她把一切都在運動。

“這是不遠處的我自然亂作一團，” 她告訴今日美國。“有一個在我一個連勝。”

紅寶石迪，奧西·戴維斯在被捕抗議

迪和戴維斯分別於1999年，而外界對一個手無寸鐵的非洲移民阿馬杜·迪亞洛的警察射擊紐約市警察總部抗議被捕。迪告訴記者，拍攝“讓我想起當年有私刑全國各地的我。”

“我們必須開始說”沒有進一步的，這必須停止，“”迪伊說。

即使在在斯派克·李的電影的出現讓他們再著名的面孔，迪伊和戴維斯都一直在努力，一直在推動的，不管是生產在1986年的PBS特殊的國王或非裔美國作家的作品創造了二人轉圖紙佐拉•尼爾•赫斯頓。

兩人還分享了很多笑聲。

“生命是最有趣的，”她告訴紐約時報於1995年。

“我們每天走在幽默的中間，我們笑，”戴維斯回答。

“我們拼了，”迪伊回答。“是的，我贏了。”

迪伊是由三個孩子，蓋伊·戴維斯，穆罕默德漢斯娜戴維斯和諾拉日戴維斯活了下來。