Ossie Davis Exposed the 7 Worst Racist Stars Who Made Hollywood Harder for Black Actors

For six decades Ossie Davis worked inside the American entertainment industry that had made him one of the definitive voices of Black American cultural resistance, the actor who delivered Malcolm X's eulogy in February 1965, the actor who delivered Martin Luther King Jr's eulogy in April 1968, and one of the most sustained civil rights witnesses in the history of American film. From his 1950 20th Century Fox debut in No Way Out alongside Sidney Poitier, through his 1961 Broadway production of Purlie Victorious, through his 1963 role in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal, through his defining performances in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing in 1989 and Jungle Fever in 1991, and into his February 4, 2005 death at age 87 in Miami Beach, Davis stood at the center of Old Hollywood as one of the Black actors the industry permitted to work but never permitted to lead. His 1998 joint autobiography With Ossie and Ruby In This Life Together co-written with his wife Ruby Dee documented the specific list of beloved American figures whose private conduct concealed the racism he witnessed for six decades. This video traces the seven stars Davis encountered: from Lana Turner's private treatment of Black cast members at MGM, through Bette Davis's Jezebel production, through Joan Crawford's Pepsi-Cola board tenure, through Judy Garland's 1938 Everybody Sing blackface performance, through Ava Gardner's 1951 Show Boat casting that rejected Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge, through Elia Kazan's April 10, 1952 HUAC friendly witness testimony that named eight of his own collaborators, and into Otto Preminger's four-year affair that destroyed Dorothy Dandridge personally and professionally. What's covered in this video: Lana Turner's 1938 MGM contract at age 17, her 1946 performance in The Postman Always Rings Twice, her 1957 Best Actress Oscar nomination for Peyton Place, her private treatment of Black cast and crew members across MGM productions, and her June 1995 death at age 74 in Los Angeles. Bette Davis's two Best Actress Academy Awards for Dangerous in 1935 and Jezebel in 1938, her 18-year Warner Bros contract, her performances in All About Eve and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, her private conduct on the 1938 Jezebel antebellum Louisiana production, and her October 1989 death at age 81 in Neuilly-sur-Seine France. Joan Crawford's 1945 Best Actress Academy Award for Mildred Pierce, her MGM and Warner Bros contracts across four decades, her adopted daughter Christina Crawford's 1978 memoir Mommie Dearest, her 1955 marriage to Pepsi-Cola CEO Alfred Steele and 1959 board position, and her May 1977 death at age 71 in New York City. Judy Garland's 1939 role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, her partnership with Mickey Rooney across the Andy Hardy series, her 1938 MGM production of Everybody Sing in blackface makeup for a musical number quietly edited out of modern broadcasts, and her June 1969 death at age 47 in London of an accidental barbiturate overdose. Ava Gardner's 1953 Best Actress Oscar nomination for Mogambo, her 1951 marriage to Frank Sinatra, and MGM's 1951 Show Boat casting of Gardner as Julie La Verne in makeup designed to darken her complexion after rejecting Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge who had both campaigned for the role, and her January 1990 death at age 67 in London. Elia Kazan's 1947 Best Director Academy Award for Gentleman's Agreement and 1954 Best Director Oscar for On the Waterfront, his April 10, 1952 HUAC friendly witness testimony that named Clifford Odets and seven other Group Theatre collaborators, his April 12, 1952 New York Times full-page advertisement defending his decision, his controversial 1999 Honorary Academy Award, and his September 2003 death at age 94 in Manhattan. Otto Preminger's 1954 direction of Carmen Jones with Dorothy Dandridge as the title character, his four-year affair with Dandridge from 1954 through 1958 while married to costume designer Mary Gardner, his 1959 Porgy and Bess production alongside Sidney Poitier, his casting of Ossie Davis in his 1963 Catholic drama The Cardinal, and Dorothy Dandridge's September 8, 1965 death at age 42. Mentioned in this video: Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Elia Kazan, Otto Preminger, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Sidney Poitier, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Paul Robeson, Canada Lee, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, Christina Crawford, Alfred Steele, Mary Gardner, Clifford Odets, Morris Carnovsky, Donald Bogle, Spike Lee, Motion Picture Alliance, HUAC, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, No Way Out, Purlie Victorious, The Cardinal, Do the Right Thing, With Ossie and Ruby In This Life Together, Peyton Place, Jezebel, All About Eve, Mildred Pierce, Mommie Dearest, The Wizard of Oz, Everybody Sing, Mogambo, Show Boat, On the Waterfront, Carmen Jones, Porgy and Bess, Old Hollywood Golden Age. #OssieDavis #GoldenAgeHollywood #HollywoodSecrets