Dee, Ruby

Dee, Ruby [neé Ruby Ann Wallace] (b. 1923), actress. The small, vibrant African‐American leading lady managed to play interesting and powerful women in her career, rarely in servant or other typical black roles. She was born in Cleveland, the daughter of a train porter and a schoolteacher, and grew up in Harlem. Dee was educated at Hunter College before joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941, making her Broadway debut two years later as a native woman in the drama South Pacific. She gained attention in 1946 when she took over the title character in Anna Lucasta and went on to such memorable performances as the struggling wife Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun (1959), the funny, naive Lutiebelle in Purlie Victorious (1961), the itinerant South African Lena in Boesman and Lena (1970), the South Carolina working girl Julia caught up in an interracial love affair in Wedding Band (1972), and her well‐received memoir program, My One Good Nerve (1998). Dee is married to actor‐director‐playwright Ossie Davis, and she also has written several plays herself. Autobiography: With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together, with Davis, 1998.