Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel achieved a series of firsts in cinema, radio and television

Wearing an elegant sequined gown festooned with a corsage, her hair neatly coiffed, Hattie McDaniel looked nothing like her most famous character as she accepted the little gold statuette for best supporting actress from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“And I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry."

First African-American to Win an Academy Award
Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Academy Award when she won best supporting actress for her 1939 role as Mammy in the mainstream blockbuster “Gone with the Wind,” based on Margaret Mitchell’s popular novel of the same name. It was her 60th known film.

A member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1934, Hattie McDaniel appeared in more than 300 films but has been credited in only 83 films. Her final movie was The Big Wheel in 1949.

Began Her Career as a Singer
Born June 10, 1895 in Wichita, Kansas, Hattie McDaniel was the youngest of 13 children born to former slaves Henry McDaniel and Susan Holbert. As a child, the entertainer began her career on stage as a singer and songwriter for her brother’s minstrel show. From 1920 to 1925, Hattie McDaniel took her act on the

road, touring with an African-American ensemble in Professor George Morrison's Melody Hounds. Following the 1929 stock market crash, the only work available to McDaniel was as a washroom attendant and waitress at Club Madrid in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she eventually was able to find her way again onto the stage.

In 1931, Hattie McDaniel followed her brother Sam and sister Etta, also actors, to Los Angeles. Like many hopefuls of any race, she worked as a maid or a cook until she was able to land her first role. From there, her career took off.

At age 37, Hattie McDaniel started her film career, playing a maid in the film “The Washington Masquerade,” a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer political drama starring Lionel Barrymore. As it turned out, 1932 was a good year for Hattie McDaniel as she went on to appear in “The Boiling Point” and “The Golden West,” two B Westerns, and “Blonde Venus,” a Marlene Dietrich/Cary Grant vehicle.

Following several films, Hattie McDaniel made a splash in 1936 as Queenie in the second and most acclaimed version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein musical, “Show Boat.”

Made Cinema History with Gone With the Wind Movie Role
First appearing onscreen with matinee idol Clark Gable in the 1935 film “China Seas,” Hattie McDaniel went on the make cinema history playing Mammy in the 1939 blockbuster “Gone with the Wind.” “Time” magazine reported the following in its Dec. 25, 1939 cover article on the film:

Two of Selznick's minor castings were inspired: 1) Thomas Mitchell as old hard-riding Gerald O'Hara, who (after his mind is gone) by sheer power of pantomime dominates the scenes in which he has almost nothing to say or do; 2) colored Cinemactress Hattie McDaniel, who comes from Kansas, had to be taught to speak thick Georgian, turns in the most finished acting job of the picture as Mammy, the sly, leather-lunged, devoted Emily Post of the O'Haras.

First Black Woman to Sing on Radio
Aside from her contributions to American cinema, Hattie McDaniel also has the distinction of being the first African-American woman to sing on the radio in the United States. Her star power is credited with doubling the rating of CBS’s daily 15-minute radio program, “The Beulah Show,” which she joined in 1947.

Became First Black Woman to Star in a Television Sitcom with “The Beaulah Show”
“Though she already had made radio and cinema history, Hattie McDaniel went on to work in yet another fledging medium, television, becoming the first African-American actress to star in a sitcom when “The Beulah Show” made the leap from radio. By the time she landed on “The Beulah Show,” Hattie McDaniel had enough clout to include script approval as a provision in her contract. That allowed her to control how she was portrayed.

As an actress, Hattie McDaniel almost always portrayed domestic servants, one of the few roles allowed to African-Americans during the era in which she worked. Many African-American organizations and individuals, however, disapproved of Hattie McDaniel for giving in and playing what they felt were stereotypical roles rather than fighting for better portrayals of African-Americans.

Faced Criticism About Maid Roles
Though she faced criticism for continually playing the role of maids throughout her career, some critics credit Hattie McDaniel with pushing the envelope by developing maid characters that increasingly were portrayed as assertive and sassy. The maid may have been a career path many African-Americans did not want to advance, but Hattie McDaniel’s roles often were infused with a wisdom that was beyond that of the main characters.

Being a maid on the big and small screens made Hattie McDaniel rich. She reportedly earned $1,000 per episode during her first season on “The Beulah Show,” at a time when the average annual household income for an American family was less than $3,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Sugar Hill Litigation
But having money didn’t mean Hattie McDaniel didn’t face restrictions on spending it. In the 1940s, she and some of her other well-known neighbors, including Louise Beavers and Ethel Waters, faced a lawsuit when they moved into the covenant-restricted West Adams Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles (known as “Sugar Hill”), where African-Americans were not allowed to own property. Following many years of litigation, the judge threw the case out of court on the grounds that it was time that African-Americans’ rights under the 14th Amendment right to equal protection was respected.

Two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hattie McDaniel’s versatility as a performer earned her two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard marks her contributions to radio and the other at 1719 Vine Street honors her contributions to cinema.

U.S. Postal Stamp in Honor of Hattie McDaniel
Rounding out her many firsts, Hattie McDaniel in 2006 became the first African-American Academy Award winner honored with a stamp by the U.S. Postal Service. The image used for the 39-cent Black Heritage Series stamp was a 1941 photo of Hattie McDaniel wearing the sequined gown in which she accepted her Academy Award two years earlier.

Racism Followed Her Into Death
The racism that influenced the direction of Hattie McDaniel’s career followed her into death Oct. 26, 1952 at age 57 in Woodland Hills, California. Though Hattie McDaniel, who died of breast cancer, expressed in her will a desire to be buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – the final resting place of other silver screen luminaries, such as Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and William Desmond Taylor – she instead was buried at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. Because Hollywood Forever did not admit African-Americans for burial in 1952, Hattie McDaniel instead has a cenotaph, a memorial for those buried elsewhere.