Ruby Dee, the acclaimed African American actress and civil rights activist, has died at age 91.
Born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, Ruby Dee had a long and varied career, spanning stage, radio, television and film.
Her daughter, Nora Davis Day, told The Associated Press on Thursday that her mother died at home in New Rochelle on Wednesday night of "natural causes," and was surrounded by family and friends at the end.
Dee frequently acted alongside her husband of 56 years, Ossie Davis, but earned many credits in her own right, even being nominated for an Oscar at age 83 for her role in the 2007 film American Gangster.
The couple used their prominence in the arts to good effect in the Black Civil Rights movement.
"We used the arts as part of our struggle," Ruby Dee said at an appearance in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2006.
Davis died in February 2005.
The couple were friends with baseball star Jackie Robinson and his wife, Rachel Dee and Davis served as masters of ceremonies for the historic 1963 March on Washington and she spoke at both the funerals for King and Malcom X.
Among her best-known films was "A Raisin in the Sun," in 1961. In 1965, she became the first black woman to play lead roles at the American Shakespeare Festival. She won an Obie Award for the title role in Athol Fugard's "Boesman and Lena" and a Drama Desk Award for her role in "Wedding Band."
On television, she was a leading cast member on soap operas in the 1950s and '60s.
She played the role of Mother Sister in Spike Lee's 1989 film, "Do the Right Thing," alongside her husband.
Ruby Dee won an Emmy as supporting actress in a miniseries or special for 1990's "Decoration Day."
She won a National Medal of the Arts in 1995 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2000. In 2004, she and Davis received Kennedy Center Honours.
Then, in 2007, she won a Grammy, when the recording of her joint memoir with Ossie got the nod for best spoken word album.
SOURCE: MSN Entertainment
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