February 20, 2013 • 28 mins
Why is there a lack of qualify film roles for black actresses? Listen in to learn more about Hattie McDaniel, the the first black actress to win an Oscar, as well as more about black women behind the camera directing, screenwriting and producing.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to stuff Mom never told you. From house stuffwards
dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen
and I'm Caroline and Caroline. Even though when we asked
our Facebook fans our listeners a little while ago whether
(00:24):
or not they desired an Academy Awards podcast, and we
received mixed results. Mixed is putting it nicely, Yes, it was.
It was a very polarizing question. People were either gung
ho about the Academy Awards or gung no, I'm sorry
about the Academy Awards thing. Why would we waste our
(00:45):
time talking about an awards show. It's Hollywood, it's bologny. Well, naysayers,
we're bringing you our Academy Awards show. But it has
a pretty good point, and I think right because we're
also still in Black History Month, that's right, and so
we want to talk about all of the amazing trailblazers
(01:08):
African American women on film, on screen, behind the camera. Yeah,
and at the Oscars, even though when it comes to
Black women on film and at the Oscars, it's more
of a legacy of a lack of representation. Um. But first,
since the Oscars are happening this Sunday if you're listening
(01:28):
to this podcast when it comes out. The Oscars are
on Sunday, February, and there are some possible history makers,
starting off with nine year old quivinzent A Wallace. Yeah,
she's making history as the youngest Best Actors OSCAR nominee
for the role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, which
(01:49):
I hate to say, I haven't seen yet. I keep
meaning to go see. I've not seen it as well. Um,
she plays Hush Puppy and I hear that it's it's
a pretty intense film. And if she does win for
Best Actress, though, she would only be the second black
female to win in that category. The only other Black
woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars was Halle
(02:12):
Berry for her role in Monsters Balls. Thinks. Um, And
even though we're not talking about the dudes, let's go
ahead and acknowledge the fact that Denzel Washington is also
up for Best Actor in Flight and with his nomination
his sixth, he's the most nominated Black actor in OSCAR history,
and he'd be the first guy to win two Best
(02:34):
Actors I believe among black actors. So things to watch
out for at the Academy Awards. Um, but who was
the first Let's go back in Academy history because we
mentioned because covinc and it would only be the second
black would ever win for Best Actress as we mentioned. Um,
(02:57):
and when we go through the time line of black
female winners at the Oscars, it's a pretty truncated timeline. Yeah.
So going back to Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel
was the first black woman to win an Oscar. She
played the role of the maid, the Mammy in in
that movie, and she actually spent the rest of her
(03:19):
career essentially reprising her maid role before starring in the
series Beulah. She actually, um, just her career just never
picked up after that. Yeah, even though we might think that,
you know, it's a it's an awesome thing. Hey, it's
the first black actor to win an Oscar. But she
was actually criticized by the double a CP for even
(03:39):
taking the role of Mammy because you know, of its
racist portrayal essentially and playing into that, you know, black
character as a subservient to white characters. And like you said, Caroline,
she only she just got stuck playing maids over and
over again, and even with her last major film The
(04:00):
Big Wheel starring Mickey Rooney. In nine, she played yet
again a maid. Well but to the criticism from the
double a CP, she actually said, you know, I could
get seven hundred dollars a week to play a maid,
or I could be paid seven dollars a week to
be a maid. And even though you know, Hollywood sources
will say that McDaniel was well respected among other leading
(04:22):
Hollywood actors at the time, she's still because of getting
pigeonholed in that role and marginalized. Essentially, she ended up
dying alone and in debt at fifty seven. So things
kick off on kind of a loan note um. And
then in nine, this is a nomination she didn't win,
(04:44):
but Ethel Waters was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for
her role in the movie Pinky and yet again she
plays kind of the mentoring servant to a wealthier white
female character. So moving forward, we have Dorothy dan Ridge,
who's definitely more of a a household name. She she
really made a name for herself coming up through the
(05:06):
nightclub scene, which eventually led her two gigs in New York,
Paris and television. She actually also became the first black
woman to perform at the Waldorf Astoria during this time. Um.
But this all led to the lead role in MGMs
All Black production of Bright Road, which is based on
a young teacher's life in the South. And this popularity
(05:28):
that she achieved UM in the forties led her to
campaign for the lead role in Carmen Jones, which is
sort of the stuff of of legend movie legend. Yeah,
Carmen Jones UM, as you might assume was was based
off a musical based off of the opera Carmen and Dangered.
For her role as Carmen Jones received the very first
(05:50):
nomination for a Black actress for Best Actress at the
Academy Awards. And this is in nineteen fifty four. And
I Carmen Jones is on Flix right now, Caroline. And
so while I was cooking dinner the other night, I
watched Carmen drums in My Goodness. Every other word is
a musical song, which is nice if you like musicals. Um,
(06:13):
but uh, Danders is incredible. She as soon as she
pops on the screen, you can't you really can't look
away from her. And uh she once said that quote
if I were white, I would capture the world and
at the time, she was often described as the black
Maryland Monroe, and wearing her iconic Carmen Jones outfit, she
(06:36):
graced the cover of Life magazine. She was the first
black woman to ever do that. And even though she
did not win that Best Actress oscar in nineteen fifty four,
I mean, but for for a moment, though, let's consider
who she was up against, Judy Garland and a Star
is Born, Audrey Hepburn and Sabrina Jane Wyman and Magnificent
Obsession and Grace Kelly and the country Girl and surprise, surprise,
(06:59):
out of all of those who wins, Grace Kelly well
Dandridge pointed out several times just her disappointment with, you know,
the whole system, because she was considered, uh, you know, beautiful,
a great actress, very passionate in her roles that she
took on. And yet there was this whole perception that
(07:20):
she was so beautiful there was a danger of pairing
her up with a leading a white leading man, because
then that interracial relationship was was too much for audiences. Oh, absolutely,
an off screen and this is coming from an article
over at The Hairpin by Anne Helen Peterson about Dandridge
is Hollywood legacy. Um. She talked about how off screen
(07:42):
she did date white actors and producers, and it was
she was demonized for because of the time. As you
can imagine, interracial relationships, Um, we're still a big taboo.
And even though in Carmen Jones she is opposite leading
man Harry Belafonte, who like, if only just to see
(08:05):
him in that movie, I recommend you watch Carmen Jones
kind of had to take a moment a little break
close cooking, just stare at my laptop screen. But anyway, Um,
it was a big deal to show Bellefonte and dangerous
is romantic relationship on screen in this larger Hollywood production
because even depicting a passionate relationship between a black couple
(08:31):
was a huge thing in Hollywood because a lot of
times even uh, you know, if you did depict any
kind of romance with black characters, it was it was
sort of, you know, a little bit hokey and just
kind of kind of silly, like picks on the cheek
and stuff like that. Yeah. Well, much like Hattie McDaniel,
who we just discussed. Uh. Dandridge's career fizzled unfortunately, the
(08:53):
roles just weren't coming in for her like she had hoped.
And in nine, at the age of forty two, d
Ridge odeed on antidepressants. Yeah. So, and this is something
that we see over and over again where these actresses
are able to achieve fame up to a point and
then the roles just disappear unless they fit into these
(09:16):
kind of trophy characters of the maid or the bombshell
or the sassy finger wagging friend. Um. But let's go
on to some more Oscar winners. Unfortunately, we have to
jump from nineteen fifty to nineteen nine one to Mss
Whoopie Goldberg. Yeah, she won an Oscar for her role
(09:36):
in Ghost, which is still one of my favorite movies.
I've never seen it, really really, that's okay. I mean
I admitted that I've never been to New Orleans, so
we all have things. Um, but she she achieved the
coveted Egott. She has an Emmy, a Grammy, and a
Tony in addition to her Oscar. And unfortunately she's made
the announcement. Well, this was back in two thousand seven
(09:59):
that she was retiring from acting because she was no
longer receiving scripts and and yet again, the roles just
start to dry up. Um. And then when we moved
to two thousand one, as we mentioned, Hallie Berry became
the first black actress to receive the Best Actress Award
for a role in Monster's Ball, And sort of like
Hattie McDaniels, she did receive some flak from critics who
(10:22):
were not fond of the relationship in the film with
Billy Bob Thornton's character, who was a blatant racist, And
there was also this pretty intense sex scene and people
were like, God, I don't know if this is really
worth celebrating all that much. And and like these other actresses,
since Salie Berry took home that oscar, that history making oscar,
(10:43):
she's played Catwoman, an x men and Hallie x Men
x Uh. You know, even though I loved x Men. Um,
But basically the moral of the story is, yet again
she's just kind of not getting these amazing roles, very
very complex roles, will put it that way. Yeah. Well,
(11:03):
Jennifer Hudson of American Idol fame went on to win
an Oscar for her role in dream Girl. Dream Girls.
There it is. I ken't wanted to say show Girls,
but that is definitely so different inaccurate. She became the
youngest black actor to ever win an Oscar, finally making
the leap to a leading lady in a biopic about
(11:26):
Winnie Mandela recently, but unfortunately the movie hasn't found a
US distributor, so she is also part of what a
few bloggers have referred to as this this Oscar curse
for African American actresses. Um. Yeah. And then in two
thousand ten, Monique wins Best Supporting Actress for her role
in Precious, And then in two thousand twelve, Octavia Spencer
(11:47):
brings home the fifth Best Supporting Oscar given to a
Black actress for her role in The Help, which again
critics were saying, oh wow, what do you know? Yeah, well,
there was a whole argue meant of like, is many
that character really that far from Mammy? How do you
McDaniel's character, Like, yes, it's it's maybe a richer role,
(12:10):
it's more multifaceted, but is it really making any great strides? Yeah?
Does it say that much that you know? Obviously, it's
the it's the roles that they're being offered. Um. For instance,
Viola Davis, who was nominated first for her role in Doubt,
and she was also nominated for her role in The Help.
Was talking to Essence magazine about The Help quote, of
(12:34):
course they had trepidations. Why do I have to play
the mammy? But you do what you do as an actor.
If one of the most multifaceted and rich roles you've
ever been given is a made in nineteen sixty two Mississippi, yeah,
well this actually led Spencer this, This same sentiment led
Octavia Spencer to say, yeah, I want to be a producer.
I want to be an activist. I want to be
(12:55):
proactive and bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls,
everybody who is good they do and deserve a shot
at it. So that whole, that whole notion of Okay,
well you know what, these leading lady roles are just
not coming my way, or you know, it's just stereotypes
coming my way. So maybe it's time that I get
behind the camera or start funding films, right um. And
(13:16):
some have said that because Octavia Spencer brings such a
rich resume with her already to that Oscar Win that
she had in twelve, that she will probably have a
lot better luck branching out. Even though I will say,
I did very much enjoy seeing her on thirty Rock
in this in its last season. She had a couple
of cameos in there and it was hilarious. Um. But
(13:39):
all of this, yeah, does point to the question of
whether or not there is, as you mentioned earlier, Caroline,
some kind of Oscar curse for actresses in general, if
not especially for Black actresses, because it seems like you
get the big win and then work drives up. Well,
it seems interesting and unfortunate that there aren't more of
(14:01):
those multifaceted roles for African American women. I mean, there
are just aren't that many leading lady rolls out there
the way there would be for like a Meryl Streep
or a Nicole Kidman. Um, there tend to be these
three main depictions of black women on screen that that
women are are pigeonholed into and those are Mammies, Sapphires,
(14:23):
and Jezebels. And this is coming from the Women's Studies encyclopedia. K. S.
Jewel Uh spelled out these different three characters, and she
said that black women have historically worked as domestics. Mammy
has been strong and assertive, a Sapphire and been forced
into sexual servitude the Jezebel character. And it's these kernels
(14:44):
of truth, she says, that makes these images so insidious
and plausible. But there are distortion of black women's positive attribute,
she says, right, because they only they take these tiny
aspects and in caricatures and just blow them up really
just to serve as foils for other and often white,
(15:04):
stronger characters. I mean, I don't think that we need
to go into detail describing, uh, you know, the the
whole mammy stereotype. Um. You know, it's the happy domestic worker,
which is you know, it's often portrayed as someone who
is very giving emotionally, um, but doesn't really expect anything
in return at all. They're just kind of these empty
vessels who were sitting there. And then the Sapphire is
(15:27):
the strong and the sassy and I didn't realize this.
It was first popularized in the nineteen forties with the
Amos and Andy Show by the wife of the character
Kingfish and then going on to the Jezebel. I feel
like Carmen Jones Dorothy dangerous character um in Carmen Jones
really sums up the Jezebel. She's the fiery bombshell. She's
(15:48):
the dangerous one. Her sexuality will inevitably get you in trouble.
She's a honeypot. But at the same time, there's also
a servitude aspect to that as well, because because she'll
do anything to you know, get the hand that she wants.
And yet people are comfortable seeing that though, because that's
(16:09):
such a common stereotype. It's like, Okay, well, this makes
sense in my brain because here's a black woman who
is this Jezebel character. That makes sense having a black
character back then just be a leading lady in the
way that Grace Kelly was. That didn't quite compute for
a lot of white audiences, right, And it has to
do a lot with you know, the like black attracted
(16:29):
women being exoticized and eroticized in ways that white women
have not been. And because of that, Helen Tuny goes
on to talk about how the Jezebel is a culturally
approved victim of sexual assault, right, and this ties into
earlier roles in Dandridge's career um because she, you know,
(16:50):
when she was coming up through the nightclub, she started
to get offers for bit parts in movies, but that
meant really compromising her principles and playing roles like the
jungle queen in the movie Tarzan's Peril, And this was
another typical role of the time. It sort of goes
along with the Jezebel. It's that role of the exotic,
you know, tying black women and men in with the
(17:10):
jungle and with animalistic tendencies. Yeah, because if you look
at Hollywood in the nineteen thirties, all of the roles
for black women really fit into the mammy. But then
once you get into pre sixties nineteen Hollywood, then you
have more of the transition into the Jezebel. And in
African American Actresses Struggle for Visibility, a book by Charlene
(17:32):
register Um, she talks about how that function of black
actresses was quote by contrast in language, costume, and behavior
to illuminate or aggrandize the virtue beauty, morality, sexuality, sophistication,
and other qualities embedded in the whiteness of the white
female actress or character, almost like a shadow self of
(17:54):
the white other. So no wonder they're not. You know,
a ton of wonderfully rich and complex roles for black actresses.
And the thing is the history hasn't changed all that
much today, but I wonder if it might. We might
see that dial shift if we see more women of
(18:16):
color behind the screen. Well, there are there are some
up and comers and some trailblazers before them, garnering a
lot of attention. Um Ariel Leon for Clutch Magazine wrote
about some young Black women influencing film and just a
couple of them. For instance, there's Ava Diverne, who is
(18:36):
a director and founder of the African American Film Festival
Releasing Movement, which releases independent African American films through simultaneous
screenings and selected cities. There's Nikki Yatt Juicy, who's actually
Christen in Atlanta Native and she's a young writer and
director who's already received a Director's Guild Honorable Mention, an
HBO Short Film Award, and a j T three Artist
(18:58):
Award for her short film at Freaking Booty Scratcher. Then
there's de Rees who's attracted a lot of attention. She's
a writer director of the film Pariah, which is a
Black lesbian coming of age film that premiered at Sundance
in eleven and she's also gone on to write and
direct several short films. So there are a lot of
women coming up through the rank, a lot of young
directors and producers who are getting behind the camera. Yeah,
(19:20):
and there have already been some, you know, some trailblazers
before them. The Indie Wire listed ten trailblazing directors. And
I did not know this, but Maya Angelou was the
first black woman to have a feature film screenplay producer
was in nineteen seventy two was Georgia Georgia, but Angelou
hated the production so much she remade it herself. I
(19:41):
think twenty years later, um and then, but still listen,
is okay? Angela Robinson is the highest grossing Black female
director in history for the film Wait for It, Herbie
Fully Loaded. So okay, there's a whole range. Yes, there
there there's definitely a range. I mean you also have
(20:02):
people like did you mention, I don't think that you
mentioned Darnell Martin, who was the first African American woman
to write and direct for a major studio, And that
was in which I like it like that coming out
of Columbia Pictures. And she later directed Cadillac Records as well.
Oh and also for film Buffs out there using Pulsey
(20:23):
was not only the first woman to be produced by
a major Hollywood studio, but she was also the only
woman to ever direct Marlon Brando. Yeah, he came out
of retirement. Yeah for nine's a dry white season. So
if you're going to Trivia anytime soon, you can tuck
that little nugget away. Um. But there's been so much
commentary this season about Katherine Bigelow, who was the first
(20:47):
woman to take home the Best Director Oscar for The
hurt Locker, and how she was not nominated this year
for Zero Dark thirty. But once I started reading about
you know, women of color behind the camera, Oh wow,
I mean, it's like they're being completely overlooked in a
lot of ways. It seems like, Yeah, Well, there was
Gina Prince Bythewood, who actually stormed the Independent Spirit Awards
(21:10):
a couple of years ago. Her two thousand film Love
and Basketball was a huge success and earned her Best
First Screenplay. At the time, it was one of the
largest scale, the most high profile projects undertaken by a
black woman, and she went on to adapt The Secret
Life of Bees that book for a for the screen
and which grist forty million dollars worldwide. Yeah, And that's
(21:31):
the thing. It's not like there is a dearth of
talent out there, whether it's behind or in front of
the camera. I mean, there are plenty of actresses that
we haven't talked about. Carrie Washington comes to mind. She
was in Django and it is also in uh Scandal
on on TV right now, which she's the first black
woman to star in a network series in thirty nine years. Yeah,
(21:52):
I mean, and if that isn't saying something, I mean,
that's that's small screen. But still it's taken us so
long to make any kind of progress whatsoever. And when
it comes to film, I mean, this is part of
a larger question of whether or not it's Hollywood's woman problem.
You know, the whole Oscar curse doesn't just stop with
(22:13):
black actresses. There's a question of whether or not, you know,
it happens, because it seems like it has for white
actresses as well. Okay, well, I mean we've we've covered
a lot of ground, Christian, We've obviously we've glossed over
a lot. There are a lot of black actresses, directors,
producers who we have not mentioned. Lena Horne one of
(22:34):
the first, she was not she was never nominated for
an Oscar, but she was certainly, you know, one of,
if not the first mainstream black entertainer on on screen right,
who also struggled with a lot of the same things
that Dandridge did as far as you know, being beautiful
and talented, but oh but you're still black, marginalized. It
(22:55):
was funny because she was super popular during World War Two,
you know, during a pin up era, and she was
saying that black soldiers couldn't couldn't pin up Betty Grable,
you know, the white pin up they were like. She
was like, so you know I've benefited from that. I was,
you know, all over Oliver soldiers tents. Where would you
be in the Walkers walls? I don't know. Um, well anyway, yeah,
(23:19):
fingers crossed for Quivins and a uh and I need
to put that on my her movie on my to
watch list for sure, Yes, I would. I would really
like to see, you know, a Best Actress award go
to a woman of color finally, because it seems like
best supporting. He just keeps, you know, going in that direction,
but there needs to be more recognition. So yeah, even
(23:41):
though we certainly have not mentioned every notable name that
we could have. I hope that we have offered a
a digestible history right and maybe inspire people to check
out some movies they haven't seen. Yeah, Dorothy Dandridge, check
check her out and read that over to the Hairpin
um and and and type in her name to read
(24:03):
that article because it is fascinating and simultaneously depressing. If
you do have Netflix, go check out Carmen Jones as well,
especially if you like musicals and Harry Belafoni. Don't give me,
don't get me started. So with that, if you have
any Auscar related letters to send us right to us.
(24:27):
Mom Stuff at Discovery dot Com is where you can
do it, or you can also go to Facebook as well.
Shoot us a message like us while you're at it. Well, Kalen,
I've got a letter here from Sally in response to
our episode on tomboys, and she said that, Uh, while
my parents loved my sister and I very much, deep
(24:49):
down they both wish that they had tried for a
third child in the hopes of having a son, and
as a result they you know her sister. She and
her sister were pretty tom woyish growing up. She said
that we were encouraged to play sports from a young age,
spent many summer evenings playing whiffleball or frisbee in the
backyard with dad. We also inherited our father's hot wheels
(25:10):
collection from when he was a kid and loved making
the cars crash on the track. But then things take
a little bit of a funny term, so she says,
I think my dad was pretty convinced that he could
keep his tomboys forever. But a last puberty finally hit
and he was reminded that he definitely had daughters. There
were a few lonely years for our dad, and my
sister also hit puberty. But then something miraculous happened. I
(25:33):
started to date. While most fathers cringe at the thought
of their daughter bringing home a boy, my dad loved it.
Finally there are men in the house to talk about
manly things. My father has always been very open and
friendly with our boyfriends, and would often be devastated when
we broke up with them. He doesn't need to worry
about that so much now that I'm engaged. But my
(25:53):
parents have started to request that when we eventually have kids,
they would strongly prefer grandsons. I know they would love
a g daughter just as much, but she will definitely
be encouraged to be a tomboy just as my sister
and I were. So so yeah, I cannot imagine my
father being heartbroken over over me parting ways with a fella.
(26:15):
That's my dad. Doesn't have really any opinions on my
dating life, so you might not even notice yet. Yeah, okay,
Well this is from Julie on our gym podcast, Our
Our Fitness Episodes. She says, although it sure does date me,
I am a product of the Jack Lo Lane TV era.
When I was in elementary school in the mid nineteen sixties,
(26:37):
I did exercises every morning before I went to school
with Jack Lane on TV my mom too. I was
then involved in sports and fitness my entire life. Competed
in college, and at fifty two years old and as
an eighth grade language arts teacher, I still coach four
sports a year, shorter seasons than high school. I still
run with my cross country and track athletes, and do
(26:57):
drills with my volleyball and basketball players. My has been
and I belong to the local y m c A,
and I compete in three triathlons a year and one
endurance swim jeez. She says that thank you goes to
Jack Lilane. She also goes on to talk about her
Jim and says, my Why is an excellent mix of
men and women, and I like it much better than
(27:17):
the regular Jim I used to belong to. And I
have a feeling that I agree with her. That was
my y experience in Augusta. So thank you, Julie. Yes,
thank you Julie for making me feel incredibly lazy in comparison. Yeah,
I've three three triathlons. I'm sweating just thinking about it,
sitting here, nervous sweat. Well, thanks to everyone who has
(27:40):
written into mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. You can
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You can tweet us at mom Stuff Podcast. You can
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You dot tumbler dot com. And if you would like
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It's to our website how stuff works dot com. For
(28:05):
more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how
stuff works dot com
Welcome to stuff Mom never told you. From house stuffwards
dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen
and I'm Caroline and Caroline. Even though when we asked
our Facebook fans our listeners a little while ago whether
(00:24):
or not they desired an Academy Awards podcast, and we
received mixed results. Mixed is putting it nicely, Yes, it was.
It was a very polarizing question. People were either gung
ho about the Academy Awards or gung no, I'm sorry
about the Academy Awards thing. Why would we waste our
(00:45):
time talking about an awards show. It's Hollywood, it's bologny. Well, naysayers,
we're bringing you our Academy Awards show. But it has
a pretty good point, and I think right because we're
also still in Black History Month, that's right, and so
we want to talk about all of the amazing trailblazers
(01:08):
African American women on film, on screen, behind the camera. Yeah,
and at the Oscars, even though when it comes to
Black women on film and at the Oscars, it's more
of a legacy of a lack of representation. Um. But first,
since the Oscars are happening this Sunday if you're listening
(01:28):
to this podcast when it comes out. The Oscars are
on Sunday, February, and there are some possible history makers,
starting off with nine year old quivinzent A Wallace. Yeah,
she's making history as the youngest Best Actors OSCAR nominee
for the role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, which
(01:49):
I hate to say, I haven't seen yet. I keep
meaning to go see. I've not seen it as well. Um,
she plays Hush Puppy and I hear that it's it's
a pretty intense film. And if she does win for
Best Actress, though, she would only be the second black
female to win in that category. The only other Black
woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars was Halle
(02:12):
Berry for her role in Monsters Balls. Thinks. Um, And
even though we're not talking about the dudes, let's go
ahead and acknowledge the fact that Denzel Washington is also
up for Best Actor in Flight and with his nomination
his sixth, he's the most nominated Black actor in OSCAR history,
and he'd be the first guy to win two Best
(02:34):
Actors I believe among black actors. So things to watch
out for at the Academy Awards. Um, but who was
the first Let's go back in Academy history because we
mentioned because covinc and it would only be the second
black would ever win for Best Actress as we mentioned. Um,
(02:57):
and when we go through the time line of black
female winners at the Oscars, it's a pretty truncated timeline. Yeah.
So going back to Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel
was the first black woman to win an Oscar. She
played the role of the maid, the Mammy in in
that movie, and she actually spent the rest of her
(03:19):
career essentially reprising her maid role before starring in the
series Beulah. She actually, um, just her career just never
picked up after that. Yeah, even though we might think that,
you know, it's a it's an awesome thing. Hey, it's
the first black actor to win an Oscar. But she
was actually criticized by the double a CP for even
(03:39):
taking the role of Mammy because you know, of its
racist portrayal essentially and playing into that, you know, black
character as a subservient to white characters. And like you said, Caroline,
she only she just got stuck playing maids over and
over again, and even with her last major film The
(04:00):
Big Wheel starring Mickey Rooney. In nine, she played yet
again a maid. Well but to the criticism from the
double a CP, she actually said, you know, I could
get seven hundred dollars a week to play a maid,
or I could be paid seven dollars a week to
be a maid. And even though you know, Hollywood sources
will say that McDaniel was well respected among other leading
(04:22):
Hollywood actors at the time, she's still because of getting
pigeonholed in that role and marginalized. Essentially, she ended up
dying alone and in debt at fifty seven. So things
kick off on kind of a loan note um. And
then in nine, this is a nomination she didn't win,
(04:44):
but Ethel Waters was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for
her role in the movie Pinky and yet again she
plays kind of the mentoring servant to a wealthier white
female character. So moving forward, we have Dorothy dan Ridge,
who's definitely more of a a household name. She she
really made a name for herself coming up through the
(05:06):
nightclub scene, which eventually led her two gigs in New York,
Paris and television. She actually also became the first black
woman to perform at the Waldorf Astoria during this time. Um.
But this all led to the lead role in MGMs
All Black production of Bright Road, which is based on
a young teacher's life in the South. And this popularity
(05:28):
that she achieved UM in the forties led her to
campaign for the lead role in Carmen Jones, which is
sort of the stuff of of legend movie legend. Yeah,
Carmen Jones UM, as you might assume was was based
off a musical based off of the opera Carmen and Dangered.
For her role as Carmen Jones received the very first
(05:50):
nomination for a Black actress for Best Actress at the
Academy Awards. And this is in nineteen fifty four. And
I Carmen Jones is on Flix right now, Caroline. And
so while I was cooking dinner the other night, I
watched Carmen drums in My Goodness. Every other word is
a musical song, which is nice if you like musicals. Um,
(06:13):
but uh, Danders is incredible. She as soon as she
pops on the screen, you can't you really can't look
away from her. And uh she once said that quote
if I were white, I would capture the world and
at the time, she was often described as the black
Maryland Monroe, and wearing her iconic Carmen Jones outfit, she
(06:36):
graced the cover of Life magazine. She was the first
black woman to ever do that. And even though she
did not win that Best Actress oscar in nineteen fifty four,
I mean, but for for a moment, though, let's consider
who she was up against, Judy Garland and a Star
is Born, Audrey Hepburn and Sabrina Jane Wyman and Magnificent
Obsession and Grace Kelly and the country Girl and surprise, surprise,
(06:59):
out of all of those who wins, Grace Kelly well
Dandridge pointed out several times just her disappointment with, you know,
the whole system, because she was considered, uh, you know, beautiful,
a great actress, very passionate in her roles that she
took on. And yet there was this whole perception that
(07:20):
she was so beautiful there was a danger of pairing
her up with a leading a white leading man, because
then that interracial relationship was was too much for audiences. Oh, absolutely,
an off screen and this is coming from an article
over at The Hairpin by Anne Helen Peterson about Dandridge
is Hollywood legacy. Um. She talked about how off screen
(07:42):
she did date white actors and producers, and it was
she was demonized for because of the time. As you
can imagine, interracial relationships, Um, we're still a big taboo.
And even though in Carmen Jones she is opposite leading
man Harry Belafonte, who like, if only just to see
(08:05):
him in that movie, I recommend you watch Carmen Jones
kind of had to take a moment a little break
close cooking, just stare at my laptop screen. But anyway, Um,
it was a big deal to show Bellefonte and dangerous
is romantic relationship on screen in this larger Hollywood production
because even depicting a passionate relationship between a black couple
(08:31):
was a huge thing in Hollywood because a lot of
times even uh, you know, if you did depict any
kind of romance with black characters, it was it was
sort of, you know, a little bit hokey and just
kind of kind of silly, like picks on the cheek
and stuff like that. Yeah. Well, much like Hattie McDaniel,
who we just discussed. Uh. Dandridge's career fizzled unfortunately, the
(08:53):
roles just weren't coming in for her like she had hoped.
And in nine, at the age of forty two, d
Ridge odeed on antidepressants. Yeah. So, and this is something
that we see over and over again where these actresses
are able to achieve fame up to a point and
then the roles just disappear unless they fit into these
(09:16):
kind of trophy characters of the maid or the bombshell
or the sassy finger wagging friend. Um. But let's go
on to some more Oscar winners. Unfortunately, we have to
jump from nineteen fifty to nineteen nine one to Mss
Whoopie Goldberg. Yeah, she won an Oscar for her role
(09:36):
in Ghost, which is still one of my favorite movies.
I've never seen it, really really, that's okay. I mean
I admitted that I've never been to New Orleans, so
we all have things. Um, but she she achieved the
coveted Egott. She has an Emmy, a Grammy, and a
Tony in addition to her Oscar. And unfortunately she's made
the announcement. Well, this was back in two thousand seven
(09:59):
that she was retiring from acting because she was no
longer receiving scripts and and yet again, the roles just
start to dry up. Um. And then when we moved
to two thousand one, as we mentioned, Hallie Berry became
the first black actress to receive the Best Actress Award
for a role in Monster's Ball, And sort of like
Hattie McDaniels, she did receive some flak from critics who
(10:22):
were not fond of the relationship in the film with
Billy Bob Thornton's character, who was a blatant racist, And
there was also this pretty intense sex scene and people
were like, God, I don't know if this is really
worth celebrating all that much. And and like these other actresses,
since Salie Berry took home that oscar, that history making oscar,
(10:43):
she's played Catwoman, an x men and Hallie x Men
x Uh. You know, even though I loved x Men. Um,
But basically the moral of the story is, yet again
she's just kind of not getting these amazing roles, very
very complex roles, will put it that way. Yeah. Well,
(11:03):
Jennifer Hudson of American Idol fame went on to win
an Oscar for her role in dream Girl. Dream Girls.
There it is. I ken't wanted to say show Girls,
but that is definitely so different inaccurate. She became the
youngest black actor to ever win an Oscar, finally making
the leap to a leading lady in a biopic about
(11:26):
Winnie Mandela recently, but unfortunately the movie hasn't found a
US distributor, so she is also part of what a
few bloggers have referred to as this this Oscar curse
for African American actresses. Um. Yeah. And then in two
thousand ten, Monique wins Best Supporting Actress for her role
in Precious, And then in two thousand twelve, Octavia Spencer
(11:47):
brings home the fifth Best Supporting Oscar given to a
Black actress for her role in The Help, which again
critics were saying, oh wow, what do you know? Yeah, well,
there was a whole argue meant of like, is many
that character really that far from Mammy? How do you
McDaniel's character, Like, yes, it's it's maybe a richer role,
(12:10):
it's more multifaceted, but is it really making any great strides? Yeah?
Does it say that much that you know? Obviously, it's
the it's the roles that they're being offered. Um. For instance,
Viola Davis, who was nominated first for her role in Doubt,
and she was also nominated for her role in The Help.
Was talking to Essence magazine about The Help quote, of
(12:34):
course they had trepidations. Why do I have to play
the mammy? But you do what you do as an actor.
If one of the most multifaceted and rich roles you've
ever been given is a made in nineteen sixty two Mississippi, yeah,
well this actually led Spencer this, This same sentiment led
Octavia Spencer to say, yeah, I want to be a producer.
I want to be an activist. I want to be
(12:55):
proactive and bringing about work for men, women, boys, girls,
everybody who is good they do and deserve a shot
at it. So that whole, that whole notion of Okay,
well you know what, these leading lady roles are just
not coming my way, or you know, it's just stereotypes
coming my way. So maybe it's time that I get
behind the camera or start funding films, right um. And
(13:16):
some have said that because Octavia Spencer brings such a
rich resume with her already to that Oscar Win that
she had in twelve, that she will probably have a
lot better luck branching out. Even though I will say,
I did very much enjoy seeing her on thirty Rock
in this in its last season. She had a couple
of cameos in there and it was hilarious. Um. But
(13:39):
all of this, yeah, does point to the question of
whether or not there is, as you mentioned earlier, Caroline,
some kind of Oscar curse for actresses in general, if
not especially for Black actresses, because it seems like you
get the big win and then work drives up. Well,
it seems interesting and unfortunate that there aren't more of
(14:01):
those multifaceted roles for African American women. I mean, there
are just aren't that many leading lady rolls out there
the way there would be for like a Meryl Streep
or a Nicole Kidman. Um, there tend to be these
three main depictions of black women on screen that that
women are are pigeonholed into and those are Mammies, Sapphires,
(14:23):
and Jezebels. And this is coming from the Women's Studies encyclopedia. K. S.
Jewel Uh spelled out these different three characters, and she
said that black women have historically worked as domestics. Mammy
has been strong and assertive, a Sapphire and been forced
into sexual servitude the Jezebel character. And it's these kernels
(14:44):
of truth, she says, that makes these images so insidious
and plausible. But there are distortion of black women's positive attribute,
she says, right, because they only they take these tiny
aspects and in caricatures and just blow them up really
just to serve as foils for other and often white,
(15:04):
stronger characters. I mean, I don't think that we need
to go into detail describing, uh, you know, the the
whole mammy stereotype. Um. You know, it's the happy domestic worker,
which is you know, it's often portrayed as someone who
is very giving emotionally, um, but doesn't really expect anything
in return at all. They're just kind of these empty
vessels who were sitting there. And then the Sapphire is
(15:27):
the strong and the sassy and I didn't realize this.
It was first popularized in the nineteen forties with the
Amos and Andy Show by the wife of the character
Kingfish and then going on to the Jezebel. I feel
like Carmen Jones Dorothy dangerous character um in Carmen Jones
really sums up the Jezebel. She's the fiery bombshell. She's
(15:48):
the dangerous one. Her sexuality will inevitably get you in trouble.
She's a honeypot. But at the same time, there's also
a servitude aspect to that as well, because because she'll
do anything to you know, get the hand that she wants.
And yet people are comfortable seeing that though, because that's
(16:09):
such a common stereotype. It's like, Okay, well, this makes
sense in my brain because here's a black woman who
is this Jezebel character. That makes sense having a black
character back then just be a leading lady in the
way that Grace Kelly was. That didn't quite compute for
a lot of white audiences, right, And it has to
do a lot with you know, the like black attracted
(16:29):
women being exoticized and eroticized in ways that white women
have not been. And because of that, Helen Tuny goes
on to talk about how the Jezebel is a culturally
approved victim of sexual assault, right, and this ties into
earlier roles in Dandridge's career um because she, you know,
(16:50):
when she was coming up through the nightclub, she started
to get offers for bit parts in movies, but that
meant really compromising her principles and playing roles like the
jungle queen in the movie Tarzan's Peril, And this was
another typical role of the time. It sort of goes
along with the Jezebel. It's that role of the exotic,
you know, tying black women and men in with the
(17:10):
jungle and with animalistic tendencies. Yeah, because if you look
at Hollywood in the nineteen thirties, all of the roles
for black women really fit into the mammy. But then
once you get into pre sixties nineteen Hollywood, then you
have more of the transition into the Jezebel. And in
African American Actresses Struggle for Visibility, a book by Charlene
(17:32):
register Um, she talks about how that function of black
actresses was quote by contrast in language, costume, and behavior
to illuminate or aggrandize the virtue beauty, morality, sexuality, sophistication,
and other qualities embedded in the whiteness of the white
female actress or character, almost like a shadow self of
(17:54):
the white other. So no wonder they're not. You know,
a ton of wonderfully rich and complex roles for black actresses.
And the thing is the history hasn't changed all that
much today, but I wonder if it might. We might
see that dial shift if we see more women of
(18:16):
color behind the screen. Well, there are there are some
up and comers and some trailblazers before them, garnering a
lot of attention. Um Ariel Leon for Clutch Magazine wrote
about some young Black women influencing film and just a
couple of them. For instance, there's Ava Diverne, who is
(18:36):
a director and founder of the African American Film Festival
Releasing Movement, which releases independent African American films through simultaneous
screenings and selected cities. There's Nikki Yatt Juicy, who's actually
Christen in Atlanta Native and she's a young writer and
director who's already received a Director's Guild Honorable Mention, an
HBO Short Film Award, and a j T three Artist
(18:58):
Award for her short film at Freaking Booty Scratcher. Then
there's de Rees who's attracted a lot of attention. She's
a writer director of the film Pariah, which is a
Black lesbian coming of age film that premiered at Sundance
in eleven and she's also gone on to write and
direct several short films. So there are a lot of
women coming up through the rank, a lot of young
directors and producers who are getting behind the camera. Yeah,
(19:20):
and there have already been some, you know, some trailblazers
before them. The Indie Wire listed ten trailblazing directors. And
I did not know this, but Maya Angelou was the
first black woman to have a feature film screenplay producer
was in nineteen seventy two was Georgia Georgia, but Angelou
hated the production so much she remade it herself. I
(19:41):
think twenty years later, um and then, but still listen,
is okay? Angela Robinson is the highest grossing Black female
director in history for the film Wait for It, Herbie
Fully Loaded. So okay, there's a whole range. Yes, there
there there's definitely a range. I mean you also have
(20:02):
people like did you mention, I don't think that you
mentioned Darnell Martin, who was the first African American woman
to write and direct for a major studio, And that
was in which I like it like that coming out
of Columbia Pictures. And she later directed Cadillac Records as well.
Oh and also for film Buffs out there using Pulsey
(20:23):
was not only the first woman to be produced by
a major Hollywood studio, but she was also the only
woman to ever direct Marlon Brando. Yeah, he came out
of retirement. Yeah for nine's a dry white season. So
if you're going to Trivia anytime soon, you can tuck
that little nugget away. Um. But there's been so much
commentary this season about Katherine Bigelow, who was the first
(20:47):
woman to take home the Best Director Oscar for The
hurt Locker, and how she was not nominated this year
for Zero Dark thirty. But once I started reading about
you know, women of color behind the camera, Oh wow,
I mean, it's like they're being completely overlooked in a
lot of ways. It seems like, Yeah, Well, there was
Gina Prince Bythewood, who actually stormed the Independent Spirit Awards
(21:10):
a couple of years ago. Her two thousand film Love
and Basketball was a huge success and earned her Best
First Screenplay. At the time, it was one of the
largest scale, the most high profile projects undertaken by a
black woman, and she went on to adapt The Secret
Life of Bees that book for a for the screen
and which grist forty million dollars worldwide. Yeah, And that's
(21:31):
the thing. It's not like there is a dearth of
talent out there, whether it's behind or in front of
the camera. I mean, there are plenty of actresses that
we haven't talked about. Carrie Washington comes to mind. She
was in Django and it is also in uh Scandal
on on TV right now, which she's the first black
woman to star in a network series in thirty nine years. Yeah,
(21:52):
I mean, and if that isn't saying something, I mean,
that's that's small screen. But still it's taken us so
long to make any kind of progress whatsoever. And when
it comes to film, I mean, this is part of
a larger question of whether or not it's Hollywood's woman problem.
You know, the whole Oscar curse doesn't just stop with
(22:13):
black actresses. There's a question of whether or not, you know,
it happens, because it seems like it has for white
actresses as well. Okay, well, I mean we've we've covered
a lot of ground, Christian, We've obviously we've glossed over
a lot. There are a lot of black actresses, directors,
producers who we have not mentioned. Lena Horne one of
(22:34):
the first, she was not she was never nominated for
an Oscar, but she was certainly, you know, one of,
if not the first mainstream black entertainer on on screen right,
who also struggled with a lot of the same things
that Dandridge did as far as you know, being beautiful
and talented, but oh but you're still black, marginalized. It
(22:55):
was funny because she was super popular during World War Two,
you know, during a pin up era, and she was
saying that black soldiers couldn't couldn't pin up Betty Grable,
you know, the white pin up they were like. She
was like, so you know I've benefited from that. I was,
you know, all over Oliver soldiers tents. Where would you
be in the Walkers walls? I don't know. Um, well anyway, yeah,
(23:19):
fingers crossed for Quivins and a uh and I need
to put that on my her movie on my to
watch list for sure, Yes, I would. I would really
like to see, you know, a Best Actress award go
to a woman of color finally, because it seems like
best supporting. He just keeps, you know, going in that direction,
but there needs to be more recognition. So yeah, even
(23:41):
though we certainly have not mentioned every notable name that
we could have. I hope that we have offered a
a digestible history right and maybe inspire people to check
out some movies they haven't seen. Yeah, Dorothy Dandridge, check
check her out and read that over to the Hairpin
um and and and type in her name to read
(24:03):
that article because it is fascinating and simultaneously depressing. If
you do have Netflix, go check out Carmen Jones as well,
especially if you like musicals and Harry Belafoni. Don't give me,
don't get me started. So with that, if you have
any Auscar related letters to send us right to us.
(24:27):
Mom Stuff at Discovery dot Com is where you can
do it, or you can also go to Facebook as well.
Shoot us a message like us while you're at it. Well, Kalen,
I've got a letter here from Sally in response to
our episode on tomboys, and she said that, Uh, while
my parents loved my sister and I very much, deep
(24:49):
down they both wish that they had tried for a
third child in the hopes of having a son, and
as a result they you know her sister. She and
her sister were pretty tom woyish growing up. She said
that we were encouraged to play sports from a young age,
spent many summer evenings playing whiffleball or frisbee in the
backyard with dad. We also inherited our father's hot wheels
(25:10):
collection from when he was a kid and loved making
the cars crash on the track. But then things take
a little bit of a funny term, so she says,
I think my dad was pretty convinced that he could
keep his tomboys forever. But a last puberty finally hit
and he was reminded that he definitely had daughters. There
were a few lonely years for our dad, and my
sister also hit puberty. But then something miraculous happened. I
(25:33):
started to date. While most fathers cringe at the thought
of their daughter bringing home a boy, my dad loved it.
Finally there are men in the house to talk about
manly things. My father has always been very open and
friendly with our boyfriends, and would often be devastated when
we broke up with them. He doesn't need to worry
about that so much now that I'm engaged. But my
(25:53):
parents have started to request that when we eventually have kids,
they would strongly prefer grandsons. I know they would love
a g daughter just as much, but she will definitely
be encouraged to be a tomboy just as my sister
and I were. So so yeah, I cannot imagine my
father being heartbroken over over me parting ways with a fella.
(26:15):
That's my dad. Doesn't have really any opinions on my
dating life, so you might not even notice yet. Yeah, okay,
Well this is from Julie on our gym podcast, Our
Our Fitness Episodes. She says, although it sure does date me,
I am a product of the Jack Lo Lane TV era.
When I was in elementary school in the mid nineteen sixties,
(26:37):
I did exercises every morning before I went to school
with Jack Lane on TV my mom too. I was
then involved in sports and fitness my entire life. Competed
in college, and at fifty two years old and as
an eighth grade language arts teacher, I still coach four
sports a year, shorter seasons than high school. I still
run with my cross country and track athletes, and do
(26:57):
drills with my volleyball and basketball players. My has been
and I belong to the local y m c A,
and I compete in three triathlons a year and one
endurance swim jeez. She says that thank you goes to
Jack Lilane. She also goes on to talk about her
Jim and says, my Why is an excellent mix of
men and women, and I like it much better than
(27:17):
the regular Jim I used to belong to. And I
have a feeling that I agree with her. That was
my y experience in Augusta. So thank you, Julie. Yes,
thank you Julie for making me feel incredibly lazy in comparison. Yeah,
I've three three triathlons. I'm sweating just thinking about it,
sitting here, nervous sweat. Well, thanks to everyone who has
(27:40):
written into mom Stuff at Discovery dot com. You can
also find us on Facebook messages there start a conversation.
You can tweet us at mom Stuff Podcast. You can
also follow us on Tumbler at stuff mom Never told
You dot tumbler dot com. And if you would like
to get smarter this week, you know where to go.
It's to our website how stuff works dot com. For
(28:05):
more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how
stuff works dot com
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