Louise Beavers | African-American, Film Star, Comedienne | Britannica (original) (raw)

Louise Beavers (born March 8, 1902, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died Oct. 26, 1962, Hollywood, Calif.) was an African American film and television actress known for her character roles.

Beavers first drew attention as part of an act known as the Lady Minstrels. Despite her theatrical abilities and inclinations, she went to Hollywood not as a performer but as the maid of actress Leatrice Joy. She soon, however, appeared on the silver screen, making her feature debut in Gold Diggers (1923). She continued to act in other silent films such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927).

With the coming of sound films, Beavers’s career took off, and between 1929 and 1960 she appeared in more than 100 films. Although most often cast as the maid of the female star or of the starring couple, she had an opportunity to play a role equal to Claudette Colbert’s in the first film version of Imitation of Life (1934), in which both women juggle the demands of single parenthood and careers.

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Like Hattie McDaniel and most other black actors of the period, Beavers was limited to character roles, most often playing a wise, cheerful, and devoted housemaid who often helps her employers out of tight spots. Her career culminated in two television roles as a housekeeper, in the early situation comedies Beulah (1952–53) and The Danny Thomas Show (1953–54). She was inducted posthumously into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1976.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.