R.I.P. Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis
Originally uploaded by Audacity08.

Ossie Davis (December 18, 1917 - February 4, 2005) was an African-American actor and activist. I don't know about you guys but I feel like one of my extended family members has gone.
He was born Raiford Chatman Davis in Cogdell, Georgia in 1917. His acting career, which spanned SEVEN decades, began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem. He made his film debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. He was in Miami to film a new movie called "Retirement" when he passed away.

Davis had the same struggle that many African-American actors of his generation had. He wanted to work but he didn't want to play the butler roles that were the standard for black actors of his generation. So instead, he tried to follow Poitier and play more distinguished characters. Or, if he had to play a Pullman Porter or a butler, he tried to do it with some sort of dignity.

Davis found recognition late in his life by working in several of director Spike Lee's films, including Jungle Fever, She Hate Me and Get on the Bus. He also found work as a commercial voice-over artist.

Ossie Davis and his wife, actor Ruby Dee (they married in 1948), were well-known civil rights activists, being personal friends of Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and others. Davis delivered the eulogy at the funeral of Malcolm X. He re-read part of the eulogy at the end of Spike Lee's film Malcolm X.

Davis and wife Ruby Dee were receipients of the Kennedy Center honors in 2004. They were also named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 1989.

Partial filmography
She Hate Me (2004)
Baadasssss! (2003) - Grandad
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) - Jack
12 Angry Men (1997) - Juror #2
The Stand (1994) - Judge Richard Farris
Grumpy Old Men (1993) - Chuck
Alex Haley's Queen (1993) - Parson Dick
Roots: The Next Generations (1979) - Dad Jones
No Way Out (1950) - John Brooks
Do The Right Thing (1989) - Da Mayor