After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in
The Golden West. Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in
Judge Priest and becoming pronounced in
Alice Adams. In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katharine Hepburn...See full bio »
1941The Great Lie
(performer: "Slumber My Darling" - uncredited)
1937Saratoga
(performer: "The Horse with the Dreamy Eyes" 1937 - uncredited)
1936Show Boat
(performer: "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" 1927 - uncredited, "Ah Still Suits Me" 1936 - uncredited)
1935The Little Colonel
(performer: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" - uncredited)
1934Judge Priest
(writer: "Aunt Dilsey's Improvisation" 1934 - uncredited / performer: "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" 1853 - uncredited, "Aunt Dilsey's Improvisation" 1934 - uncredited, "Massa Jesus Wrote Me a Note" 1934 - uncredited, "The Little Brown Jug" 1869 - uncredited, "Aunt Dilsey's Song" 1934 - uncredited)
1934Babbitt
(performer: "Blues Ain't Nothing but a Good Man Feeling Bad" - uncredited)
Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn't, I'd be making $7 a week being one.
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Trivia:
Arguably the first African-American woman to sing on radio (1915, with Professor George Morrison's Negro Orchestra, Denver, CO); first African-American to be buried in Los Angeles' Rosedale Cemetery
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