Hattie McDaniel was an American actress and singer, known for her portrayal of Aunt Tempy in the 1946 Disney feature film Song of the South, based on the Uncle Remus Stories by Joel Chandler Harris.
Early life and career[]
McDaniel was born in 1895 in Indianapolis, Kansas and in 1900, moved to Fort Collins, Colorado before going to Denver where she attended Denver East High School. She began her career as a singer-songwriter for a traveling minstrel show before finding work in radio. After the 1929 stock market crash, work became scarce until she moved to Los Angeles with her siblings and she found work as an actress. Beginning her career as with the film The Impatient Maiden, she would often be typecast as a maid or cook in most features. She would appear in films, like I'm No Angel, Judas Priest, The Little Colonel, Murder by Television, Vivacious Lady, Saratoga, Show Boat, and Alice Adams, where she sparked controversy by angering white Southern audiences for her sassy and opinionated portrayal of a maid alongside her co-star, Katharine Hepburn.
It was not until her portrayal of Mammy the maid in the 1939 adaptation in Gone with the Wind that her career reached great heights. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscar alongside co-star Olivia de Havilland, and won, becoming the first Black actor/actress to do so. Despite the praise from fans and critics, McDaniel continued to face discrimination from being banned at the Atlanta premiere due to segregation laws and sitting in a corner table near a far wall at the award ceremony.
She continued her career throughout the 1940s with films, like In This Our Life, Since You Went Away, Janie and its sequel Janie Gets Married, Mickey, Never Say Goodbye, and Family Honeymoon. She also branched out into television with the show Beulah. She also portrayed the character in radio format along with being a recurring character on Amos 'n' Andy with Song of the South co-star James Baskett. Additionally, Hattie McDaniel herself was referenced in the Magic Kingdom version of the Splash Mountain attraction where one of the PhotoPass washboards was labeled as coming from the "Baskett McDaniels".
Death[]
In August 1950, McDaniel entered the hospital with a heart ailment. She was released in October to recuperate at home, and was reported on January 3, 1951, as showing "slight improvement in her recovery from a mild stroke". She died of breast cancer on October 26, 1952, in the hospital of the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, California. She was survived by her brother Sam McDaniel. Thousands of mourners turned out to celebrate her life and achievements.
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