Maidie Norman
| Maidie Norman | |
|---|---|
Maidiee Norman photographed by Carl Van Vechten
|
|
| Born |
Maidie Ruth Gamble October 16, 1912 Villa Rica, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | May 2, 1998 (aged 85) San Jose, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Lung cancer |
| Resting place | Meadowbrook Memory Gardens |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Madie Norman |
| Education | Central High School |
| Alma mater |
Bennett College Columbia University |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1930–1988 |
| Spouse(s) | McHenry Norman (m.1937–?) Weldon D. Canada (m. 1977–98) |
| Children | 1 |
Maidie Ruth Norman (October 16, 1912 – May 2, 1998) was an American radio, stage, film and television actress and African-American literature and theater instructor.
Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on a plantation in Villa Rica, Georgia to Louis and Lila Graham Gamble. She was raised in Lima, Ohio, and began studying drama and performing in Shakespeare plays as a child. She graduated from Central High School in Lima in 1930, and attended Bennett College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934. She then got her Master's degree in drama at Columbia University in 1937.
She married real-estate broker McHenry Norman on December 22, 1937. She later used her husband's surname as her professional name.
Norman began her career in radio with appearances on The Jack Benny Program and Amos 'n' Andy. In 1946, she began studying at the Actors' Laboratory. Norman made her stage debut as "Honey" in Deep Are the Roots at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles in 1949.
Norman made her film debut in the 1947 film The Peanut Man. She initially found it difficult to portray positive roles in films for African American women and felt limited in playing maids and domestics. While she did appear in such roles, Norman refused to use to play the roles in a subservient or stereotypical manner that was considered the norm. Norman later said, "In the beginning, I made a pledge that I would play no role that deprived black women of their dignity."
In 1951, she appeared in her only leading role in The Well. Norman later appeared in supporting roles in Torch Song (1953), Bright Road (1953), Susan Slept Here (1954), The Opposite Sex (1956), and Written on the Wind (1956). One of her most memorable roles was as the ill-fated housekeeper Elvira Stitt in Robert Aldrich's 1962 horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, opposite Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. In a 1995 interview, Norman recalled that the character was originally written as a "doltish, yessum character". She rewrote the dialogue which she called "old slavery-time talk" in an effort to dignify the character.
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