Black Roles / Oscar History

 It is still Black History Month, so I'm giving you some Black history from Hollywood's golden years. We know that the talented, under-utilized Hattie McDaniel was the first Black Oscar nominee and the first Black Oscar recipient. She was her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing "Mammy" in 1939's GONE WITH THE WIND. McDaniel was the first person to be an Oscar nominee for playing a Black character.

Yes, this epic Civil War love story is problematic.  That aside, there is one thing you cannot deny. The Vivien Leigh performance as headstrong Scarlett O'Hara is riveting. She commands the screens and holds your attention every time she's on screen. The only other actor who can pull focus from Vivien Leigh is the totally charismatic Hattie McDaniel. She definitely had star power. However, In films after GONE WITH THE WIND, films in which McDaniel was the only Oscar winner in the cast, she's billed as if she's a bit player. Proof of this is in Warner Bros. 1942 modern-day comedy/satire, THE MALE ANIMAL. The film stars Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland (who was also a GONE WITH THE WIND Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee), Joan Leslie and Jack Carson. Look at the opening credits. Look at the breadcrumbs of a college town maid role Hattie has to play.

The third performer to get an Oscar nomination for playing a Black character was famed jazz recording vocalist and Broadway musical star Ethel Waters. She was a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for playing a retired maid whose granddaughter passes for white in PINKY. That 1949 race drama, directed by Elia Kazan, starred Jeanne Crain (a white actress) in the title role.

Now, let's look at a year in between 1939's GONE WITH THE WIND and 1949's PINKY.

The second performer to get an Oscar nomination for playing a Black character .... was a white British actress named Flora Robson. She starred as the housekeeper/narrator in William Wyler's WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) and she was one of the nuns in BLACK NARCISSUS (1947). She played Queen Elizabeth I in two historical films. One was THE SEA HAWK (1940) starring Errol Flynn.

For some unexplained reason, executives at Warner Bros look at that Caucasian British actress actress and said, 'Wow! She'd be perfect to play the stern, dark-skinned Haitian maid opposite Ingrid Bergman in SARATOGA TRUNK!"

Here's a video with scenes from the 1945 period piece love story. You'll notice Robson as the Haitian maid.

SARATOGA TRUNK got Flora Robson an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. One of my big questions is this: If the Haitian maid role was good enough to get an actress an Oscar nomination, why didn't Warner Bros give the role to a Black actress when maid roles were the only roles many Black actresses in Hollywood were given at that time? Why didn't they give the role to lovely Theresa Harris who played the maid to Bette Davis' Southern belle character in Warner Bros. JEZEBEL (1938)? Here's Theresa Harris with Marlene Dietrich in 1941's THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS.

And there you have it. Some Black Roles / Oscar History that rarely gets mentioned. By the way, Flora Robson lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Anne Baxter for THE RAZOR'S EDGE.