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Who Was Hattie McDaniel?
By the mid-1920s, Hattie McDaniel had established herself as one of the first Black women to perform on radio, breaking new ground in the entertainment industry. In 1934, she achieved her first significant film role in the movie Judge Priest, which marked the beginning of her successful career in Hollywood. McDaniel made history in 1940 by becoming the first Black person to win an Academy Award, receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her iconic portrayal of Mammy in Gone with the Wind.
Despite her groundbreaking achievements, McDaniel faced challenges as her career began to decline in the late 1940s. In 1947, she found a new platform on CBS radio’s The Beulah Show, where she starred and continued to showcase her talent. Tragically, toward the end of her life, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Hattie McDaniel passed away in 1952 at the age of 57, leaving behind a legacy as a trailblazer for Black actors in the film industry.
Early Years
Hattie McDaniel was born on June 10, 1895, in Wichita, Kansas, although some sources cite her year of birth as 1893. She was the thirteenth child of her parents, Henry and Susan Holbert. Henry McDaniel, a Civil War veteran, faced significant challenges due to war-related injuries, which made manual labor difficult for him. One of his sons later described him as a minister, although this account was fictionalized. Susan Holbert worked as a domestic worker. In 1901, the McDaniel family relocated to Denver, Colorado, where Hattie attended 24th Street Elementary School, one of only two Black students in her class. Her natural talent for singing, showcased in church, school, and at home, quickly earned her popularity among her peers.
Radio and Vaudeville Performer
While attending Denver East High School, McDaniel began her professional career by singing, dancing, and performing skits with The Mighty Minstrels. In 1909, she made the decision to drop out of school to focus entirely on her burgeoning career, performing with her older brother’s troupe. In 1911, she married pianist Howard Hickman and later organized an all-women’s minstrel show.
During the 1920s, McDaniel worked with Professor George Morrison’s orchestra and toured with various vaudeville troupes. By the mid-1920s, she had gained the opportunity to perform on Denver’s KOA radio station. Following this appearance, she continued to work the vaudeville circuit and established herself as a blues artist, writing her own material. When opportunities were scarce, she supplemented her income by taking on attendant work. In 1929, McDaniel found a steady position as a vocalist at Sam Pick’s Suburban Inn in Milwaukee, much to her relief.
Movie Career: Judge Priest and The Little Colonel
Shortly after, McDaniel was encouraged by her brother Sam and sister Etta to move to Los Angeles, where they had secured minor movie roles. Sam was also a regular on the KNX radio show The Optimistic Do-Nuts. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, McDaniel appeared on her brother’s program, quickly becoming a hit with listeners and earning the nickname “Hi Hat Hattie” for her choice of formal wear during her first KNX performance.
In 1931, she landed her first small movie role as an extra in a Hollywood musical, followed by a featured role as a housekeeper in The Golden West in 1932. Although McDaniel continued to secure roles, opportunities for Black actors were limited, forcing her to take on odd jobs to make ends meet. In 1934, she achieved a significant onscreen role, singing a duet with Will Rogers in John Ford’s Judge Priest. The following year, she portrayed Mom Beck alongside Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore in The Little Colonel. This role garnered McDaniel considerable attention from Hollywood directors, leading to a steady stream of offers, including the role of Queenie in the 1936 film adaptation of Showboat, a musical in which she had previously toured with the stage version.
Academy Award for Gone with the Wind
In 1939, Hattie McDaniel reached a significant milestone in her entertainment career with her portrayal of Mammy, the house servant to Scarlett O’Hara (Vivian Leigh) in Gone with the Wind. For this role, she earned the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1940, making her the first Black American to receive an Oscar. However, despite her groundbreaking achievement, McDaniel and all the other Black actors in the film were barred from attending the film’s premiere at the Loew’s Grand Theatre on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
While McDaniel’s role as Mammy solidified her place in cinematic history, it also sparked controversy. Since her earlier performance as Mom Beck in The Little Colonel, McDaniel had faced criticism from the Black media for accepting roles that perpetuated negative stereotypes of her race. Critics argued that she was reinforcing the image of African Americans as subservient, seemingly content to fulfill roles as servants and slaves.
Walter White, then-executive secretary of the NAACP, urged Black actors to reject such stereotypical roles, believing they undermined the dignity of the African American community. He also called on movie studios to create more varied representations of Black individuals, highlighting their potential beyond domestic work.
In response, McDaniel defended her choices, asserting her right to accept any roles she desired. She argued that characters like Mammy demonstrated their worth by excelling in their roles, transcending mere servitude.
Late-Career Success: The Beulah Show
During World War II, McDaniel contributed to the morale of American troops and advocated for war bond sales. However, as opportunities in film began to dwindle, she made a strategic pivot back to radio, assuming the lead role in CBS’s The Beulah Show in 1947.
In 1951, she began filming the television adaptation of The Beulah Show. Unfortunately, around the same time, McDaniel suffered a heart attack and was subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer, which ultimately forced her to abandon her career.
Death and Legacy
McDaniel’s battle with breast cancer ended tragically on October 26, 1952, when she passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 57.
Following her death, the pioneering actress received posthumous recognition with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and in 2006, she was honored with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp.
In 2005, Jill Watts published a well-received biography titled Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood, which explored her life and career. Although a 2018 attempt by producer Alysia Allen to adapt this biography into a film did not come to fruition, interest in her story persists.
The most notable onscreen retelling of McDaniel’s life is the 2001 documentary Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel, hosted and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. Additionally, in 2020, Queen Latifah portrayed McDaniel in the Netflix limited series Hollywood, which interwove historical figures and events into a narrative about aspiring actors in Hollywood’s golden age.