Beah Richards was a legendary actress of stage, screen, and television, who was also a poet, playwright, author, and activist. She was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her supporting role in the film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1968, and won two Emmy Awards for her guest roles in the television series Frank’s Place in 1988 and The Practice in 2000. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 1965 production of The Amen Corner. She was known for her dignified and subtle portrayals of mothers, grandmothers, and other strong black women. But how did she die, and what was her cause of death?
Early Life and Career
Beah Richards was born as Beulah Elizabeth Richardson on July 12, 1920, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a Baptist minister. She graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1948, and moved to New York City two years later. She was taught dance by Ismay Andrews, according to Wikipedia.
Her career began in 1955, when she portrayed an 84-year-old grandmother in the off-Broadway show Take a Giant Step. She often played the role of a mother or grandmother, and continued acting her entire life. She appeared in the original Broadway productions of Purlie Victorious, The Miracle Worker, and A Raisin in the Sun. As a writer, she wrote the verse performance piece A Black Woman Speaks, a collection of 14 poems, in which she pointed out that white women played an important role in oppressing women of color. Her first play was written in 1951, titled One Is a Crowd, about a black singer who seeks revenge on a white man who destroyed her family. It was not produced until decades later, according to Wikipedia.
From the 1930s to the late 1950s, Richards was a member and organizer with the Communist Party USA in Los Angeles, after befriending artist Paul Robeson. She was among the black women who “actively participated in movements affiliated with the CPUSA” between 1917’s Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s 1956 revelations. She was later a sponsor of the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis, according to Wikipedia.
Richards was known professionally as Beah Richards, and is also referred to in several sources as Bea Richards, according to Wikipedia.
Notable Movie and TV Appearances
Richards made her film debut in 1958, in The Mugger. Her most famous film role was as Mrs. Prentice, the mother of Sidney Poitier’s character, in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a 1967 drama that dealt with interracial marriage. She received an Oscar and a Golden Globe nomination for her supporting role, and shared a memorable scene with Katharine Hepburn, who played the mother of Poitier’s fiancee. Richards later said that Hepburn was “the most generous star I ever worked with. She was concerned about me having my moment on the screen”, according to IMDb.
Her other film credits include The Amen Corner (1965), Hurry Sundown (1967), The Great White Hope (1970), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), and Beloved (1998). She also appeared in Roots: The Next Generations (1979) as Cynthia Murray Palmer, the grandmother of Alex Haley, the author of Roots.
She made numerous guest television appearances, including roles on Beauty and the Beast, The Bill Cosby Show, 227, Sanford and Son, Benson, Designing Women, The Facts of Life, Murder, She Wrote, The Big Valley, and ER (as Dr. Peter Benton’s mother). She won an Emmy Award in 1988 for her performance as Mrs. Varden in Frank’s Place, a comedy-drama series created by and starring Tim Reid. She won another Emmy Award in 2000 for her performance as Gertrude Turner in The Practice, a legal drama series created by David E. Kelley. She played a woman who was accused of killing her abusive husband, and delivered a powerful monologue about domestic violence and self-defense.
Death and Legacy
Richards was diagnosed with emphysema in 2000, a chronic lung disease that causes shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. Emphysema is often caused by smoking, but Richards was not a smoker. She said that she developed the condition from exposure to secondhand smoke and pollution, according to The Washington Post.
Richards died from emphysema in her hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on September 14, 2000, at the age of 80. She passed away just four days after winning her second Emmy Award, which was presented to her at her home by Lisa Gay Hamilton, one of the stars of The Practice. Hamilton also directed a documentary about Richards’ life, titled Beah: A Black Woman Speaks, which was released in 2003 and won a Peabody Award.
Richards was praised by many as a trailblazer and an inspiration for black actresses and artists. She was also a poet, playwright, author, and activist, who wrote three books: One Is a Crowd, A Black Woman Speaks, and A Black Woman Speaks and Other Poems. She was known for her dignity, grace, and wisdom, and for her memorable roles as strong and complex black women. She once said, “I am not a black artist, I am an artist”, according to IMDb.
