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Ossie Davis

Actor and activist Raiford Chatman Davis won rave reviews with his 1946 acting debut in the title role of Jeb, opposite his future wife, Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis went on to appear with his wife Ruby Dee in nine films, and was a featured speaker at the funerals of both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. He is best remembered as Ponder Blue in Evening Shade, Harry Roosevelt in The Client, Erasmus Jones in Promised Land and Melvin Porter in The L Word

English
Filmography

12 Angry Men

1997
as Juror 2

Doctor Dolittle

1998
as Archer Dolittle

Dinosaur

2000
as Yar (voice)

Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker

1991
as Ossie Davis

Malcolm X: Make It Plain

1994
as Ossie Davis

Still A Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class

1968
as Self - Host

Hot Stuff

1979
as Captain John Geiberger

Malcolm X

1972
as Eulogy (voice)

Joe Versus the Volcano

1990
as Marshall

School Daze

1988
as Coach Odom

The Android Affair

1995
as Dr. Winston

The House of God

1984
as Dr. Sanders

Miss Evers' Boys

1997
as Mr. Evers

Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property

2003
as Himself

Teacher, Teacher

1969
as Charles Carter

Legend of the Candy Cane

2001
as Julius

A Man Called Adam

1966
as Nelson Davis

Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough

2000
as Ossie Davis

Making 'Do the Right Thing'

1989
as Himself

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: The Ghosts of Christmas Eve

1999
as The Caretaker

Freedom Road

1979
as Narrator

I'm Not Rappaport

1996
as Midge Carter

The Hill

1965
as Jacko King

Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy "Satchel" Paige

1981
as Chuffy Russell

A Vow to Cherish

1999
as Alexander Billman

The Peace!

2005
as Ossie Davis

The Cardinal

1963
as Father Gillis

The Tenth Level

1976
as Ben Reed

Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem

2004
as Ossie Davis

Proud

2004
as Lorenzo DuFau

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand

1999
as Ossie Davis

The Ernest Green Story

1993
as Grandfather

Jungle Fever

1991
as Reverend Purify

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

2003
as Ossie Davis

The African Burial Ground: An American Discovery

1994
as Self - Narrator

Arthur Ashe: Citizen of the World

1994
as Ossie Davis

The Tuskegee Airmen: They Fought Two Wars

2002
as Narrator

Bubba Ho-tep

2002
as Jack

The Scalphunters

1968
as Joseph Lee

Why Can't We Be a Family Again?

2002
as Narrator

Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers

1997
as Narrator

And When I Die, I Won't Stay Dead

2015
as Self (archive footage)

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

2013
as Ossie Davis

The Client

1994
as Harry Roosevelt

The Secret Path

1999
as Too Tall

Angel 2: Avenging Angel

1985
as Capt. Harry Moradian

Do the Right Thing

1989
as Da Mayor

The Sun... the Sand... the Hill

1965
as Jason King (archival footage)

The Sun... the Sand... the Hill

1965
as Jason King (archive footage)

Michael Landon: Memories with Laughter and Love

1991
as Ossie Davis

Deacons for Defense

2003
as Reverend 'Rev' Gregory

Slaves

1969
as Luke

Black Shadows on the Silver Screen

1975
as Narrator

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Malcolm X

2005
as Ossie Davis

Grumpy Old Men

1993
as Chuck

Countdown at Kusini

1976
as Ernest Motapo

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Ghosts of Christmas Eve

2001

Let's Do It Again

1975
as Elder Johnson

Gone Are the Days!

1963
as Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson

4 Little Girls

1997
as Himself - Actor and Playwright

Harry & Son

1984
as Raymond

Get on the Bus

1996
as Jeremiah

Sam Whiskey

1969
as Jed Hooker

Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder

1995
as Uncle Phil

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

2003

Death of a Prophet

1981

The Sheriff

1971
as James Lucas

Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid

1977
as Dr. Fredericks

Gladiator

1992
as Noah

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

2000
as Himself

Baadasssss!

2004
as Granddad

Director

Movie Kongi's Harvest 1970
Movie Black Girl 1972
Movie Cotton Comes to Harlem 1970
Movie Gordon's War 1973
Movie Countdown at Kusini 1976

Writer

Movie Cotton Comes to Harlem 1970
Movie For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers 1982
Movie Purlie 1981
Movie Countdown at Kusini 1976
Movie Gone Are the Days! 1963