Hattie McDaniel was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne. For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 2006 became the first black Oscar winner honored with a U.S. postage stamp. In 2010, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
McDaniel in 1939
A 1939 publicity photo for Gone with the Wind including McDaniel, Olivia de Havilland, and Vivien Leigh
McDaniel in February 1940
McDaniel as Beulah in August 1951, a year before her death
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance film adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell. The film was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the American South against the backdrop of the Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the film tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, following her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, and her subsequent marriage to Rhett Butler.
Theatrical release poster
Publicity photo of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett and Scarlett
David O. Selznick in 1940
The premiere of the film at Loew's Grand, Atlanta