Ruth Attaway: Difference between revisions

| spouse = {{marriage|Allan Morrison ({{abbr|m.|married}}1968|end 19??;= died 1968)}}

From 1954 to 1955, Attaway portrayed Anna Hicks in the play ''Mrs. Patterson'' at the [[National Theater (Manhattan)|National Theater]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Eartha Returns to 'Mrs. Patterson' After Fold-Up|date=24 February 24, 1955|magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLIDAAAAMBAJ&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA56|accessdate=26 September 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJQyBe_wDj8C&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA241|last=Peterson, Jr.|first=Bernard L.|title=A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans|year=1993|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313064548}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeiySJZXF4C&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA312|last=Hischak|first=Thomas S.|title=Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows through 2007|year=2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786453092}}</ref>

Attaway made her film debut by portraying Moll in ''[[The President's Lady]]'' (1953), opposite [[Susan Hayward]] and [[Charlton Heston]].<ref name=baltimore>{{cite news|title=Ruth Attaway In First Film Role|date=24 March 24, 1953|newspaper=[[Baltimore Afro-American]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2205&dat=19530324&id=m_glAAAAIBAJ&pg=4749,5197550&hl=en|accessdate=26 September 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Ruth Attaway Scores In First Movie|date=30 October 30, 1953|magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0IDAAAAMBAJ&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA60|accessdate=1 October 1, 2015}}</ref> She went on to play a variety of characters in film such as Philomena in ''[[The Young Don't Cry]]'' (1957),<ref>{{cite web |title=Screen: An Orphan's Life; 'The Young Don't Cry' Opens at the Palace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/07/27/archives/screen-an-orphans-life-the-young-dont-cry-opens-at-the-palace.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=20 October 20, 2021 |date=27 July 27, 1957}}</ref> Serena in ''[[Porgy and Bess (film)|Porgy and Bess]]'' (1959), Edna in ''[[Conrack]]'' (1974) and Louise in ''[[Being There]]'' (1979).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ruth Attaway |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2baa2ee124 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305161042/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2baa2ee124 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 5, 2019 |website=BFI |access-date=20 October 20, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

She also played Delia in the 1978 television movie, ''[[The Bermuda Depths]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Videos: Exploring 'The Bermuda Depths'|date=9 January 9, 2012|work=[[Bernews]]|url=http://bernews.com/2012/01/108510/|accessdate=10 October 10, 2015}}</ref>

In addition to acting, Attaway was also trained as a [[social worker]]<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Negro on Broadway|date=April 1964|magazine=[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VBKHwdFYAUC&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PT195|accessdate=26 September 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=New York Beat|date=9 August 9, 1962|magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ar0DAAAAMBAJ&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA63|accessdate=26 September 26, 2015}}</ref> and, between acting jobs, worked with the [[American Red Cross]], the New York State Department of Social Welfare and New York's [[Metropolitan Hospital]].<ref name=obituary/><ref name=nyt/>

On November 10, 1953, Attaway was one of three people cited by the Coordinating Council For Negro Performers at a special benefit in [[Harlem]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=To Honor 2 Actresses, Playwright at Benefit|date=5 November 5, 1953|magazine=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUIDAAAAMBAJ&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA58|accessdate=10 October 10, 2015}}</ref>

Attaway was married to Allan Morrison, an editor of ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]''.<ref name=baltimore/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QdSBBAAAQBAJ&q=ruth+attaway+actress&pg=PA280|last=Smith|first=Judith E.|title=Becoming Belafonte: Black Artist, Public Radical|year=2014|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9780292756700}}</ref> He died on May 29, 1968, at the age of 51.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=EDITOR OF ''EBONY'' DIES|date=June–July 1968|magazine=[[The Crisis]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVsEAAAAMBAJ&q=allan+morrison+ruth+attaway&pg=PA204|accessdate=20 April 20, 2016}}</ref>

Attaway died on September 21, 1987, in [[New York Hospital]] of injuries resulting from a [[Manhattan]] apartment fire.<ref name=obituary/><ref>[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/6733%7C136725/Ruth-Attaway/ Ruth Attaway at Turner Classic Movies]</ref> She was 77 years old.<ref name=obituary>{{cite news|title=Ruth Attaway, Actress, Dies Of Injuries in Apartment Fire|date=24 September 24, 1987|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/24/obituaries/ruth-attaway-actress-dies-of-injuries-in-apartment-fire.html|accessdate=26 September 26, 2015}}</ref>

[[Category:African-AmericanAccidental actressesdeaths in New York (state)]]

[[Category:ActressesDeaths from Mississippifire in the United States]]

[[Category:University of Illinois atCollege Urbana–Champaignof Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni]]