USA: ACTRESS HATTIE McDANIEL RECOGNIZED WITH A MONUMENT ALMOST FIFTY YEARS AFTER HER DEATH

Record ID: 388658

  • Title: USA: ACTRESS HATTIE McDANIEL RECOGNIZED WITH A MONUMENT ALMOST FIFTY YEARS AFTER HER DEATH
  • Date: 31st October 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 26, 1999)(RTN) MEMORIAL SERVICE AT HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY MONUMENT DEDICATED TO MCDANIEL [SOUNDBITE] (English) ACTOR ROBERT DOQUIS SAYING "In this industry, someone recognized and righted a wrong and said we must honour this woman. The doors are open and I think it's marvelous." [SOUNDBITE] (English) ACTOR ANNE MARIE JOHNSON
  • Embargoed: 15th November 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA57S67JSRX3PC6P1BHC6CLP7PT
  • Story Text: Nearly 50 years after the death of actress Hattie McDaniel, the Academy Award winning co-star from "Gone With the Wind" came close to getting her final wish.
    McDaniel was recognized with a monument in the Hollywood Cemetery on Tuesday (October 26) where she wanted to be buried amongst her peers.
    Hattie McDaniel, recipient of an historic Academy Award 60 years ago, was honoured again by Hollywood as a memorial was dedicated to her in Hollywood Cemetery.
    McDaniel is best recognized as "Mammy", the over-bearing nanny to Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 production "Gone With the Wind".The movie, which made box office, history also garnered McDaniel the first Oscar ever presented to a black actor.
    When she died of breast cancer in 1952 at age 57, McDaniel requested that she be laid to rest at the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, the final resting place of Douglas Fairbanks, Bugsy Siegel and Rudolph Valentino, among others.
    "I desire a white casket and a white shroud" wrote McDaniel.
    "I also wish to be buried in the Hollywood Cemetery."
    In 1952, the Los Angeles cemetery did not take blacks and made no exception in this case.It would not be until 1959 that the cemetery changed its policy; to this day there are only 3 blacks buried among the 80,000 graves.
    According to a number of the actors who turned out to honour McDaniel on the anniversary of her death, "someone recognized and righted a wrong.
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