The Sheila Variations

RIP Ossie Davis

I just came across the very sad news that Ossie Davis was found dead in a hotel in Miami. He was down there, age 87, shooting a film.

His credits are too long to list. He has been working, pretty much non-stop, since the 1930s. Originally, he wanted to be a playwright, but once he hooked up with the famous Rose McClendon Players in Harlem, and did his first play with them in 1939 (they were a hugely influential group at the time) - he was hooked.

Also known as the long-time husband and acting partner (a la Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn) of Ruby Dee ... the two of them have written a book together about their long marriage, and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998. It has been an amazing collaboration, in every sense of the word.

I remember them from Roots, actually ... but that's just a tiny portion of what Ossie Davis has done.

Spike Lee always cast both of them in his films (member Do the Right Thing?? What a feckin' film THAT was. I still remember my conversations with my mother about that movie, and what it meant ... great movie)...

But I think my favorite scene involving Ossie Davis is a very small one - from Jungle Fever - when his crack-head insane son (played by Samuel Jackson) comes home, and is acting nuts, and wanting money, and wanting help ... and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee must, in order to save their son, reject him. It's an incredible scene. Anyone remember it? Sam Jackson, cracked-up out of his mind, starts doing this nutso dance, RIGHT AT HIS FATHER, he calls it "the Gator dance" (the character's name is Gator) ... but it's all about rage, and anger. The dance is a "fuck you". And Ossie Davis, as the father, stands strong. But watch Davis' face, as Sam Jackson gyrates towards him. Watch what he's doing. It's not just a stoic: "I cannot help my son. He needs to stand on his own." although that is PART of his expression. The other thing you see on his face is deep awful grief, GRIEF that burns his soul, that he must reject his own son. That he must, in essence, let Gator die. He can no longer protect his son. He will have to face losing him. A terrible terrible choice. Many parents will coddle their children, regardless of their drug addiction, they will want to save their kids ... Ossie Davis' character has gone that route for too long. He has propped up his son, which has only helped the crack addiction flourish. And so now ... he must cut the cord. A terrible choice - and it's all on Ossie Davis' face.

Ossie Davis doesn't even have many lines in this scene ... but it's the FACE ... that beautiful strong grief-struck angry face that kills me, as he watches his son dance towards him ...

A great actor. My thoughts go out to Ruby Dee.

Warning: The first person who makes some comment about how they hate his political views will have their comment deleted. This is not the time or the place, and I don't want to hear it.

This post is an acknowledgement of the man, the artist, the actor. His work will be long remembered.

Here is a photo of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee at the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors - where they were among the list of artists being honored. Very very cool.

RIP, Mr. Davis, and thank you for your long long career.

Posted by sheila