Thirty years ago, two black actresses broke through the white ranks, each earning best-actress Oscar nominations for two very different but impressively vital portraits of black women.
In 1972, Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross were nominated for Academy Awards — Tyson for her role as Rebecca Morgan, a 1930s sharecropper's wife, in Martin Ritt's "Sounder," and Diana Ross (in her film-acting debut) for her sublime portrayal of singer Billie Holiday in Sidney J. Furie's juicy biopic "Lady Sings the Blues."
Neither won an Oscar. The award that year went to Liza Minnelli for playing, well, Liza Minnelli, in Bob Fosse's overrated film version of the Kander-Ebb musical "Cabaret." (The two other nominees were perennial Oscar-nominee Liv Ullmann for Jan Troll's "The Emigrants" and Maggie Smith for George Cukor's "Travels With My Aunt.")
But the presence of Tyson and Ross on that list teased us with the possibilities of what a good black actress could do in a role that exploited her talents in the right way. Yes, both Tyson and Ross were essentially playing victims in their respective films, but they were a long way from the kinds of roles and performances that entrapped many estimable black performers — such as the "Gone With the Wind" duo, Hattie McDaniel (herself an Oscar winner for that 1939 Victor Fleming classic) and Butterfly McQueen.
Tyson and Ross brought intelligence and complexity to their work — a refreshing shift from the assorted housekeeper/maid/cook roles that McDaniel and Louise Beavers were forced to play throughout most of their careers. But it was a breakthrough that didn't last very long. Tyson was relegated to doing TV movies, while Ross made two more forgettable films ("Mahogany" and "The Wiz") before dropping out of sight, movie-wise, altogether.
Now, in 2002, matters are looking up again, what with such players as Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Halle Berry almost assured of being cited when the 74th annual Academy Awards nominations are announced on Feb. 12.
The name to watch is Berry. Select black actors, such as Washington, Laurence Fishburne and Samuel L. Jackson, have been making strides — and earning recognition — for years. But black actresses have still pretty much been shut out of the process.
Berry, who is nothing less than commanding in Marc Forster's provocative take on racism, "Monster's Ball" (opening today in Salt Lake City), is sure to be nominated, and, if voters are tired of "In the Bedroom's" Sissy Spacek and "Moulin Rouge's" Nicole Kidman, she could possibly slip in and win.
And if Berry does win, it could mean a renaissance for such wonderful black actresses as Alfre Woodard, Angela Bassett, Nia Long, Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lynn Whitfield, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Debbi Morgan, none of whom is working as much as she should.
So, today, in honor of Berry's expected Oscar breakthrough, let's whiz through a quick history of the top black film actresses — everyone from Josephine Baker to Queen Latifah, Lena Horn to Whitney Houston. Herewith my favorite performances — The Top Ten:
1. Diana Sands in "The Landlord" (1970): Sands gave her finest screen performance — and one of the best performances overall — as Fanny, a young ghetto mother who teaches her rich-boy white landlord (Beau Bridges) how to live and love. Alternately funny and heartbreaking, Sands is unforgettable here.
Sands also excelled, along with Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil, in Daniel Petrie's wrenching film version of the Lorraine Hansberry play, "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961), and was even better in the title role of Stig Bjorkman's "Georgia, Georgia" (1972), writer Maya Angelou's perceptive tale of a black woman with "white fever" — a desire to be white. Sands died of cancer on Sept. 22, 1973, at the age of 39.
2. Josephine Baker in "Zou-Zou" (1934): All of the "e" words applied to the late Josephine Baker — exotic, erotic, eccentric, ethereal and elegant. In the title role of Marc Allegret's "Zou-Zou," a French fable recalling "42nd Street," she played a gamin who steps in for an ailing star. As the film's Creole heroine, Baker is entrancing and gets to do a nifty, singular "shadow" dance that stops the show.
It's worth noting that Lynn Whitfield portrayed Baker in Brian Gibson's well-received cable film, "The Josephine Baker Story" (1991). Another screen icon, the unique Dorothy Dandridge, got the same treatment from Halle Berry in Martha Coolidge's excellent HBO biopic, "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" (1999). And, of course, Angela Bassett played the dynamic Tina Turner in Gibson's "What's Love Got To Do With It" (1993).
3. Ethel Waters in "The Member of the Wedding" (1952): The veteran actress gave a major performance in Fred Zinnemann's affecting film version of the Carson McCullers story, playing a loving family cook named Bernice who clings to the children she looks after during one hot summer in Georgia, knowing that they will eventually be pulled apart. Waters' irresistible smile lights up the screen, and her scenes with co-star Julie Harris resonate with empathy and true love.
4. Alfre Woodard in "Passion Fish" (1992): You may have forgotten this John Sayles film, but it's difficult to shake Woodard's work as Chantelle, a strong black woman hired to coddle a handicapped white actress (Mary McDonnell). In the true Woodard fashion, Chantelle feistily fights back and gives McDonnell's character what she really needs — some stinging tough love.
5. Cicely Tyson in "Sounder" (1972): The late Pauline Kael called Tyson's character, Rebecca Morgan, "the first great black heroine on the screen," and Tyson meets this challenge and distinction with a performance of simple elegance and quiet strength.
6. Diahann Carroll in "Claudine" (1974): In this lost little film by McCarthy-era blacklist victim John Berry, Carroll shines as a single mother of six who embarks on a romance with her neighborhood's garbage man (James Earl Jones). Both Carroll and Jones bring some glamour to their roles but not enough to soften their movie's appealing rough edges.
Incidentally, Carroll's role in "Claudine" was written for Diana Sands, who had to pull out of the production when she was diagnosed with cancer. Sands was also supposed to play Billie Holliday in another version of the singer's life, but that film had to be scrapped, also because of Sands' health problems.
7. Angela Bassett in "What's Love Got To Do With It" (1993): This one features Bassett in a role — and performance — that most actresses can only dream about. It's a Judy Garland-esque musical biopic about heartbreak — the Tina Turner story — in which Bassett burns up the screen whether she's singing, crying or emoting. Bassett conveys courage, pain and joy with equal amounts of conviction. You don't want her to stop. Ever.
8. Tyra Ferrell in "Boyz N the Hood" (1991): An actress who seems to have disappeared, Ferrell turned in a multifacted performance as Mrs. Baker, the hard-driving mama of Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut in John Singleton's very passionate film about lives going nowhere in the 'hood. Angela Bassett also was in the film and, although she's much less effective in it, Bassett went through doors never opened to Ferrell.
9. Juanita Moore in "Imitation of Life" (1959): An underused actress, Moore finally got her day in the sun as Annie Johnson, Lana Turner's selfless maid and best friend in this wildly entertaining Douglas Sirk version of the Fannie Hurst tearjerker. They play women raising their little girls together, although Moore's character is the more supportive and giving of the two. The actress' vivid scenes with Susan Kohner (as her ungrateful daughter trying to pass as white) won Moore a well-deserved Oscar nomination.
10. Madge Sinclair in "Conrack" (1974): Martin Ritt's follow-up to "Sounder" was supposed to showcase Jon Voight as an idealistic white teacher working on a small island off of South Carolina, but Sinclair, a stage actress new to films at the time, did a virtuoso turn as the little school's indomitable principal, Mrs. Scott, a strong woman cautious about her own warmth. You like this woman in spite of herself. Sinclair went on to play a few other roles (the most notable being Leslie Uggams' mother in "Roots") but died too soon.