Louise Beavers

• Born: March 8, 1902
• Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Died: October 26, 1962
• Place of death: Hollywood, California

Actor

An actor who portrayed maids and other domestic workers in more than 150 films from the late 1920’s to 1960, Beavers is best known for her standout role as Delilah in Imitation of Life(1934), in which she was credited as the “second lead,” unprecedented at the time for an African American actor.

Early Life

Louise Ellen Beavers was born March 8, 1902, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Ernestine Monroe Beavers and William M. Beavers. At the age of twelve, she and her family relocated to Pasadena, California, where she later graduated from Pasadena High School. Beavers sang and acted from a young age. She performed in the group The Ladies Minstrels, in talent shows, and in her church choir.

Beavers worked for a time as a maid for actor Leatrice Joy, during which time she appeared uncredited in several films. She was discovered by a casting agent for Universal Pictures who watched her perform onstage, then got her an audition for her breakthrough role as the cook in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927). It was suggested at first that she play Mammy because of her large frame and dark skin, but she was deemed too young for the role. Beavers’s size and skin tone arguably were most vital to her success in Hollywood.

Life’s Work

In its early years, the film industry often presented African Americans and other minorities in stereotypical roles that reflected racist attitudes of the day. African Americans were often cast as maids, cooks, chauffeurs, and slaves, or as comedic foils to their white costars. Black women of a large stature with dark skin typically played caretakers, either maids or cooks, to the films’ white leading ladies. Beavers’s career was built on this stereotype; she was cast as a domestic in the majority of the more than 150 films in which she appeared.

Ironically, Beavers herself could not cook, and although she was partly cast because of her large frame, she was often told to gain weight. She had to learn a southern accent, which was preferred for some of her characters. She also was rumored to have worked for some of her white costars as a maid in between her acting jobs, a claim she refuted in interviews.

Beavers costarred in several films, including She Done Him Wrong (1933) with Mae West, with whom she built a friendship. Her seminal role, for which she garnered the most praise, was as Delilah in the Universal Pictures film Imitation of Life (1934). Beavers starred alongside Claudette Colbert (playing a widow named Bea) as a housekeeper hired to help care for Bea’s young daughter, Jessie. After tasting Delilah’s pancakes, Bea, who runs her deceased husband’s maple syrup company, decides to open Aunt Delilah’s Pancake House. Bea manufactures and sells the pancake mix and, despite being given 20 percent of the profits, Delilah chooses to remain with Bea as her housekeeper. Delilah also has a daughter, Peola (played by Fredi Washington), who is very light-complexioned. Peola opts to “pass” for white, much to the dismay of Delilah, whom she must reject. Brokenhearted, Delilah dies, and a remorseful Peola attends her funeral.

The film was a major success, attracting both black and white audiences. Many praised Beavers’s portrayal of Delilah and thought that she should be nominated for an Academy Award. Although Beavers’s character was docile and subservient, the actor herself was not. While working on Imitation of Life, she successfully lobbied—with the help of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—to have the racial epithet “nigger” removed from the script and replaced with “Negro.”

Beavers continued to act for several years, most notably in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and the television shows Beulah (1952) and Make Room for Daddy (1953). Beavers even performed in West’s Las Vegas nightclub act, portraying her maid and singing alongside her. Her last film was The Facts of Life (1960).

As a member of the community, Beavers was described as kind and benevolent. She invited Washington, who was from New York, to stay with her during the filming of Imitation of Life. She also cofounded the charitable organization Doll League to give dolls to underprivileged African American girls. In addition, she was part of a group of African Americans who successfully fought land covenants that barred African Americans from purchasing homes in her Los Angeles-area neighborhood.

Beavers was married twice. She married Robert Clark in 1936, but the pair divorced. She later married Leroy Moore, a cook and an interior designer, to whom she remained married until her death. Beavers died of a heart attack October 26, 1962, in Hollywood.

Significance

Beavers was a fixture in the “golden era” of Hollywood, acting alongside some of Hollywood’s most notable stars, such as West, Colbert, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. Her portrayal of Delilah in Imitation of Life marked the first time an African American actor was given credit as “second lead” in a major motion picture. While many of the roles she played fit the contemporary stereotypes of African Americans as unsophisticated and subservient, Beavers was neither. She was a multifaceted performer who contributed to her community both on screen and off.

Bibliography

Bogle, Donald. Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. New York: One World Books, 2006. Offers an intimate look at the personal lives of the black Hollywood elite and provides insight into Beavers’s offscreen life.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. 4th ed. New York: Continuum, 2001. Analyzes Beavers’s roles and performances and how they reflected Hollywood’s depictions of African American life.

Nissen, Axel. “Leave It to Beavers: Louise Beavers (1902-1962).” In Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007. Detailed examination of Beavers’s career in historical and cultural context.

Regester, Charlene B. “Louise Beavers: Negotiating Racial Difference.” In African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010. The best source of information on Beavers’s early life, this essay also explores some of the analysis by author and cultural critic Donald Bogle.