Theresa Harris

Theresa Harris (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985) was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.

Theresa Harris
Born(1906-12-31)December 31, 1906
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedOctober 8, 1985(1985-10-08) (aged 78)
Inglewood, California, U.S.
Resting placeAngelus-Rosedale Cemetery
EducationJefferson High School
Alma materUCLA Conservatory of Music
Zoellner's Conservatory of Music
OccupationActress, singer, dancer
Years active1929–1958
Spouse(s)George Robinson
(m. 1933; ? 19??)

Early life

Harris was born on New Year's Eve 1906 (some sources indicate 1909)[1] in Houston, Texas to Isaiah (1879–1956) and Mable (1883–1964) Harris, both of whom were former sharecroppers from Louisiana.

Harris' family relocated to Southern California when she was 11 years old. After graduating Jefferson High School, she studied at the UCLA Conservatory of Music and Zoellner's Conservatory of Music. She then joined the Lafayette Players, an African American musical comedy theatre troupe.[2]

Career

In 1929, she traveled to Hollywood where she embarked on an acting career. She made her film debut in Thunderbolt, singing the song "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home"[1].[3] As she entered the 1930s, she played maids to characters acted by Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Kay Francis, and Barbara Stanwyck. These parts, however, often were uncredited. She also floated around studios doing bit-parts, usually at Warner Bros. or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Aside from maids, she also specialized in playing blues singers, waitresses, tribal women, prostitutes, and hat check girls.

Harris had a featured role as a friend of Jean Harlow in MGM's Hold Your Man (1932), also starring Clark Gable. In 1933, she appeared as Chico in the Warner Bros. pre-Code production of Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck.[4] That same year, Harris starred in a substantial role opposite Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart. As Rogers' character's maid, Harris' character subs for Rogers' character as a singer on the radio. Despite the fact that Harris' character was a major point for the story's plot development, she was uncredited for the role.[5]

Throughout the 1930s, Harris played many uncredited parts in films such as Horse Feathers (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) and Morning Glory (1933). She also played Bette Davis's maid Zette in the film Jezebel (1938).[6] In 1937, she appeared in the race film Bargain with Bullets opposite Ralph Cooper for Million Dollar Productions, owned by Cooper. While doing promotion for the film, Harris spoke about her frustration over the difficulty African American actors faced in the film industry stating,

I never had the chance to rise about the role of maid in Hollywood movies. My color was against me anyway you looked at it. The fact that I was not "hot" stamped me either as uppity or relegated me to the eternal role of stooge or servant. [...] My ambition is to be an actress. Hollywood had no parts for me.[7]

She also praised Ralph Cooper for starting a production company that produced films starring African American actors. She said,

We have nothing to lose in the development of an all-colored motion picture company. The competition will make Hollywood perk up and produce better films with our people in a variety of roles.[7]

Harris continued to lobby for better parts but found few opportunities within Hollywood. In the 1939 movie, "Tell No Tales" she was credited for her part as Ruby, the wife of a murdered man. Harris played an emotional scene with Melvin Douglas at the funeral. She appears in a small but vivid role as Kathie Moffat's ex-maid Eunice Leonard in Jacques Tourneur 1947 Out of the Past.

In addition to films, Harris also performed in many radio programs, including Hollywood Hotel.[8] Harris was often paired with Eddie Rochester Anderson, who portrayed her on-screen boyfriend. They appeared together in Buck Benny Rides Again (1940) and What's Buzzin' Cousin (1943). In Buck Benny Rides Again, Harris and Anderson performed the musical number "My, My," where they sing and dance tap, classical, Spanish, and swing. She also appeared in several prominent roles for RKO Pictures as she was a favorite of RKO producer Val Lewton who routinely cast African American actors in non-stereotypical roles. In 1942, Lewton cast Harris as a sarcastic waitress in Cat People, followed by roles in I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Phantom Lady (1944), and Strange Illusion (1945).[1]

Later life and death

During the 1950s, Harris appeared several times on television on such shows as Lux Video Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Letter to Loretta.[9] She made her last film appearance in an uncredited role in The Gift of Love in 1958. Harris later married a doctor and retired from acting, living comfortably after having carefully invested the money she made during her career in the movies.

Harris adhered to Methodism[10] and was a Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.[11]

On October 8, 1985, Harris (then known as Theresa Robinson) died of undisclosed causes in Inglewood, California. She was buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.[12]

Legacy

The title character in Lynn Nottage's play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is based in part on Theresa Harris.[13]

Selected filmography
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References
  1. McCann, Bob (2010). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. McFarland. p. 150. ISBN 0-7864-3790-1.
  2. Slide, Anthony (2012). Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 203–204. ISBN 1-617-03474-6.
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nffjdjZhMw) Retrieved 11 May 2018
  4. Bogle, Donald (2006). Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 126. ISBN 0-345-45419-7.
  5. Slide 2012 p.203
  6. Schatz, Thomas (2004). Hollywood: Cultural Dimensions: Ideology, Identity and Cultural Industry Studies. Taylor & Francis. p. 237. ISBN 0-415-28135-0.
  7. Jackson, Fay M. (August 28, 1937). "Dainty Theresa in Gang Film". The Afro American. p. 22. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  8. "Theresa Harris On "Hollywood Hotel"". The Afro American. August 28, 1937. p. 11. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  9. McCann, Bob (2010). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. McFarland. p. 151. ISBN 0-7864-3790-1.
  10. Morning News, January 10, 1948, Who Was Who in America (Vol. 2)
  11. Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  12. Eagle, Bob L.; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. ABC-CLIO. p. 393. ISBN 0-313-34424-8.
  13. Dargis, Manohla (April 21, 2011). "Just a Maid in Movies, but Not Forgotten". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
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