Maidie Norman
- Acting
- October 16, 1912 · Villa Rica, Georgia, USA
- May 2, 1998
Biography
Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.
Known for
Filmography
- Delphine and Carole · Self
- Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami · Edna
- Secrets of a Mother and Daughter · Neddy
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch · Nurse Agnes
- Matt Houston
- Hotel · Carrie Garland
- Cagney & Lacey · Elevator Operator
- Simon & Simon
- Be Pretty and Shut Up! · Self
- Thornwell · Ruth Thornwell
- Roots: The Next Generations · Sister Scrap Scott
- Movie Movie · Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
- The Incredible Hulk · Mrs. Dennison
- Airport '77 · Dorothy
- A Star Is Born · Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
- The Jeffersons
- Baretta
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker · Librarian
- Police Woman
- Harry O
- Little House on the Prairie · Mrs. Henry
- Rhoda
- Sty of the Blind Pig · Weedy Warren
- Good Times
- A Dream for Christmas · Jennie Daley
- Maurie · Mrs. Stokes
- The Lie · Janine
- Kung Fu · Omar's Mother
- Another Part of the Forest · Coralee
- Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole · Nurse Ferguson
- The Streets of San Francisco
- Sixteen · Aunt Ada
- Funny Face
- Cannon
- Adam-12 · Ethel May, Mary Handlin
- Mannix
- Judd, for the Defense
- Ironside
- CBS Playhouse · Mrs. Pierce
- The F.B.I. · Caregiver
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. · Mama Lou
- 4 for Texas · Burden's Maid
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? · Elvira Stitt
- Ben Casey
- Dr. Kildare · Mrs. Johnson
- No Greater Love · Queto's Mother
- The Twilight Zone · Maid (uncredited)
- The Opposite Sex · Violet (uncredited)
- Written on the Wind · Bertha
- Matinee Theater
- Man with the Gun · Sarah (uncredited)
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents · Eloise
- Mad at the World · Miss Lovett
- Tarzan's Hidden Jungle · Suma
- About Mrs. Leslie · Camilla
- Susan Slept Here · Georgette
- Executive Suite · Housekeeper (uncredited)
- Forever Female · Emma (uncredited)
- Torch Song · Anne
- Letter to Loretta · Flora, Josi
- Bright Road · Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
- Cavalcade of America · Aunt Nellie
- Four Star Playhouse · Coralee
- Hallmark Hall of Fame · Lurie
- Dragnet
- The Well · Martha Crawford
- Lux Video Theatre · Flora, Maid
- Manhandled · Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
- The Peanut Man · Lucretia