Ossie Davis

On stage 15 productions, 42 years

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 6 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on2 works

Golden Boy
Purlie

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

• Act One: “Savannah” (Ricardo Montalban, Fishermen); “Savannah’s Wedding Day” (Adelaide Hall, Islanders); “Pretty to Walk With” (Lena Horne); “Push the Button” (Lena Horne); “Incompatibility” (Ricardo Montalban, Augustine Rios, Island Men); “Little Biscuit” (Ossie Davis, Josephine Premice); “Cocoanut Sweet” (Adelaide Hall, Lena Horne); “Pi…ebooks/Dietz, Dan/Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz.txt
• When Poitier left the cast, Dee’s husband Ossie Davis took over. He was in the process of writing a play called Purlie Victorious, in which he planned to play the title character, a preacher who is determined to break the economic stranglehold that a plantation owner has over his people. Purlie triumphs, and gets the girl, as well, one Lu…ebooks/Filichia, Peter/B007L4OWCU EBOK - Peter Filichia.txt
• MERLE DEBUSKEY: Ossie Davis had written the comedy Purlie Victorious nearly a decade before Purlie opened with Cleavon Little and Melba Moore. While Ossie was assistant stage manager for The World of Sholem Aleichem , we encouraged him to write a libretto based on his play. And so out of our little company, which developed from The World…ebooks/Frommer, Myrna Katz & Frommer, Harvey/It Happened on Broadway_ An Oral History of the Great White Way - Myrna Katz Frommer & Harvey Frommer.txt
• Cast: Lena Horne, Ricardo Montalban, Josephine Premice, Adelaide Hall, Ossie Davis, Erik Rhodes, Joe Adams, Alvin Ailey, Billy Wilsonebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
• The supporting cast was distinguished. It included Adelaide Hall, Ossie Davis, Erik Rhodes, Josephine Premice and, as lead male dancer, Alvin Ailey. But ten days before rehearsals were to begin, there was still not a name big enough to carry the show.ebooks/Kissel, Howard/David Merrick - The Abominable Showman_ The Unauthorized Biography (Applause Books) - Howard Kissel.txt
• With: Lena Horne, Ricardo Montalban, Adelaide Hall, Ossie Davis, Josephine Premice, Alvin Aileyebooks/Kissel, Howard/David Merrick - The Abominable Showman_ The Unauthorized Biography (Applause Books) - Howard Kissel.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

• What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
• Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor, book writer — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.