Who is Frankie Dee Brown?
Frankie Dee Brown is an American performer born on August 31, 1916, in Ardmore, Carter, Oklahoma. He was a significant figure in the life of the renowned actress Ruby Dee as her husband. Ruby Ann Wallace, the future Ruby Dee, married Frankie Dee Brown in 1941.
They were married in 1945. However, having met in New York, they never had children during their time together. Ruby Dee kept her first husband’s name, “Dee,” as her stage name after they were divorced. Despite being most recognized for being Dee’s first husband, he also had a successful career as a performer, going under the stage name “Frankie Dee” on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Frankie Dee Brown’s parents were Capitora McKerson and Dee Riley Brown. Frankie Dee followed his profession in the entertainment world despite obstacles posed by a childhood disease that inhibited his height, leaving him at 4 ft 1 inch tall or less.
He received his degree from Oklahoma’s Langston University before attending New York University. Frankie relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, once he retired to be nearer to his relatives. He died in Omaha on September 21, 2003, and is interred beside his father and other family members in a family cemetery at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Frankie Dee Brown was a stage performer
As mentioned earlier, Frankie Dee Brown was a stage performer. Even though he was diminutive in stature, Frankie Dee Brown impacted show business. He was a Broadway and Hollywood performer who made the most of his diminutive stature by posing with huge wrestlers for advertising shots.
Before retirement, Frankie worked for 25 years in New York as a booze salesman in addition to his job in entertainment. His role as a performer needs to be extensively documented; all we know is that he contributed to the entertainment industry, showcasing his talents on stage.
Frankie Dee Brown had no children with Ruby Dee
Frankie Dee Brown’s marriage with Ruby Dee was short-lived; therefore, no children were produced. It is, however, unknown if he produced children with someone else. Although Frankie Dee Brown greatly influenced Ruby Dee’s early life and career, her most well-known marriage was to actor and activist Ossie Davis. Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis significantly influenced both the civil rights movement and Hollywood, becoming a perfect couple. Three children were born to them together: two girls, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad, and a boy, blues musician Guy Davis. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were wed a second time on December 9, 1948, and died on February 4, 2005.
Everything About Frankie Dee Brown’s wife
As discussed earlier, Frankie Dee Brown was married to Ruby Dee, an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist who lived from October 27, 1922, until June 11, 2014. In the stage and movie adaptations of A Raisin in the Sun (1961), she created the character of “Ruth Younger.”
Her other noteworthy cinematic roles are from Do the Right Thing (1989) and The Jackie Robinson Story (1950). Before his passing in 2005, Ruby Dee was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she shared many performances. Ruby Dee earned the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Mama Lucas in American Gangster (2007).
Ruby Dee received awards from the Drama Desk, Grammy, Emmy, and Obie. She also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts.
Ruby Dee, the daughter of Gladys (née Hightower) and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a chef, waiter, and porter, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 27, 1922. Ruby Dee’s father remarried schoolteacher Emma Amelia Benson after her mother left the family. Ruby Dee grew up in New York’s Harlem. She attended Public Schools 119 and 136 before enrolling at Hunter College High School. She later went on to earn a degree in Romance languages from Hunter College in 1945. Her affiliation was with Delta Sigma Theta.
The pair separated in 1945 after she wed blues musician Frankie Dee Brown in 1941 and went on to use his name as her stage identity. She began a lifetime relationship in marriage and advocacy when she wed actor Ossie Davis in 1948. They were parents to three children: Nora Day, Hasna Muhammad, and son Guy Davis. Ruby Dee’s participation in groups like CORE, the NAACP, and the Harlem Writers Guild demonstrated her dedication to civil rights. She was the master of ceremonies for the historic 1963 March on Washington and was close friends with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Her advocacy and her remarkable career in theater, cinema, and television were matched by her artistic accomplishments.
Together, Ruby Dee and Davis authored an autobiography that discussed their political involvement and how their opinions on marriage changed over time. They received the Frederick Douglass Award and the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award in recognition of their services. Protests over the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo were part of Ruby Dee’s activism. Ruby Dee passed away at the age of 91 in 2014. Her professional accomplishments, civil rights activism, and long-lasting collaboration with Ossie Davis contribute to her reputation. The urn containing the couple’s ashes has the message “In this thing together,” signifying their solidarity in activity and life.