Ruby Dee: movies and TV shows
Ruby Dee has 125 credits in the archive: 94 films and 31 TV series, from 1946 to 2026. Highest rated: Hallmark Hall of Fame (8.8/10).
Career timeline
1946 – 2026 · busiest year: 1999 (6 credits)
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Full filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Type | Rating | Age then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Love in Exile | Film | — | 103 | |
| 2024 | Hollywood Black | Self (archive footage) | TV | 3.7 | 101 |
| 2018 | Poitier's Walter Lee | Self (archive footage) | Film | — | 95 |
| 2014 | Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee | Self | Film | 1.5 | 91 |
| 2013 | Betty and Coretta | Narrator | Film | 7.2 | 90 |
| 2013 | Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal | Self | Film | 10.0 | 90 |
| 2012 | A Thousand Words | Annie McCall | Film | 6.1 | 89 |
| 2011 | Video Girl | Valerie | Film | 6.1 | 88 |
| 2011 | The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll | Miss Candy | Film | 5.5 | 88 |
| 2011 | Politics of Love | Film | 3.3 | 88 | |
| 2009 | America | Mrs. Harper | Film | 3.5 | 86 |
| 2009 | A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School | Narrator (voice) | Film | 7.3 | 86 |
| 2007 | American Gangster | Mama Lucas | Film | 7.6 | 84 |
| 2007 | Steam | Doris | Film | 2.8 | 84 |
| 2007 | All About Us | Ms. Ella | Film | 4.4 | 84 |
| 2007 | Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson | Self | Film | — | 84 |
| 2007 | In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema | Herself | Film | 6.5 | 84 |
| 2006 | No. 2 | Nanna Maria | Film | 6.5 | 83 |
| 2006 | The Way Back Home | Maude | Film | 6.7 | 83 |
| 2006 | Discovering William Greaves | Self | Film | 7.0 | 83 |
| 2005 | Iconoclasts | Self | TV | 7.5 | 82 |
| 2005 | Their Eyes Were Watching God | Nanny | Film | 5.7 | 82 |
| 2004 | Beah: A Black Woman Speaks | Self | Film | — | 81 |
| 2004 | TV in Black: The First Fifty Years | (archive footage) | Film | 5.3 | 81 |
| 2003 | Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives | Film | 5.2 | 80 | |
| 2002 | Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years | Narrator | TV | 6.0 | 79 |
| 2002 | Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun' | Self | Film | — | 79 |
| 2001 | Feast of All Saints | Elsie Claviere | Film | 4.8 | 78 |
| 2001 | Taking Back Our Town | Emelda West | Film | 4.0 | 78 |
| 2000 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Mary Wilson | TV | 7.6 | 77 |
| 2000 | A Storm in Summer | Grandmother | Film | 6.4 | 77 |
| 2000 | Finding Buck McHenry | Mrs. Henry | Film | 7.0 | 77 |
| 1999 | Little Bill | TV | 6.9 | 76 | |
| 1999 | Baby Geniuses | Margo | Film | 4.1 | 76 |
| 1999 | The Unfinished Journey | Narrator (voice) | Film | 6.5 | 76 |
| 1999 | Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years | Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany | Film | 7.3 | 76 |
| 1999 | Passing Glory | Mommit Porter | Film | 6.0 | 76 |
| 1999 | Paul Robeson: Here I Stand | Self | Film | 8.0 | 76 |
| 1998 | Christianity: The First 1000 Years | Herself - Narrator | TV | — | 75 |
| 1998 | The Wall | Mrs. Mitchell (segment "The Badge") | Film | 6.8 | 75 |
| 1998 | A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner | Narrator | Film | 7.0 | 75 |
| 1998 | Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood | Self | Film | 9.0 | 75 |
| 1997 | A Simple Wish | Hortence | Film | 5.5 | 74 |
| 1997 | Sports on the Silver Screen | Self (archive footage) | Film | 9.0 | 74 |
| 1996 | Captive Heart: The James Mink Story | Indigo | Film | 5.1 | 73 |
| 1996 | Mr. and Mrs. Loving | Sophia | Film | 6.0 | 73 |
| 1995 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Grandma (voice) | TV | 6.3 | 72 |
| 1995 | Just Cause | Evangeline Ferguson | Film | 6.3 | 72 |
| 1995 | Tuesday Morning Ride | Jennie | Film | 6.5 | 72 |
| 1994 | Touched by an Angel | LaBelle Springbelt | TV | 7.2 | 71 |
| 1994 | The Stand | Mother Abagail Freemantle | TV | 6.8 | 71 |
| 1994 | Whitewash | Grandmother (voice) | Film | 6.0 | 71 |
| 1993 | Cop & ½ | Rachel | Film | 4.6 | 70 |
| 1993 | The Ernest Green Story | Lydia Wilson | Film | 7.1 | 70 |
| 1993 | After Goodbye | Narrator | Film | — | 70 |
| 1992 | Color Adjustment | Narrator | Film | 6.9 | 69 |
| 1992 | Middle Ages | Estelle Williams | TV | 7.5 | 69 |
| 1991 | Jungle Fever | Lucinda Purify | Film | 6.4 | 68 |
| 1991 | Jazztime Tale | Narrator (voice) | Film | 7.0 | 68 |
| 1990 | Decoration Day | Rowena | Film | 6.9 | 67 |
| 1990 | Love at Large | Corrine Dart | Film | 5.0 | 67 |
| 1990 | Zora is My Name! | Zora Neale Hurston | Film | 10.0 | 67 |
| 1990 | The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | Jackie's Mother | Film | 7.2 | 67 |
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Mother Sister | Film | 7.8 | 66 |
| 1989 | Making 'Do the Right Thing' | Self | Film | 6.9 | 66 |
| 1988 | American Experience | Narrator (voice) | TV | 6.5 | 65 |
| 1988 | China Beach | TV | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 1988 | Lincoln | Elizabeth Keckley | TV | 7.5 | 65 |
| 1985 | The Golden Girls | Mammy Watkins | TV | 7.6 | 62 |
| 1985 | Spenser: For Hire | TV | 6.9 | 62 | |
| 1985 | The Atlanta Child Murders | Faye Williams | TV | 5.8 | 62 |
| 1984 | Go Tell It on the Mountain | Mrs. Grimes | Film | 6.3 | 61 |
| 1983 | Reading Rainbow | Self - Narrator (voice) | TV | 8.3 | 60 |
| 1983 | Papua New Guinea: Anthropology on Trial | Film | — | 60 | |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | Mrs. Grimes | TV | 6.6 | 59 |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | Zora Neale Hurston | TV | 6.6 | 59 |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | TV | 6.6 | 59 | |
| 1982 | Cat People | Female | Film | 6.0 | 59 |
| 1982 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Mary Tyrone | Film | 6.0 | 59 |
| 1980 | All God's Children | Irene Whitfield | Film | 6.5 | 57 |
| 1980 | The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six | Film | 7.0 | 57 | |
| 1979 | Roots: The Next Generations | Queen Haley | TV | 7.5 | 56 |
| 1979 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings | Grandmother Baxter | Film | 4.3 | 56 |
| 1978 | The Kennedy Center Honors | Self | TV | 7.4 | 55 |
| 1976 | Countdown at Kusini | Leah Matanzima | Film | 7.0 | 53 |
| 1974 | Police Woman | TV | 6.4 | 51 | |
| 1974 | It's Good to Be Alive | Ruth Campanella | Film | 7.3 | 51 |
| 1974 | Wedding Band | Julia Augustine | Film | — | 51 |
| 1973 | Chelsea D.H.O. | Dr. Bianca Pearson | Film | 8.0 | 50 |
| 1972 | Buck and the Preacher | Ruth | Film | 6.3 | 49 |
| 1972 | On Merit | Narrator (voice) | Film | — | 49 |
| 1972 | Black Girl | Netta's mother | Film | 6.8 | 49 |
| 1972 | To Be Young, Gifted and Black | Lorraine Hansberry and other assorted characters | Film | 7.0 | 49 |
| 1971 | Great Performances | Self | TV | 6.1 | 48 |
| 1971 | The Sheriff | Sue Ann Lucas | Film | 6.0 | 48 |
| 1970 | King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis | Self (archive footage) | Film | 7.3 | 47 |
| 1969 | Deadlock | Lucinda | Film | 9.0 | 46 |
| 1968 | The Dick Cavett Show | Self - Guest | TV | 6.8 | 45 |
| 1968 | Uptight | Laurie | Film | 6.8 | 45 |
| 1968 | Uptight | Film | 6.8 | 45 | |
| 1967 | The Incident | Joan Robinson | Film | 7.4 | 44 |
| 1967 | Now is the Time | Self | Film | — | 44 |
| 1966 | Neighbours | Vicky Kingsbury | Film | — | 43 |
| 1963 | The Fugitive | Laura Smith | TV | 7.3 | 40 |
| 1963 | The Great Adventure | Harriet Tubman | TV | 10.0 | 40 |
| 1963 | Gone Are the Days! | Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins | Film | 7.5 | 40 |
| 1963 | The Balcony | Thief | Film | 5.2 | 40 |
| 1961 | The Defenders | Catherine Collins | TV | 6.3 | 38 |
| 1961 | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger | Film | 7.7 | 38 |
| 1959 | Virgin Island | Ruth | Film | 6.3 | 36 |
| 1959 | Take a Giant Step | Christine | Film | 5.2 | 36 |
| 1958 | St. Louis Blues | Elizabeth | Film | 7.7 | 35 |
| 1957 | Edge of the City | Lucy Tyler | Film | 7.2 | 34 |
| 1956 | Armchair Theatre | Vicky Kingsbury | TV | 6.0 | 33 |
| 1954 | Go Man Go | Irma Jackson | Film | 5.4 | 31 |
| 1953 | The Oscars | Self | TV | 7.0 | 30 |
| 1951 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Rowena Finch | TV | 8.8 | 28 |
| 1951 | The Tall Target | Rachel | Film | 6.9 | 28 |
| 1950 | No Way Out | Connie Brooks (uncredited) | Film | 6.9 | 27 |
| 1950 | The Jackie Robinson Story | Rae Robinson | Film | 6.3 | 27 |
| 1948 | The Fight Never Ends | Film | 8.0 | 25 | |
| 1948 | What a Guy | Film | 7.0 | 25 | |
| 1947 | Easy to Get | Drugstore Girl | Film | 9.0 | 24 |
| 1946 | That Man of Mine | Joan | Film | 8.0 | 23 |
| 1946 | Love in Syncopation | Film | — | 23 |