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Theresa Harris

Theresa Mae Harris[1] (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985)[2][3][4] was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.

Theresa Harris
Harris in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Born
Theresa Mae Harris

(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
Alma materUSC Conservatory of Music
Zoellner's Conservatory of Music
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
  • dancer
Years active1929–1958
Spouse
John Marshall Robinson Jr.
​
​
(m. 1933; div. 1936)​

Early life

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A native of Houston, Harris was one of five children born to Ina and Anthony Harris.[5] A "well-known elocutionist," Ina Harris was said to be the source of her daughter's "histrionic talent."[6]

Harris' family relocated to Southern California in the early 1920s.[6] After graduating Jefferson High School, she studied at the USC Conservatory of Music and the Zoellner Conservatory of Music.[5][6] She then joined the Lafayette Players, an African American musical comedy theatre troupe.[7]

Career

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She made her film debut in 1929 in Thunderbolt, singing the song "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home".[8][9] As she entered the 1930s, she played, often without credit, maids to characters acted by Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Kay Francis, Mary Duncan, and Barbara Stanwyck. She also floated around studios doing bit-parts, usually at Warner Bros. or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, variously as a blues singer, waitress, tribal woman, prostitute, and hat check girl.

Harris had a featured role as a friend of star Jean Harlow in MGM's Hold Your Man (1933), co-starring Clark Gable. In 1933, she appeared as Chico in the Warner Bros. pre-Code production of Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck.[10] That same year, Harris starred in a substantial role opposite Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart. As Rogers's character's maid, Harris's character subs for Rogers's character as a singer on the radio. Despite the fact that Harris's character was a major point for the story's plot development, she was uncredited for the role.[11]

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).[12] In 1937, she appeared in the race film Bargain with Bullets opposite Ralph Cooper for Million Dollar Productions, co-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 above 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.[13]

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.[13]

Harris continued to lobby for better parts within Hollywood but found few opportunities. In the 1939 movie Tell No Tales she was credited for playing 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's 1947 film noir, Out of the Past.[14]

In addition to films, Harris also performed in many radio programs, including Hollywood Hotel.[15] 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 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).[8]

During the 1950s, Harris appeared several times on television on such shows as Lux Video Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Letter to Loretta.[8] She made her last film appearance in an uncredited role in The Gift of Love in 1958.

Personal life

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Harris married John Marshall Robinson, a doctor, in 1933.[1] Barely had news of their wedding been published when it was reported that Robinson had been arrested and charged with receiving stolen goods (paid for with morphine supplied to his drug-addicted benefactor).[16] As of March 1934, Harris was still being described as "very much in love" with her husband,[6] but by June of that year, Robinson was a convicted felon,[17] and in 1936, amidst reports of wife-beating having entered the equation, she filed for divorce.[18][19]

Harris retired from acting in the late 1950s, living comfortably off careful investments made during her career.

Harris was a Methodist.[20] A Democrat, she supported the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson in 1952.[21]

On October 8, 1985, Harris died of undisclosed causes in Inglewood, California. She was buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.[22]

Legacy

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The title character in Lynn Nottage's 2011 play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is based in part on Theresa Harris.[23]

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Harris-Robinson". Camarillo Star. August 25, 1933. p. 3. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  2. ^ Eagle, Bob L.; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-34423-7.
  3. ^ "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M29W-B4W : Thu Mar 07 18:55:25 UTC 2024), Entry for Anthony Harris and Ina Harris, 1910.
  4. ^ "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHY7-X6F : Sat Mar 09 14:41:42 UTC 2024), Entry for Anthony Harris and Ina B Harris, 1920.
  5. ^ a b "Theresa Harris, Someday, Wants to Be a Great Actress". California Eagle. January 11, 1940. p. 10. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Matthews, Ralph (March 31, 1934). "Looking at the Stars: Theresa Harris – A Movie Personality to Keep Your Eyes On". The Afro-American. p. 22. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  7. ^ Slide, Anthony (2012). Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 203–204. ISBN 978-1-617-03474-9.
  8. ^ a b c McCann, Bob (2010). Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. McFarland. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-7864-3790-0.
  9. ^ "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home - 1929". www.youtube.com. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  10. ^ Bogle, Donald (2006). Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 126. ISBN 0-345-45419-7.
  11. ^ Slide 2012 p.203
  12. ^ Schatz, Thomas (2004). Hollywood: Cultural Dimensions: Ideology, Identity and Cultural Industry Studies. Taylor & Francis. p. 237. ISBN 0-415-28135-0.
  13. ^ a b Jackson, Fay M. (August 28, 1937). "Dainty Theresa in Gang Film". The Afro American. p. 22. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  14. ^ Scruggs, Charles (Spring 2011). "Out of the Black Past: The Image of the Fugitive Slave in Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past". African American Review. pp. 99–102. ProQuest 1009711954. The illusion of white male control is also undercut by something not said by Eunice and her date. Eunice pretends to seek permission from her male companion to speak candidly to Jeff, but it is implied that both she and her boyfriend (Caleb Peterson) have agreed beforehand that anyone snooping after Kathie should be led astray. Eunice lies to Jeff in saying that Kathie went to Florida, not Mexico. She and her male friend seem to be protecting Kathie as though she were really black. The doubling effect that occurs in this scene links Kathie and Eunice both as women and as "noir"-Eunice literally black, Kathie figuratively so. [...] Sadly, but perhaps appropriately, Theresa Harris is 'uncredited' as Eunice. Indeed, as an actress (often brilliant in the small parts she played), she was uncredited in almost all her films, most notably in such film noirs as Angel Face (1952) and The Big Clock (1948).
  15. ^ "Theresa Harris On "Hollywood Hotel"". The Afro American. August 28, 1937. p. 11. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  16. ^ "'Babyface' Romance Hits Snag; Theresa Harris Weds Doctor, Hubby Arrested; Arr'st Physician on Stolen Goods Charge in San Francisco". The Baltimore Afro-American. September 23, 1933. p. . Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  17. ^ "Two Eastbay Doctors Cited by Board Following Trials". The Oakland Tribune. June 22, 1934. p. 22. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  18. ^ Negro Press Bureau (September 11, 1936). "Theresa Harris, Screen Actress, Seeks Divorce". The Call (Tulsa edition). p. 7. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  19. ^ Levette, Harry (October 3, 1936). "THRU HOLLYWOOD: Follow The Movie Stars And Players Weekly With HARRY LEVETTE". The Chicago Defender (National edition). p. 19. ProQuest 492485733. Theresa Harris, pretty brown thrush, strolling smilingly alone to lawyer's office . . . Anxious to hurry divorce case with doctor ex.
  20. ^ Morning News, January 10, 1948, Who Was Who in America (Vol. 2)
  21. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  22. ^ Eagle, Bob L.; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. ABC-CLIO. p. 393. ISBN 978-0-313-34424-4.
  23. ^ Dargis, Manohla (April 21, 2011). "Just a Maid in Movies, but Not Forgotten". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2012.

Further reading

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