Maidie Norman

DOB: 1912-10-16

DOD: 1998-05-02

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.

Starred In

1951
Movie

The Well

1954
Movie

Executive Suite

1954
Movie

Susan Slept Here

1953
Movie

Bright Road

1954
Movie

About Mrs. Leslie

1953
Movie

Forever Female

1973
Movie

The Lie

1977
Movie

Airport '77

1976
Movie

A Star Is Born

1949
Movie

Manhandled

1972
Movie

Sixteen

1973
Movie

Maurie

1956
Movie

The Opposite Sex

1947
Movie

The Peanut Man

1953
Movie

Torch Song

1981
Movie

Thornwell

1963
Movie

4 for Texas

1955
Movie

Mad at the World

1978
Movie

Movie Movie

1955
Movie

Man with the Gun

1960
Movie

No Greater Love

1974
Tv

Good Times

1974
Tv

Rhoda

1972
Tv

Kung Fu

1965
Tv

The F.B.I.

1981
Tv

Simon & Simon

1975
Tv

Baretta

1967
Tv

Mannix

1982
Tv

Hotel

1951
Tv

Dragnet

1971
Tv

Cannon

1967
Tv

Ironside

1974
Tv

Harry O

1971
Tv

Funny Face

1974
Tv

Police Woman

1982
Tv

Matt Houston

1961
Tv

Ben Casey

1966
Tv

CBS Playhouse

1961
Tv

Dr. Kildare

1968
Tv

Adam-12

1968
Tv

Adam-12