Person
Maidie Norman
Villa Rica, Georgia, USA
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 de…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Photos
More stills of Maidie Norman
Biography
A closer look
Read full biography
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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2020
Delphine and Carole
Movie Self (archive footage)
- 1988
-
1983
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
Movie Neddy
-
1982
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Movie Nurse Agnes
-
1982
Matt Houston
TV show
-
1982
Hotel
TV show Carrie Garland
-
1982
Cagney & Lacey
TV show Elevator Operator
-
1981
Simon & Simon
TV show
-
1981
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
Movie Self
-
1981
Thornwell
Movie Ruth Thornwell
-
1979
Roots: The Next Generations
TV show Sister Scrap Scott
-
1978
Movie Movie
Movie Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
-
1977
The Incredible Hulk
TV show Mrs. Dennison
-
1977
Airport '77
Movie Dorothy
-
1976
A Star Is Born
Movie Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
-
1975
The Jeffersons
TV show
More credits
-
1975
Baretta
TV show
-
1974
Police Woman
TV show
-
1974
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
TV show Librarian
-
1974
Harry O
TV show
-
1974
Little House on the Prairie
TV show Mrs. Henry
-
1974
Rhoda
TV show
-
1974
Sty of the Blind Pig
Movie Weedy Warren
-
1974
Good Times
TV show
-
1973
A Dream for Christmas
Movie Jennie Daley
-
1973
Maurie
Movie Mrs. Stokes
-
1973
The Lie
Movie Janine
-
1972
Kung Fu
TV show Omar's Mother
-
1972
Another Part of the Forest
Movie Coralee
-
1972
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
Movie Nurse Ferguson
-
1972
The Streets of San Francisco
TV show
-
1972
Sixteen
Movie Aunt Ada
-
1971
Funny Face
TV show
-
1971
Cannon
TV show
-
1968
Adam-12
TV show Ethel May
-
1967
Mannix
TV show
-
1967
Judd, for the Defense
TV show
-
1967
Ironside
TV show
-
1966
CBS Playhouse
TV show Mrs. Pierce
-
1965
The F.B.I.
TV show Caregiver
