From childhood, Hattie dreamed of becoming an actress. And although many people believed that due to her origin she could never become a popular movie star, McDaniel still managed to build a successful career and gain fame. At the beginning of her career, she had to play the roles of maids and maids, which often upset her, but after a while Hattie became one of the most sought-after actresses in America, with whom even the most famous directors wanted to collaborate.
Biography
Hattie was born into a family of former slaves in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was the youngest child in a family of 13 children. Her mother, Susan Holbert, was a singer in a religious organization, and her father, Henry McDaniel, fought in the civil war with the Colored forces in the United States. A little later, the family moved to live in Colorado, where Hattie entered the local Oriental School.
Her siblings were creative people. They started acting early in the theater and in short films. Hattie also wanted to become an actress. Since childhood, she has honed her acting and songwriting skills. In her youth, the girl performed with the Hound's Melodies touring ensemble, where she was a soloist and composer of music. And after a while, Hattie moved to Chicago, where she began to cooperate with local radio stations, selling them her songs. However, all this did not bring much money.
Career
In 1929, the US stock market crashed and Hattie found herself out of work. She had to work as a cleaner at the Madrid club in order to somehow earn her living. However, it was here that the owner of the establishment first invited her to go on a mass stage and perform in front of the public. Since then, the girl began to perform her music every evening.
A little later, McDaniel moved to Los Angeles, where her sisters and brother lived. There she tried to be cast for a role in a movie, but another actress was taken instead. However, his brother managed to get Hattie on the radio program Optimistic No Breakfast Hour, telling its founders that his sister had had previous experience of such performances. She was a long time radio star on the "Hello Hattie" program, which quickly gained popularity.
In 1931, McDaniel decided to try her hand at cinema again, and this time she succeeded. Hattie landed the role of a maid in the movie Golden West, and then began her successful collaboration with the director of I Am Not an Angel, where she also played a maid. All this allowed her to join the Screen Actors Guild in 1934, attract public attention and get bigger roles in films. For example, in 1935, a girl dreamed of in the movie "The Little Colonel" along with such famous actors as Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore.
After just a few months, a new film was released with McDaniel's participation, where she performed the main role. In the film the judge "Proust" she fully demonstrated not only her acting skills, but also her musical talent, because on the set she had to sing a lot. Since then, the career of an actress has started to go up. She gets roles in the cult films of the last century: "Alice Adams", "Boat Show", "Saratoga", "Angel Shop", "Gone with the Wind".
Despite McDaniel's many successes, there were also those who criticized her acting. So, many African Americans, although they were pleased with her "Oscar" for the painting "Gone with the Wind", believed that Hattie in it promoted the slave-owning layer and condemned the forces that destroyed it.
In 1942, the actress began a new wave of popularity after her participation in the film "This Is Our Life," in which she again played the role of a servant who faced racial problems when her son, a law student, was illegally accused of murder. The following year, McDaniel also starred in Under a Lucky Star, Song of the South and Mickey. These were her last roles.
Creation
During the difficult years of World War II, Hattie organized mass demonstrations for soldiers. She gathered teams of actors and went to concerts with them to cheer up the soldiers and inspire them to win. Together with her colleagues, McDaniel often appeared at military bases, threw parties for officers, participated in rallies to raise funds to support the soldiers. As part of such an action, Hattie performed with her own songs, and also performed comic sketches.
Personal life
McDaniel married an ordinary employee Howard Hickman in 1991, but four years later he died of a serious illness. Her second husband, George Langford, also died tragically from a gunshot wound in January 1925, shortly after they got married.
Shocked by the difficult circumstances of life, Hattie for a long time could not come to her senses and find a new partner. It wasn't until March 1941 that she got married for the third time with James Crawford, who was working as a real estate salesman in Arizona at the time. In 1945, McDaniel decided that she had become pregnant and had already begun to prepare for the birth of a child, but, as it turned out later, this pregnancy turned out to be false. This led the woman to a prolonged depression. This was followed by scandals and quarrels with her husband, and ultimately the couple had to break off relations.
In 1949, Hattie married for the last time. Interior decorator Larry Williams became her new chosen one. However, in 1950, a woman stated that their five months together had been tainted by "fuss and fuss." Soon after, McDaniel suffered an attack of heart failure and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
And on October 26, 1952, the actress died of breast cancer at the age of 59 at the Cinema House in California. On that day, thousands of mourners gathered outside her home in Hollywood to see their beloved movie star for the last time.
