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Saturday October 11th 2008 |
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Saturday October 11th 2008 |
a non-profit education organization | |
January 8
Thelma McQueen (her birth name) was the daughter of a stevedore and a domestic worker. She was an only child from Tampa, Florida and got the name Butterfly after appearing in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which she danced in the Butterfly Ballet. Although Gone With The Wind went on to become a huge success, McQueen found it difficult finding work as an actress. She was often typecast in roles as maids and said, “I didn’t mind playing a maid the first time, because I thought that was how you got into the business. But after I did the same thing over and over, I resented it. I didn’t mind being funny, but I didn’t like being stupid.” McQueen could not attend Gone With The Wind’s premiere because it was held in a whites only theater, but she was a guest of honor at its 50th anniversary celebration in 1989. In 1975 at age 64 McQueen earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from New York’s City College. In 1980 she won an Emmy for her performance in a children’s production, The Seven Wishes of a Rich Kid. Butterfly McQueen died from burns suffered in a fire at her home in Augusta, Georgia in 1996. Reference: Black Women in America An Historical Encyclopedia Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Darlene Clark Hine Copyright 1993, Carlson Publishing Inc., Brooklyn, New York ISBN 0-926019-61-9 To become an Actress
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The African American Registry®, The African American Registry® Copyright 2005, 2006
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