Before Halle Berry, Denzel Washington or Jamie Foxx rose to the ranks of Academy Award winners, there was Hattie McDaniel. Hattie was the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award. The film that earned her Hollywood’s highest honour was Gone With The Wind, where she ran away with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy.
But the Oscar wasn’t her only trailblazing act. She was the first black woman to sing on the radio in America. Hattie was a professional singer-songwriter, comedian, stage actress, radio performer and television star.
Over the course of her career she appeared in 300 films though she received screen credits for only 80. But her name and contributions will go down in history. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. In 2006 she became the first black Oscar winner to be honoured with a United States postage stamp.
