Actor Ossie Davis Dies

Actor, writer, director, producer and civil rights activist, Ossie Davis packed a lot into his 87 years.

Feb  7 2005

Acting great Ossie Davis was found dead in Miami on Friday morning. He was 87.

Davis, whose impressive career spanned over 65 years, started out on the Broadway stage in 1946 in the play 'Jeb' opposite actress Ruby Dee. The pair married two years later and so began one of Hollywood's most enduring marriages.

Davis subsequently starred in the movies 'The Hill', 'The Scalphunters', 'Sam Whiskey' and 'Slaves'. At the same time he also worked tirelessly as a civil rights activist, and was a featured speaker at the funerals of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Throughout his career, Davis continued to work on the stage as well as in cinema and television, and in addition to acting, he also found time to write, produce and direct.

In the late 80s and early 90s he also formed a close bond with director Spike Lee, with featured roles in 'School Daze', 'Do the Right Thing', 'Jungle Fever', 'Malcolm X' and more recently 'She Hate Me'.

His grandson discovered the actor's body at the Shore Club on Miami Beach, where Davis had just started work on a film called 'Retirement', and a spokesman for the Miami Beach police said that the cause of death appeared to be natural.