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Claudia McNeil

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Claudia McNeil
publicity photo, 1960
Born(1917-08-13)August 13, 1917
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedNovember 25, 1993(1993-11-25) (aged 76)
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1953–1983

Claudia Mae McNeil[1] (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of A Raisin in the Sun.

She later appeared in a 1981 production of the musical version of the play, Raisin presented by Equity Library Theater. She was twice nominated for a Tony Award, first for her onstage performance in A Raisin in the Sun (1959), and again for the play Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright in 1962. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for the screen version of A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.

Life and career

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McNeil was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Marvin Spencer McNeil, who was black, and Annie Mae (Anderson) McNeil, an Apache woman. The family moved to New York City soon after her birth. She was raised by her mother after her father left the family. At the age of 12, McNeil began working for The Heckscher Foundation for Children. There she met a Jewish couple who later adopted her,[2] and McNeil became fluent in Yiddish.[3]

She was advised by Ethel Waters to begin acting, and made her New York stage debut in 1953, understudying Jacqueline Andre in the role of Tituba in The Crucible at the Martin Beck Theater.[4] She first went on in the role in mid-March 1953.[5]

McNeil as Lena Younger in the 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun.

In 1961, McNeil recreated her 1959 stage role in the film A Raisin in the Sun and became so identified with the part of the matriarch that she said, “There was a time when I acted the role.…Now I live it.”[2] New York Times journalist Eric Pace summarized McNeil's performance explaining that she had a "commanding presence." Pace continued, "On the screen, Miss McNeil was stolid, voluminous and serene as a mother trying to control her son (played by Sidney Poitier) and wanting to buy her family a respectable home."[6]

She acted in more films, including The Last Angry Man (1959), There Was a Crooked Man... (1970), and Black Girl (1972).

In 1980, she and Sam Levene starred in a summer stock and national tour of Henry Denker's comedy, Horowitz & Mrs. Washington.[7]

McNeil appeared in many TV series, including The DuPont Show of the Month (1957), The Nurses (1962), Profiles in Courage (1965), and Roots: The Next Generations (1979).

Personal life

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McNeil was married when she was 19 to a husband whom she described as a "very wonderful man", whose name she wouldn't disclose. They had two sons. Her husband died in World War II. Both her sons were reportedly killed in the Korean War.[8] Her second marriage (to Herman McCoy) ended in divorce after two years in 1964.[9]

She studied Judaism, the religion of her adoptive parents, in youth. Though she maintained a great respect for it, even saying she carried a copy of both the Talmud and the Bible with her wherever she went, she converted to Catholicism in 1952 and was said to have been devout.[10][11]

Retirement and death

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She retired in 1983 and two years later moved into the Actors’ Fund Nursing Home in Englewood, New Jersey. McNeil died there on November 25, 1993, aged 76, from complications related to diabetes.[12][13]

Selected filmography

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Film

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Television

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References

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  1. ^ "U.-M. Presents 'Crucible'; Play Opens Tuesday at Ann Arbor, Mich.". The Windsor Star. May 21, 1954. p. 25. Retrieved August 17, 2024. "Other important roles in the play include George Ebeling, Rev. Mr. Hale; Jane Hoffman, Mrs. Ann Putnam; Jerome Kilty, Rev. Mr. Parris;' Nell Harrison, Rebecca; Claudia Mae McNeil, Tituba; Mallory, Francis Nurse; Barbara Stanton, Mary Warren; Joseph Sweeney, Giles Corey."
  2. ^ a b "A True Acting Talent, Claudia McNeil". African American Registry. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  3. ^ Hine, Dalen Clark; Brown, Elsa Barkley; Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn (1993). Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 2. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing. p. 776. ISBN 9780926019614.
  4. ^ "Claudia McNeil – IBDB profile". ibdb.com. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  5. ^ "March 28, 1953, Page 7 - The New York Age". Newspapers.com. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Pace, Eric (November 29, 1993). "Claudia McNeil, 77, an Actress Best Known for 'Raisin in the Sun'". New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
  7. ^ "Theater: Horowitz and Mrs. Washington". Ithaca Journal. August 1, 1980. p. 22. ProQuest 2041691822. Sam Levene stars as a cantankerous Jewish retiree recovering from a stroke, and Claudia McNeil stars as a black practical nurse who tries to care for him in this new comedy by Henry Denker at the Corning Summer Theatre, Corning Glass Center, tonight at 8:30 and Saturday at 5 and 9 p.m.
  8. ^ Smith, Jessica Carter (1996). Notable Black American Women Book II. Gale Research Inc. (An International Thomson Publishing Company). p. 465. ISBN 9780810391772. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  9. ^ "Claudia McNeil seeks to end her marriage". Washington Afro-American. February 18, 1964. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  10. ^ "Claudia McNeil comes back home". Washington Afro-American. October 15, 1960.
  11. ^ Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. 1960.
  12. ^ "Claudia McNeil, Actress born". African American Registry. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  13. ^ "Claudia Mcneil". www.tcm.com. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
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