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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
October 16, 1912
Died
May 2, 1998
Place of Birth
Villa Rica, Georgia, USA
Also Known As
- Mady Norman
- Madie Norman
Maidie Norman
0.6 Popularity
Biography
Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.
Known For
6.9
Self (archive footage)
Delphine and Carole
2020
6.0
Edna
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
1988
6.0
Neddy
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
1983
5.2
Nurse Agnes
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
1982
6.2
Matt Houston
1982
6.8
Hotel
1982
6.9
Elevator Operator
Cagney & Lacey
1982
6.7
Simon & Simon
1981
6.3
Self
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
1981
6.0
Ruth Thornwell
Thornwell
1981
Credits
Delphine and Carole
as Self (archive footage)
2020
6.9
Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
as Edna
1988
6.0
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
as Neddy
1983
6.0
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
as Nurse Agnes
1982
5.2
Matt Houston
1982
6.2
Hotel
1982
6.8
Cagney & Lacey
as Elevator Operator
1982
6.9
Simon & Simon
1981
6.7
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
as Self
1981
6.3
Thornwell
as Ruth Thornwell
1981
6.0
Roots: The Next Generations
as Sister Scrap Scott
1979
7.4
Movie Movie
as Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
1978
5.8
The Incredible Hulk
as Mrs. Dennison
1977
7.2
Airport '77
as Dorothy
1977
5.6
A Star Is Born
as Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
1976
6.0
The Jeffersons
1975
7.3
Baretta
1975
6.3
Police Woman
1974
6.2
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
as Librarian
1974
7.6
Harry O
1974
4.6
Little House on the Prairie
1974
7.9
Rhoda
1974
6.3
Sty of the Blind Pig
as Weedy Warren
1974
0.0
Good Times
1974
8.0
A Dream for Christmas
as Jennie Daley
1973
6.0
🎬
Maurie
as Mrs. Stokes
1973
0.0
The Lie
as Janine
1973
6.0
Kung Fu
1972
7.6
Another Part of the Forest
as Coralee
1972
0.0
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
as Nurse Ferguson
1972
6.8
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
6.9
Sixteen
as Aunt Ada
1972
3.8
Funny Face
1971
5.0
Cannon
1971
6.5
Adam-12
as Ethel May
1968
7.0
Adam-12
as Mary Handlin
1968
7.0
Mannix
1967
6.7
Judd for the Defense
1967
7.5
Ironside
1967
6.8
🎬
CBS Playhouse
1966
7.0
The F.B.I.
as Caregiver
1965
5.5
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
as Mama Lou
1964
7.2
4 for Texas
as Burden's Maid
1963
5.1
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
as Elvira Stitt
1962
7.9
Ben Casey
1961
5.6
Dr. Kildare
as Mrs. Johnson
1961
5.5
The Twilight Zone
as Maid (uncredited)
1959
8.4
The Opposite Sex
as Violet (uncredited)
1956
5.2
Written on the Wind
as Bertha
1956
6.9
Man with the Gun
as Sarah (uncredited)
1955
6.2
Matinee Theater
1955
5.0
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Eloise
1955
7.7
Mad at the World
as Miss Lovett
1955
5.7
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
as Suma
1955
4.9
About Mrs. Leslie
as Camilla
1954
7.0
Susan Slept Here
as Georgette
1954
6.2
Executive Suite
as Housekeeper
1954
7.0
Forever Female
as Emma
1953
6.7
Torch Song
as Anne
1953
6.0
Letter to Loretta
as Flora
1953
6.5
Letter to Loretta
as Josi
1953
6.5
Bright Road
as Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
1953
6.3
Cavalcade of America
as Aunt Nellie
1952
3.5
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Coralee
1952
6.3
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Lurie
1951
8.6
Dragnet
1951
6.4
The Well
as Martha Crawford
1951
7.0
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Flora
1950
6.3
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Maid
1950
6.3
Manhandled
as Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
1949
5.1
The Peanut Man
as Lucretia
1947
0.0