Gertrude Jeanette

Gertrude Jeanette, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA; African American film and stage actress; blacklisted during the Red Scare, along with her friend Paul Robeson; founder of the H.A.D.L.E.Y Players in Harlem, New York City; active in mentoring African-American actors in New York City. [ Simon, Levy Lee ] [http://www.danaroc.com/inspiring_050806levyleesimon.html] [Paul Robeson Awards bio] [http://www.actorsequity.org/TheatreNews/gertrude_jeanette_receives_robeson_10-14-2002.html]

Filmography

Theater Credits

Awards

1984 Audelco Outstanding Pioneer Award
1987 AT&T and Black American Newspaper's Personality of the Year Award
1991 Named a Living Legend at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
1992 Harlem Business Recognition Award from the Manhattan Section of the National Council of Negro Women
1992 Paul Robeson Award [http://www.actorsequity.org/TheatreNews/gertrude_jeanette_receives_robeson_10-14-2002.html] 1999 Inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame

Trivia

In the early 1940s, Ms Jeanette was reportedly the first woman to drive a New York City cab and the first woman to receive a license to drive a motorcycle in New York City. [ Paul Robeson Awards bio]

Jeanette is one of several prominent African American theater directors featured in the 13 minute documentary "Drama Mamas: Black Women Theatre Directors In the Spotlight and Remembered", which was shown at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival in Brooklyn, New York in March 2006. [http://www.reelsisters.org/filmFestival.htm]

References