Ruby Dee, Actress And Civil Rights Activist, Dies At Age 91

Acclaimed actress Ruby Dee has died in New Rochelle, New York, at the age of 91, it was reported Thursday afternoon.

The screen and stage legend’s death was confirmed by her representative, Michael Livingston, reports CNN. The actress died peacefully Wednesday at her New Rochelle Home.

Ruby Dee was both a celebrated actress and civil rights leader, who was close friends with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dee was raised in New York and went on to earn several performing arts honors. These included an Emmy, a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild award, reports the New York Daily News. She also starred in several Broadway plays, and she and her late husband, Ossie Davis, both starred in the 1989 Spike Lee film “Do The Right Thing," among many collaborations

The beloved duo were married in 1948. They were honored with the National Civil Rights Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Freedom award in 2005. Davis passed away that same year.

One of Dee’s best-known early roles was in Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play “A Raisin in the Sun.” She starred as Ruth Younger alongside Sidney Poitier. The play premeired on Broadway in 1959. It was adapted into a film with both actors in 1961.