Washington, Fredi, 1903-

Born in Savannah, Georgia in December 1903, the third of nine children, Fredericka (“Fredi”) Washington came to New York at the age of 16, in 1919. She started her career in show business in 1921 as a chorus girl at the Alabam Club, and later won a spot in the landmark play Shuffle Along. In 1926, she obtained an acting role in the play Black Boy, starring Paul Robeson, and at the closing of that show sailed to Europe with Al Moiret as part of a dance act called Fredi and Moiret. Upon her return to the U.S. in 1928, her career accelerated and she appeared in three movies: Black and Tan Fantasy, a short feature with Duke Ellington (1930); Emperor Jones with Paul Robeson (1933); Drum in the Night (1933); and an equal number of plays, Singing the Blues (1930), Sweet Chariot (1930) and Run Lil' Chillun (1933), within a five year span.

During this period, Ms Washington married Lawrence Brown, a trombonist in Duke Ellington's band (July 1933). The marriage ended in divorce fifteen years later. Her career, meanwhile, took a leap with her highly successful role in the two movies Imitation of Life (1934) and One Mile from Heaven with Bill Robinson (1937), and the play Mamba's Daughter with Ethel Waters and Georgette Harvey (1939). She also played a leading role in an all-black production of Lysistrata on Broadway in 1946.

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