Waters, Ethel, 1896-1977

Ethel Waters; born October 31, 1896, Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.; Died September 1, 1977 (aged 80), Chatsworth, California; Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 1896 (although some sources state her birth year as 1900), as a result of the rape of her teenaged African-American mother, Louise Anderson (1881–1962) (believed to have been 15 years old at the time, although some sources indicate she may have been slightly older), by John Waters (1878–1901); Soon after she was born, her mother married Norman Howard, a railroad worker. Ethel used the surname Howard as a child before reverting to her father's name; After her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black vaudeville circuit; Her first Harlem job was at Edmond's Cellar, a club with a black patronage that specialized in popular ballads. She acted in a blackface comedy, Hello 1919; She later joined Black Swan, where Fletcher Henderson was her accompanist; She first recorded for Columbia in 1925, achieving a hit with "Dinah"; In 1933, Waters appeared in a satirical all-black film, Rufus Jones for President, which featured the child performer Sammy Davis Jr. as Rufus Jones; She became the highest-paid performer on Broadway; In 1939 Waters became the first African American to star in her own television show before Nat King Cole appeared in 1956. The Ethel Waters Show, a 15-minute variety special, appeared on NBC on June 14, 1939; it included a dramatic performance of the Broadway play Mamba's Daughters based in the Gullah community of South Carolina and produced with her in mind; She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Pinky (1949) under the direction of Elia Kazan after the first director, John Ford, quit over disagreements with Waters; In 1950, she won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for her performance opposite Julie Harris in the play The Member of the Wedding. Waters and Harris repeated their roles in the 1952 film version, Member of the Wedding. In 1950, Waters was the first African American actress to star in the television series Beulah. It was first nationally broadcast weekly television series starring an African-American in the leading role appearing on ABC television from 1950 to 1953. She quit, after complaining that the portrayal of blacks was "degrading", and was replaced by Louise Beavers in its third season; Her appearance in a 1961 episode of Route 66 received a 1962 Primetime Emmy Award nomination, the first dramatic performance by a black performer so recognized (male or female), as well as the first black woman nominated for an Emmy; Waters married three times and had no children. When she was thirteen, she married Merritt "Buddy" Purnsley in 1909, and they divorced in 1913. She married Clyde Edwards Matthews in 1929, and they divorced in 1933. She married Edward Mallory. in 1938, and they divorced in 1945. Waters was the great-aunt of the singer-songwriter Crystal Waters;