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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMcDANIEL, Hattie(b 10 June 1895, Wichita KS; d 26 October 1952, Hollywood) Singer, actress; aka 'Hi-Hat Hattie', 'The Colored Sophie Tucker', 'The Female Bert Williams'. A great actress who made about 80 films, mostly features but including Our Gang shorts. She worked with Mae West, Al Jolson, many others, usually playing a maid; had a musical role in the 1936 version of Jerome Kern's Show Boat (in which she had toured on stage) and Thank Your Lucky Stars '43. Her best-known non-singing work was Gone With The Wind '39 which brought her an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress, the first black actor to win an Oscar. She appeared in Disney's Song Of The South '46 snd the Amos & Andy radio show '45-7, played the title role in radio sitcom Beulah '47-50, then replaced Ethel Waters as TV's Beulah '51-2. But the show business world knew her as a truly fine singer with a big, powerful and expressive voice, though she made comparatively few records (began on Merritt '26 in Kansas City; on OKeh '26-7, some with Lovie Austin; on Paramount '29); the early discs included some of her own songs, such as 'Boo Hoo Blues' and 'Any Kind Of A Man Would Be Better Than You'. She worked with the Harry James band '40, Count Basie '41, toured with Waters entertaining troops '42, but the money in films was better than in music. |