Nina Mae McKinney
Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the
Biography
Early life
McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney.[3][4] Shortly after McKinney's birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.
By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook for Cynthia Withers, her daughter Irene, and other white lodgers. McKinney stayed behind on Gay Street in the Gills Creek neighborhood with her 70-year old paternal grandmother, Mary A. McKinney. Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Meanwhile, Georgia had married James Edwin Maynor and migrated north to New York. Eight-year-old McKinney followed them shortly afterward, but was sent back down south to stay with her Uncle Curtis and his family in Gills Creek when her father went to prison. In 1923, Hal escaped from his chain gang and was never recaptured.[5]
In 1923, McKinney went to live with Springs as a live-in domestic. Her duties included delivering and collecting parcels from the local post office. To entertain herself as she made the trips, she did stunts on her bicycle.[6] She began acting in small scale school productions at the Lancaster Training School.[2]
Around 1925, 13-year old McKinney relocated to Manhattan to stay with her mother and stepfather, and attended public school at 126 Lower Manhattan. By the summer of 1927, she had given up school completely.[6]
Marriage
In November 1931, McKinney married jazz musician James "Jimmy" Monroe.[7] They divorced in 1938.[8]
Career
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Early career (1927–1929)
In January 1928,
In October 1928, King Vidor arrived in New York searching for actors for his upcoming all-Black talking picture, Hallelujah!. Actor Daniel L. Haynes and dancer Honey Brown, from Club Highland, were to be the stars. During casting sessions in Harlem, McKinney walked back and forth in front of the building to gain the attention of King Vidor. He said, "Nina Mae McKinney was third from the right in the chorus. She was beautiful and talented and glowing with personality."[6] In Hollywood[9] she first had just a minor role in the film.[10]
On March 20, 1929, McKinney, Haynes and Victoria Spivey appeared on Radio-KHJ. She performed songs from Blackbirds: "I Must Have That Man" and "Diga Diga Doo".
On May 20, 1929, McKinney was engaged to James Marshall, director of Harlem's Lafayette Theatre, and signed a five-year contract with MGM, the first African American performer to do so.[11]
McKinney returned to New York and worked as a domestic for Springs again, who was caring for his ailing wife. McKinney appeared at the
The following day, McKinney wed Marshall, but she returned to
Europe (1930–1938)
By late-January 1930, McKinney had grown tired of MGM. She had begun failing to appear for promotional appearances, especially if her name was not in lights above the marquee. That spring, her new manager, Al Munro, sports writer of
In January 1934, jazz pianist
Instead, on July 15,1934 McKinney opened at London's
During summer 1934, alongside Paul Robeson, McKinney began filming, Zoltan and Alexander Korda's Bosambo (later known as Sanders of the River) at the Denham Film Studios near London. The film, which was partly set in Africa, would portray African culture positively, which Robeson had made a condition of his participation in the project. McKinney and Robeson later discovered the film was re-edited without their knowledge, and that their roles in the film had been significantly downgraded.[15][9]
Return to America and race films (1938–1960)
Destitute and desperate, McKinney returned to Hollywood in July 1944 appearing alongside Merle Oberon, playing a servant girl in the film Dark Waters,[9] and Irene Dunne in Together Again as a nightclub attendant.
Death and legacy
After 1960, McKinney lived in New York City.
In 1978, McKinney received a posthumous award from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame for her lifetime achievement.[9]
In 1992, the
The film historian Donald Bogle discusses McKinney in his book Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, And Bucks—An Interpretive History Of Blacks In American Films (1992). He recognizes her for inspiring other actresses and passing on her techniques to them. He wrote that "her final contribution to the movies now lay in those she influenced."[18][6]
In 2019, McKinney was one of the featured obituaries in "Overlooked", a series from The New York Times where the editorial staff attempted to correct a longstanding bias in reporting by publishing obituaries for historical minorities and women.[19][3][20]
Broadway credits
Date | Production | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1928 | Blackbirds of 1928 | Chorus line | [3] |
September 6 - November 26, 1932 | Ballyhoo of 1932 | Performer | [21] |
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1929 | Hallelujah!
|
Chick | [3] |
1929 | Manhattan Serenade | Herself | Short subject |
1930 | They Learned About Women | Specialty singer | Uncredited |
1931 | Safe in Hell | Leonie, the hotel manager | |
1932 | Pie, Pie Blackbird | Miss Nina | with the Nicholas Brothers, Eubie Blake, and Noble Sissle.[3] |
1932 | Passing the Buck | ||
1934 | Kentucky Minstrels | Herself | with Debroy Somers and his band |
1935 | Sanders of the River | Lilongo, African chief's wife | with Paul Robeson.[3] |
1935 | Reckless | Specialty singer | |
1936 | The Lonely Trail | Dancer | Uncredited |
1936 | Broadway Brevities: The Black Network | Herself | Short subject |
1938 | Gang Smashers | Laura Jackson, cabaret singer | [3] |
1938 | On Velvet | Herself | Short subject |
1939 | The Devil's Daughter | Isabelle Walton | |
1939 | Straight to Heaven | Ida Williams | |
1940 | Swanee Showboat | Herself | Short subject |
1944 | Dark Waters | Florella | |
1944 | Together Again | Maid in nightclub powder room | Uncredited |
1945 | The Power of the Whistler | Flotilda, Constantina's maid | Uncredited |
1946 | Mantan Messes Up | Nina | |
1946 | Night Train to Memphis | Maid | |
1947 | Danger Street | Veronica | |
1949 | Pinky | Rozelia, jealous girlfriend | [3] |
1950 | Copper Canyon | Theresa | Uncredited |
1954 | Mistica | Minga | Uncredited |
References
- ISBN 0-8264-7898-0.
- ^ a b c Bourne, Stephen. Nina Mae McKinney: the Black Garbo. BearManor Media, 2011.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ "Nina Mae McKinney Biography at Black History Now". Black Heritage Commemorative Society. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
- ^ "Black Jazz Artists (19-20th Century)". blackjazzartists.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
- ^ a b c d e f Bourne, Stephen. “Nina Mae McKinney.” Films in Review, vol. 42, no. 1/2, Jan. 1991, p. 24.
- ^ "From Hollywood". Reading Eagle. February 16, 1935. p. 9. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-253-35475-4.
- ^ a b c d e f Bourne, Stephen. "Nina Mae McKinney", Films in Review, Jan/Feb 1991: 24
- ^ Associated Press. "This Week, Returning," The New York Times, February 13, 1994.
- ^ Harmetz, Aljean (May 10, 2010). "Lena Horne, Singer and Actress, Dies at 92". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
- ^ a b Regester, Charlene (2010). African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900–1960. Bloomington Indiana: Indiana University Press.
- ^ Courtney, "Picturizing Race: Hollywood's Censorship of Miscegenation and Production of Racial Visibility through Imitation of Life" Archived 2013-05-30 at the Wayback Machine, Genders, Vol. 27, 1998, accessed 21 May 2013
- ^ "Nina Mae McKinney Libeled in Nasty Magazine Article: Film Star Suing Movie Magazine for Damages" Afro-American (1893-1988), April 5, 1930, p. 1.
- ^ Duberman, Martin, Paul Robeson: The Discovery of Africa, 1989, p. 182.
- ISBN 0-7641-5858-9.
- ^ Associated Press, "This Week, Belting it Out," The New York Times, November 29, 1992: p18.
- ^ Bogle, Donald (1992). Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies And Bucks—An Interpretive History Of Blacks In American Films. New York: Continuum Publishing Co.
- ^ Baskauf, Carmen; Nalpathanchil, Lucy (2019-02-12). "Remembering Those We've 'Overlooked'". WNPR. Connecticut Public Radio. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
- ^ "Nina Mae McKinney". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
External links
- Nina Mae McKinney at IMDb
- Nina Mae McKinney at the Internet Broadway Database
- Biography on screenonline.org
- "Nina Mae McKinney" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Sandlapper, a local history magazine