Acting · Villa Rica, Georgia, USA · Born October 16, 1912
Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.
MovieDelphine and Carole
2020
as Self (archive footage)
MovieTerrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami
1988
as Edna
MovieSecrets of a Mother and Daughter
1983
as Neddy
MovieHalloween III: Season of the Witch
1982
as Nurse Agnes
TVMatt Houston
1982
TVHotel
1982
as Carrie Garland
TVCagney & Lacey
1982
as Elevator Operator
TVSimon & Simon
1981
MovieBe Pretty and Shut Up!
1981
as Self
MovieThornwell
1981
as Ruth Thornwell
TVRoots: The Next Generations
1979
as Sister Scrap Scott
MovieMovie Movie
1978
as Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
TVThe Incredible Hulk
1977
as Mrs. Dennison
MovieAirport '77
1977
as Dorothy
MovieA Star Is Born
1976
as Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
TVThe Jeffersons
1975
TVBaretta
1975
TVKolchak: The Night Stalker
1974
as Librarian
TVPolice Woman
1974
TVHarry O
1974
TVLittle House on the Prairie
1974
as Mrs. Henry
TVRhoda
1974
MovieSty of the Blind Pig
1974
as Weedy Warren
TVGood Times
1974
MovieA Dream for Christmas
1973
as Jennie Daley
MovieMaurie
1973
as Mrs. Stokes
MovieThe Lie
1973
as Janine
TVKung Fu
1972
as Omar's Mother
MovieAnother Part of the Forest
1972
as Coralee
MovieSay Goodbye, Maggie Cole
1972
as Nurse Ferguson
TVThe Streets of San Francisco
1972
MovieSixteen
1972
as Aunt Ada
TVFunny Face
1971
TVCannon
1971
TVAdam-12
1968
as Ethel May
TVMannix
1967
TVJudd, for the Defense
1967
TVIronside
1967
CBS Playhouse
1966
as Mrs. Pierce
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Caregiver
TVThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964
as Mama Lou
Movie4 for Texas
1963
as Burden's Maid
MovieWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962
as Elvira Stitt
TVBen Casey
1961
TVDr. Kildare
1961
as Mrs. Johnson
No Greater Love
1960
as Queto's Mother
TVThe Twilight Zone
1959
as Maid (uncredited)
MovieThe Opposite Sex
1956
as Violet (uncredited)
MovieWritten on the Wind
1956
as Bertha
MovieMan with the Gun
1955
as Sarah (uncredited)
TVMatinee Theater
1955
TVAlfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Eloise
MovieMad at the World
1955
as Miss Lovett
MovieTarzan's Hidden Jungle
1955
as Suma
MovieAbout Mrs. Leslie
1954
as Camilla
MovieSusan Slept Here
1954
as Georgette
MovieExecutive Suite
1954
as Housekeeper (uncredited)
MovieForever Female
1953
as Emma (uncredited)
MovieTorch Song
1953
as Anne
TVLetter to Loretta
1953
as Flora
MovieBright Road
1953
as Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
TVCavalcade of America
1952
as Aunt Nellie
TVFour Star Playhouse
1952
as Coralee
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Lurie
TVDragnet
1951
MovieThe Well
1951
as Martha Crawford
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Flora
MovieManhandled
1949
as Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
MovieThe Peanut Man
1947
as Lucretia
