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RUBY DEE  &  OSSIE DAVIS

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BL!NK:   Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis’ everlasting love

By ANTHONY BARBOZA

This month on BL!NK, Photographer Anthony Barboza recalls the experience of photographing much-beloved icons, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis; the stage-and-screen actor plus activist couple, so lovingly remembered by the world and so often revered as the ‘King and Queen of Black Hollywood.’ _________________________

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Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis, by Anthony Barboza, 1977

Date:  1977, 1986, 2004, 2007  (to.2013) 

Location:  New York  (home, studio and more) 

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Collections; Venues; Publications:  Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Magazine; Product Advertisement; Personal Family Portraits and more

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Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, by  Anthony Barboza, 1991

ON TODAY’S SUBJECTS, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis :

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Anthony Barboza met Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis in 1977, when he shot a photo of the couple that hangs today in the National Portrait Gallery. Dee and Davis, married in 1948, already had distinguished careers in theater and film and as civil rights activists.

Frequent collaborators, they would eventually earn the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors. In 2007, Ruby won a Grammy for the spoken word version of her memoir with Ossie, who died two years earlier. That same year, she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Denzel Washington’s mother in “American Gangster.”

Photographer Anthony Barboza, who photographed the couple many times since their first meeting, recalls Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis not only for their talent but for their longtime love.

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Story accounted by ANTHONY BARBOZA

as told to SEAN MCCARTHY

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“I was just about finished with a portrait series I had started in 1975 when I got a job to shoot Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee for Black Enterprise magazine. Towards the end of that shoot in 1977, I decided to do a portrait of them for my series. It turned out to be a prized portrait which is now in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

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Through the next three decades, I did numerous photos for advertising using Ossie and Ruby. I remember one session with Ruby for a hair product by Dark & Lovely. She got completely into character and kept reciting dialogue. It was like having a private performance for the assistants and myself. The shot turned out perfect. It was exactly what the client wanted.

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 Click Selected Image for a Larger View

Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis, photograph by Anthony Barboza, 1980’s

 

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During another shooting we took a break and Ruby decided that she wanted a chocolate bar, so we took a stroll down the street from the studio looking for a store that sold candy bars. After we found one we headed back to the studio and we had a conversation. She was in heaven. She started calling me “Chris,” and telling me how much she loved this chocolate bar. I thought to myself, “Oh, she doesn’t remember my name,” and I reminded her that my name is Tony. She said, “Oh, you remind me of an ex-boyfriend of mine,” and that was why she was calling me Chris. So she repeated, “Oh, I love chocolate bars” and called me by my real name.

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Actress Ruby Dee and photographer Anthony Barboza

I was quite taken by her, and for the rest of the session she would occasionally call me Chris again.

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Around 1992, I called Ossie about a book I had read that would make a good movie. It was called “Grumpy Old Men.” He bought the book, loved it and was instrumental in getting it on the screen. (He played the bait shop owner, an old friend of the characters played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.)

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And then, around 2004, his secretary called me requesting my services in photographing the family at their Westchester home. I spent the whole day photographing everyone on the lawn of their home.

Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis, photo by Anthony Barboza, 2004

It would be the last time that I photographed Ruby and Ossie together. In 2005, Ossie passed away in a Miami hotel. He was working on a movie at that time called “Retirement“.

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Last year, Ruby‘s secretary called me again to come to the house and shoot some publicity photos. Now, at the age of 86, and coming off of her Academy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Supporting Actress in “American Gangster,” she wanted new photos. I hadn’t photographed her for six years, but she hadn’t changed a bit. She was still lovely and full of energy. I brought a print of the photograph I had taken of her and Ossie in 1977 that was at the Smithsonian gallery.

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This portrait of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, shot in 1977, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The couple, longtime actors and activists, were married 56 years.

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At one point, when we were waiting for Ruby to change into a new outfit, my assistants and I took turns taking pictures of each other with Ruby‘s Grammy Award as if we had won it ourselves.

Ruby Dee, by photographer Anthony Barboza, 2010

It was a lot of fun! I was getting photographed with my first Grammy Award!

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Ruby was ecstatic throughout the day. She was very sweet to me and would talk in a certain way that was like she was reciting lines. She was saying, “Oh, Tony, it’s so good to see you, you make me feel so comfortable when you photograph me.”

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Having grown up seeing a couple that I identified with, both in the spotlight and as a loving couple, was a great inspiration to me. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would meet Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis and be friends with them for 30 years. Life is about living and sharing your life with someone. That is love.

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Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, portrait by photographer Anthony Barboza, 1991

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2016 Update & Recap:

Over the years Photographer Anthony Barboza was requested many times to photograph of Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and their family. In 2013 Barboza was privileged to be invited among the guests in celebration of Ruby Dee 91st birthday.  The renowned actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter and civil rights activist, Ruby Dee passed away just eight months later, on June 11th 2014.

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Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee

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In 2014 filmmaker Muta’ Ali Muhammad, the grandson of Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, chronicled the lives of his beloved grandparents in his film “Life’s Essentials with Ruby Dee,” begun before Ms. Dee’s passing, and completed in her memory.  Featuring interviews with Alan Alda, Angela Bassett, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Hill Harper, Samuel Jackson, Spike Lee, Phylicia Rashad, Sonia Sanchez, and Dr. Cornel West, along with never before seen footage from the Davis-Dee family archive, “Life’s Essentials…” premiered at such prestigious locations as Ruby Dee‘s Alma Mater, Hunter College; The BAM Rose Cinima; The American Black Film Festival; The Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square and more. His work was honored as “Best Documentary  Film of 2014” by BronzeLens and can now be seen premiering of public television.

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BL!NK, A Photographer’s Experience Between Exposures

This article is installment eighteen of our monthly feature, republished here at the BL!NK online archive. Return to this site to view more articles in their re-release, now with new exclusive images and extras.

BL!NK

BL!NK, originally a printed monthly feature in South Coast Today, shares the recollections of Photographer Anthony Barboza, as told to writer Sean McCarthy, along with photos of some of his world-famous subjects from throughout his long and illustrious career.

About the Photographer

New Bedford native Anthony Barboza began his career in 1964 at the age of 20. His photographs have appeared in such publications as National Geographic, Vogue, Newsweek, Harper’s Bazaar, Playboy and Fortune, and belong in permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Cornell University and more. He’s been a lecturer, curator, co-director of a TV commercial featuring his close friend Miles Davis and a grantee of the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives on Long Island with his wife, Laura Carrington, and the three youngest of his five children.

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22.

HALLE  BERRY .

Scroll Down to View Photographs previously Unreleased during original Publication

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BL!NK:  Halle Berry forgets dinner date, but all isn’t lost

By ANTHONY BARBOZA

Photographer Anthony Barboza recounts photographing ‘former model turned Beauty Queen’ Halle Berry before and after she became an Academy Award winning household-name. _________________________

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza circa the release of her performance in the 2001 film ‘Monster’s Ball’

Date: 1991,  2001,   2005

Location:  New York City

Published:  Elle Magazine (and more… )

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About the photographs in Today’s Story:

Halle Berry had just finished “Jungle Fever” in 1991 when photographer Anthony Barboza shot some of the first few photographs brought to you in this month’s article (originally featured in ‘Elle Magazine.’) Continue reading to hear about Barboza’s photographic encounter with actress, Ms. Halle Berry, in 1991, 2001, and 2005, both before-and-after this Academy Award winning actress became a household-name.

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Story by ANTHONY BARBOZA

as told to SEAN McCARTHY

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It was 1991 and Regis Pagniez, the editor of Elle magazine, wanted me to photograph an up-and-coming actress named Halle Berry. I had worked for Elle since the late 1980s and they were familiar with my work, including a previous shoot with Laura Dern.

At the time, Berry had just appeared in the Spike Lee movie, “Jungle Fever.” There was a lot of talk about it, but this was the first time I’d heard of her.

Halle was very nice and the shoot lasted most of the day. Her style was very free and loose and she did whatever was asked of her. She was very accommodating.

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza

circa the release of her performance Spike Lee’s film “Jungle Fever” 1991.

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There was one uncomfortable moment during the shoot. After she made a change of clothes, we took a picture with one of her breasts accidentally exposed. I told her that we would have to cover it up, but she didn’t seem too bothered by the situation.

But there was another interesting development that day. At the end of the shoot she caught me by surprise by saying, “We should go out for dinner.” I agreed and she gave me her agent’s number. She’s a very beautiful woman, so of course I was interested.

The next day I called her agent and said, “Halle told me to call about the two of us going to dinner.” The man replied, “Oh, she had to run to do an interview in California.

 I never got my dinner.

When 2001 came along, Halle was up for an Academy Award for “Monster’s Ball.” USA Weekend asked me to shoot a cover of her. It was going to take place at a photo production studio in New York City. I got the crew together including a hair dresser, makeup artist and stylist. The clothing was quite elegant.

Right on time, Halle walked in with her agent, who turned out to be a tough little cookie. When I greeted Halle, she looked at me as if she wasn’t sure about something. I said, “You don’t remember me, do you? We did a shoot for Elle magazine.

She didn’t remember.

I spoke again. “We were supposed to have dinner 10 years ago.”

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

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She still didn’t remember, but she was very cordial. Her agent soon asked, “How long is this shoot going to take?” He had reason for concern. After all, Halle was a big star now. The agent didn’t want anybody at the shoot who didn’t have to be there. He was very protective.

The shoot lasted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I photographed Halle with different lightings and backgrounds. I used some flower vases and some old-time Hollywood lighting techniques. A shot of her in a pants suit eventually made the cover.

Halle was an excellent model. She was very sweet, but I was still kind of disappointed that she didn’t remember me.

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Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

Selected an Image for a Larger View

Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

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Soon after that she won the best actress Oscar for her role as Leticia Musgrove in “Monster’s Ball.”

A week later I was interviewed by USA Weekend about the shoot I’d done with Berry — the last before she won the award. The article pointed out that this was the second time I had photographed an actress just before she won an Academy Award. The first was with Cher in 1988, just before she won the best actress Oscar for the movie “Moonstruck.” USA Weekend called me a lucky charm.

When “Lackawanna Blues” came out in 2005, I was invited to a premiere screening in New York by some producers who had used some photographs I had taken of my parents in their film. I was sitting in the audience when Halle walked down the aisle. She noticed me, walked over and said, “Oh, hi, Tony.” I thought, “Oh, now she remembers me. I can’t believe it.” She gave me a smile.

There was a party afterwards and the place was full of stars, including Halle. She came over to talk with me again. My heart was pounding.

She remembered me.

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Actress Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza, NYC, 2001

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BL!NK, A Photographer’s Experience Between Exposures

This article is the fifth installment of our monthly feature, republished here at the BL!NK online archive. Return to this site to view more articles in their re-release, now with new exclusive images and extras.

BL!NK

BL!NK, originally a printed monthly feature in South Coast Today, shares the recollections of Photographer Anthony Barboza, as told to writer Sean McCarthy, along with photos of some of his world-famous subjects from throughout his long and illustrious career.

THIS MONTH’S SUBJECT

Halle Berry had just finished “Jungle Fever” in 1991 when photographer Anthony Barboza shot some of the first few photosographs brought to you in this month’s article (originally featured in ‘Elle Magazine.’Halle Berry photographed by Anthony Barboza Continue reading to hear about Barboza’s photographic encounter with actress, Ms. Halle Berry, in 1991, 2001, and 2005, both before and after this Academy Award winning actress became a household-name.

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