--- description: Actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee, who originated one of the American theater's most iconic roles, Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, died Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y., at the age of 91. She was the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for an Oscar towards the end of her career for the 2007 film American Gangster title: Remembering Ruby Dee, 1922-2014 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ef5aac9f5f93868/69869757adae441906543aa5/75797379.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Remembering Ruby Dee, 1922-2014 by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2014 5:54 PM CUT  Ruby won an Emmy in 1991 for her role in Decoration Day. She would also win a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild Award over the course of her career. Ruby won an Emmy in 1991 for her role in Decoration Day. She would also win a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild Award over the course of her career.Jim Smeal—WireImage/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2014 5:54 PM CUT  Ruby Dee, an actress and civil rights activist, first gained national recognition for her role as Rae Robinson in the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story. FPG/Getty Images  One of her best known roles was as Ruth Younger in the 1961 drama A Raisin in the Sun. Bettman/Corbis  Ruby Dee was also a civil rights activist. Above, Dee is seen giving a reading at Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 March on Washington in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. Charles Del Vecchio—The Washington Post/Getty Images  Ruby won an Emmy in 1991 for her role in Decoration Day. She would also win a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild Award over the course of her career. Jim Smeal—WireImage/Getty Images  One of her last roles was playing Mama Lucas in the 2007 film American Gangster, a role for which she would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Universal ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2865470/remembering-ruby-dee-1922-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2865470/remembering-ruby-dee-1922-2014/"},"headline":"Remembering Ruby Dee, 1922-2014","datePublished":"2014-06-12T17:54:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:16.752Z","description":"Actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee, who originated one of the American theater's most iconic roles, Ruth Younger in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, died Wednesday at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y., at the age of 91. She was the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for an Oscar towards the end of her career for the 2007 film American Gangster","url":"https://time.com/2865470/remembering-ruby-dee-1922-2014/","keywords":["celebrities","film","actress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ef5aac9f5f93868/69869757adae441906543aa5/75797379.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ef5aac9f5f93868/69869757adae441906543aa5/75797379.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"43rd Annual Emmy Awards","caption":"43rd Annual Emmy Awards","creditText":"Jim Smeal—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2865470/remembering-ruby-dee-1922-2014/","name":"Remembering Ruby Dee, 1922-2014"}}]}] ```