Maidie Norman

Acting

Maidie Norman

Born 1912-10-16 · Villa Rica, Georgia, USA

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.

Acting credits

Halloween III: Season of the Witch poster
5.2

After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

1982

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
7.9

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

1962

Airport '77 poster
5.6

Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passengers must brave panic, slow leaks, oxygen depletion, and more while attempting a daring plan, all while 200 feet underwater.

Airport '77

1977

Man with the Gun poster
6.1

A stranger comes to town looking for his estranged wife. He finds her running the local girls. He also finds a town and sheriff afraid of their own shadow, scared of a landowner they never see who rules through his rowdy sidekicks. The stranger is a town tamer by trade, and he accepts a $500 commission to sort things out.

Man with the Gun

1955

A Star Is Born poster
6.0

Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer Esther Hoffman after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a few songs at one of his shows and she becomes the talk of the music industry. Esther's star begins to rise, while John's continues to fall. She tries desperately to get John to sober up and focus on his music, but it may be too late to save him.

A Star Is Born

1976

Written on the Wind poster
7.0

Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jasper, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp. Mitch harbors a secret love for Kyle's unsatisfied wife, Lucy -- a fact that leaves him exposed when the jealous Marylee accuses him of murder.

Written on the Wind

1956

Mad at the World poster
5.9

A neighborhood is terrorized by group of young juvenile delinquents called The WolfPack. When a young father's infant child is seriously injured because of the WolfPack, he decides that the police aren't working fast enough to catch the ones who hurt his baby and sets out to infiltrate the gang himself and mete out the punishment they deserve.

Mad at the World

1955

4 for Texas poster
5.1

In the 1870s, two rival businessmen, Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett, on a stagecoach heading to Galveston, Texas, must pull together to protect $100,000 from an outlaw named Matson. Once in Galveston, however, their rivalry continues, as Thomas joins up with Elya Carlson and Jarret with Maxine Richter. But Matson is still on the loose, and a scheming banker threatens both Thomas and Jarrett.

4 for Texas

1963

Movie Movie poster
6.0

Three movie genres of the 1930s, boxing films, WWI aviation dramas, and backstage Broadway musicals, are satirized using the same cast.

Movie Movie

1978

Torch Song poster
5.9

Jenny Stewart is a tough Broadway musical star who doesn't take criticism from anyone. Yet there is one individual, Tye Graham, a blind pianist who may be able to break through her tough exterior.

Torch Song

1953

Executive Suite poster
7.1

When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to see who will replace him.

Executive Suite

1954

Forever Female poster
6.9

An aging actress has a hard time admitting she is too old to play the ingenue role anymore.

Forever Female

1953

The Opposite Sex poster
5.4

Former radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to ignore the information, but when Crystal performs one of her musical numbers at a charity benefit, she breaks down and goes to Reno to file for divorce. However, when she hears that gold-digging Crystal is making Steve unhappy, Kay resolves to get her husband back. The Opposite Sex is a remake of the 1939 comedy The Women.

The Opposite Sex

1956

Be Pretty and Shut Up! poster
6.2

The film is a series of interviews with various well-known film actresses, including Jenny Agutter, Maria Schneider, and Jane Fonda. The title, which is borrowed from a 1958 film with the same name by Marc Allegret, refers to the sense the actresses have of what is expected of them by the film industry.

Be Pretty and Shut Up!

1981

Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami poster
7.0

There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defence attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Davi will receive a scrupulously fair trial when the terrorist is extradited to America. The defence mounted by Leibman confounds and aggravates government prosecutor Sam Waterston--but he, like Leibman, remains a man of judiciary integrity.

Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami

1988

Manhandled poster
5.2

Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.

Manhandled

1949

About Mrs. Leslie poster
7.4

A lonely, unhappy owner of a Beverly Hills boarding house reflects on her lonely, unhappy life and the lonely, unhappy man she once loved.

About Mrs. Leslie

1954

Susan Slept Here poster
6.1

On Christmas Eve, suffering from a case of writer's block, screenwriter Mark Christopher and his gofer Virgil get an unexpected visit from Sergeant Maizel. Knowing Christopher is working on a juvenile delinquent script, the sergeant brings by delinquent Susan thinking she will inspire Christopher while providing a place for her to spend the holidays outside of juvenile hall.

Susan Slept Here

1954

The Well poster
7.3

In a racially mixed American town, a five-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But is he guilty?

The Well

1951

Delphine and Carole poster
6.4

In the 70s, actress Delphine Seyrig and director Carole Roussopoulos, both militant feminists, were the pioneers of video activism in France. They documented the demonstrations of French feminists and used the new technologies to counter the poor representation of women in the public media.

Delphine and Carole

2020

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle poster
5.3

Hunters trespass into Sukulu country, where animals are sacred, posing as photographers.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle

1955

Sixteen poster
4.1

Hickspoiltation film from the early 1970s ostensibly starring Oscar nominee Mercedes McCambridge, but really more a film looking for an excuse to show off Simone Griffeth's beauty. She plays a daughter of a swamp family. The whole family goes to a carnival where she is seduced by an older male performer, while her teen brother is seduced by an older female performer.

Sixteen

1972

Secrets of a Mother and Daughter poster
7.0

A widowed mother, Ava Pryce (Katharine Ross) and daughter Susan Decker (Linda Hamilton) clash over the same man, a West Coast restaurant the owner named Alex Shepherd (Michael Nouri).

Secrets of a Mother and Daughter

1983

Bright Road poster
6.5

Teachers at an all-black school fight to save a problem child.

Bright Road

1953