Maidie Norman
- Child actor
- Teen actor
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.
Acted in
Delphine and Carole
2020
as Self (archive footage)
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
1983
as Neddy
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
1982
as Nurse Agnes
Matt Houston
1982
Hotel
1982
Cagney & Lacey
1982
Simon & Simon
1981
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
1981
as Self
Thornwell
1981
as Ruth Thornwell
Roots: The Next Generations
1979
as Sister Scrap Scott
Movie Movie
1978
as Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
The Incredible Hulk
1977
as Mrs. Dennison
Airport '77
1977
as Dorothy
A Star Is Born
1976
as Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
The Jeffersons
1975
Baretta
1975
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
1974
as Librarian
Police Woman
1974
Harry O
1974
Little House on the Prairie
1974
Rhoda
1974
Sty of the Blind Pig
1974
as Weedy Warren
Good Times
1974
A Dream for Christmas
1973
as Jennie Daley
Maurie
1973
as Mrs. Stokes
The Lie
1973
as Janine
Kung Fu
1972
Another Part of the Forest
1972
as Coralee
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
1972
as Nurse Ferguson
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
Sixteen
1972
as Aunt Ada
Funny Face
1971
Cannon
1971
Adam-12
1968
as Ethel May
Adam-12
1968
as Mary Handlin
Mannix
1967
Judd for the Defense
1967
Ironside
1967
CBS Playhouse
1966
The F.B.I.
1965
as Caregiver
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964
as Mama Lou
4 for Texas
1963
as Burden's Maid
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962
as Elvira Stitt
Ben Casey
1961
Dr. Kildare
1961
as Mrs. Johnson
The Twilight Zone
1959
as Maid (uncredited)
The Opposite Sex
1956
as Violet (uncredited)
Written on the Wind
1956
as Bertha
Man with the Gun
1955
as Sarah (uncredited)
Matinee Theater
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Eloise
Mad at the World
1955
as Miss Lovett
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle
1955
as Suma
About Mrs. Leslie
1954
as Camilla
Susan Slept Here
1954
as Georgette
Executive Suite
1954
as Housekeeper
Forever Female
1953
as Emma
Torch Song
1953
as Anne
Letter to Loretta
1953
as Flora
Letter to Loretta
1953
as Josi
Bright Road
1953
as Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
Cavalcade of America
1952
as Aunt Nellie
Four Star Playhouse
1952
as Coralee
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Lurie
Dragnet
1951
The Well
1951
as Martha Crawford
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Flora
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Maid
Manhandled
1949
as Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
The Peanut Man
1947
as Lucretia