Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s until 1960, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities.
| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen. |
| 2 | Was a registered Republican. |
| 3 | Appeared as a contestant on a 1961 episode of the Groucho Marx TV series "You Bet Your Life". |
| 4 | Her husband, Leroy Moore, was a professional chef. |
| 5 | Louise was only a year older than actress Fredi Washington, who played her daughter in Imitation of Life (1934). |
| 6 | Louise died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26, 1962, exactly a decade to the day as her famed counterpart Hattie McDaniel. |
| 7 | A member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of four African-American sororities at the time. |
| 8 | Playing cooks for most her career, in real life Louise detested cooking. |
| 9 | In 1976 she, along with Josephine Baker and Canada Lee were posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. |
| 10 | The studio forced her to eat extra servings of food so she could play the "black mammy" roles that were available to actresses of color at the time. |
| 11 | Despite the fact that she was given fourth billing in Imitation of Life (1934), her role was nearly equal in importance to Claudette Colbert's, and was the first instance of a Hollywood film in which a black woman's maternal problems were given equal importance to those of the leading white character in a film. |
| 12 | Before becoming an actress, Beavers was the maid for actress Leatrice Joy. |
| 13 | African-American screen, television, and minstrel actress. |
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|
| Notorious But Nice | 1933 | Ophelia (uncredited) |
| A Shriek in the Night | 1933 | Maid (as Louise Beaver) |
| Her Bodyguard | 1933 | Margot's Maid |
| Hold Your Man | 1933 | Elite Club Attendant (uncredited) |
| Midnight Mary | 1933 | Anna - Mary's Maid (uncredited) |
| What Price Innocence? | 1933 | Hannah |
| The Story of Temple Drake | 1933 | Minnie |
| The Big Cage | 1933 | Mandy (uncredited) |
| Central Airport | 1933 | Hotel Maid (uncredited) |
| Pick-up | 1933 | Magnolia (uncredited) |
| The Phantom Broadcast | 1933 | Penny (uncredited) |
| 42nd Street | 1933 | Pansy - Dorothy's Maid (uncredited) |
| Girl Missing | 1933 | Julie - Daisy's Maid (uncredited) |
| Her Splendid Folly | 1933 | Anastasia |
| She Done Him Wrong | 1933 | Pearl |
| Too Busy to Work | 1932 | Mammy |
| Hesitating Love | 1932 | Short |
| Wild Girl | 1932 | Mammy Lou (uncredited) |
| Hell's Highway | 1932 | Rascal's Sweetheart at Visitor's Center (uncredited) |
| Divorce in the Family | 1932 | Rosetta |
| Unashamed | 1932 | Amanda Jones (as Louise Beaver) |
| What Price Hollywood? | 1932 | The Maid |
| The Dark Horse | 1932 | Levinnia, Kay's Maid (uncredited) |
| Street of Women | 1932 | Mattie, Natalie's maid |
| The Strange Love of Molly Louvain | 1932 | Washroom Attendant (uncredited) |
| Night World | 1932 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Young America | 1932 | Maid (uncredited) |
| You're Telling Me | 1932 | Short | The Maid (uncredited) |
| It's Tough to Be Famous | 1932 | Ada, Janet's Maid |
| The Expert | 1932 | Lulu |
| The Greeks Had a Word for Them | 1932 | Beautician (uncredited) |
| Ladies of the Big House | 1931 | Ivory |
| Good Sport | 1931 | September |
| Girls About Town | 1931 | Hattie |
| Reckless Living | 1931 | Maid |
| Sundown Trail | 1931 | Auntie Jenny |
| Annabelle's Affairs | 1931 | Ruby |
| Party Husband | 1931 | Laura's Maid (uncredited) |
| Six Cylinder Love | 1931 | Bit Role (uncredited) |
| Don't Bet on Women | 1931 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Millie | 1931 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Paid | 1930 | Black Convict (uncredited) |
| Knights Before Christmas | 1930 | Short |
| Bright Lights | 1930 | Angela - the Maid (uncredited) |
| Outside the Law | 1930 | Judy the Maid (uncredited) |
| Manslaughter | 1930 | Rose (prison inmate) (uncredited) |
| Our Blushing Brides | 1930 | Amelia - the Mannequins' Maid (uncredited) |
| Recaptured Love | 1930 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Back Pay | 1930 | Nellie - Hester's Maid (uncredited) |
| Safety in Numbers | 1930 | Messalina |
| True to the Navy | 1930 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Honey | 1930 | Black Revivalist (uncredited) |
| She Couldn't Say No | 1930 | Cora |
| Wide Open | 1930 | Easter |
| Second Choice | 1930 | Maid (uncredited) |
| Nix on Dames | 1929 | Magnolia |
| Wall Street | 1929 | Magnolia |
| Barnum Was Right | 1929 |
| Gold Diggers of Broadway | 1929 | Sadie the Maid |
| Thunderbolt | 1929 | Black Cat Cafe Patron (uncredited) |
| Glad Rag Doll | 1929 | Hannah |
| Coquette | 1929 | Julia |
| Election Day | 1929 | Short | Farina's Mother |
| Oriental Hugs | 1928 | Short |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin | 1927 | Slave at Wedding (uncredited) |
| The DuPont Show with June Allyson | 1961 | TV Series | Della |
| The Facts of Life | 1960 | Gussie (as Louise Beaver) |
| All the Fine Young Cannibals | 1960 | Rose |
| Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | 1959-1960 | TV Series | Delia |
| Bourbon Street Beat | 1959 | TV Series | Mrs. Teale |
| Frontier Doctor | 1959 | TV Series | Clover, Nora's Housekeeper / Delilah Jones |
| The Goddess | 1958 | The Cook |
| Tammy and the Bachelor | 1957 | Osia |
| Playhouse 90 | 1957 | TV Series | Mattie Mae |
| Teenage Rebel | 1956 | Willamay |
| You Can't Run Away from It | 1956 | Maid |
| Good-bye, My Lady | 1956 | Bonnie Drew |
| Star Stage | 1956 | TV Series | Effie |
| General Electric Theater | 1955 | TV Series |
| Make Room for Daddy | 1953-1954 | TV Series | Louise |
| Stories of the Century | 1954 | TV Series | Aunt Nellie |
| Never Wave at a WAC | 1953 | Artamesa, Jo's Maid |
| Beulah | 1952 | TV Series | Beulah |
| I Dream of Jeanie | 1952 | Mammy |
| Colorado Sundown | 1952 | Mattie - Jackie's Maid |
| Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok | 1951 | TV Series | Hot Point Spokesman |
| My Blue Heaven | 1950 | Selma |
| The Jackie Robinson Story | 1950 | Jackie's Mother |
| Girls' School | 1950 | Hattie |
| Tell It to the Judge | 1949 | Cleo, Marsha's Maid (uncredited) |
| For the Love of Mary | 1948 | Bertha |
| Good Sam | 1948 | Chloe |
| A Southern Yankee | 1948 | Laundry Woman (uncredited) |
| Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | 1948 | Gussie |
| Banjo | 1947 | Lindy |
| Lover Come Back | 1946 | Martha, Kay's Maid |
| Young Widow | 1946 | Rosie, the Cook (uncredited) |
| Delightfully Dangerous | 1945 | Hannah |
| Barbary Coast Gent | 1944 | Bedelia |
| Dixie Jamboree | 1944 | Opal |
| South of Dixie | 1944 | Magnolia Brown / Chloe |
| Follow the Boys | 1944 | Louise Beavers (uncredited) |
| There's Something About a Soldier | 1943/I | Birdie (uncredited) |
| Jack London | 1943 | Mammy Jenny |
| Top Man | 1943 | Cleo - the Warrens' Maid |
| All by Myself | 1943 | Willie |
| Du Barry Was a Lady | 1943 | Niagara |
| Good Morning, Judge | 1943 | Cleo |
| Tennessee Johnson | 1942 | Addie (uncredited) |
| Seven Sweethearts | 1942 | Petunia, the Maid |
| The Big Street | 1942 | Ruby - Gloria's Maid (uncredited) |
| Holiday Inn | 1942 | Mamie |
| Reap the Wild Wind | 1942 | Maum Maria |
| Young America | 1942 | Pansy |
| The Vanishing Virginian | 1942 | Aunt Emmeline Preston |
| Shadow of the Thin Man | 1941 | Stella |
| Belle Starr | 1941 | Mammy Lou |
| Kisses for Breakfast | 1941 | Clotilda |
| Sign of the Wolf | 1941 | Beulah |
| Virginia | 1941 | Ophelia |
| No Time for Comedy | 1940 | Clementine |
| I Want a Divorce | 1940 | Celestine |
| Primrose Path | 1940 | Woman Talking to Police (uncredited) |
| Women Without Names | 1940 | Ivory |
| Parole Fixer | 1940 | Aunt Lindy |
| Reform School | 1939 | Mother Barton |
| The Lady's from Kentucky | 1939 | Aunt Tina |
| Made for Each Other | 1939 | Lily - Cook #3 (uncredited) |
| Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus | 1938 | Cassey |
| The Headleys at Home | 1938 | Hyacinth |
| Brother Rat | 1938 | Jenny |
| Life Goes On | 1938 | Sally Weston |
| Scandal Street | 1938 | Clairce |
| The Last Gangster | 1937 | Gloria |
| Love in a Bungalow | 1937 | Millie |
| Wings Over Honolulu | 1937 | Mamie |
| Make Way for Tomorrow | 1937 | Mamie |
| Rainbow on the River | 1936 | Toinette |
| General Spanky | 1936 | Cornelia |
| Wives Never Know | 1936 | Florabelle |
| Bullets or Ballots | 1936 | Nellie LaFleur |
| Annapolis Farewell | 1935 | Miranda |
| Million Dollar Baby | 1934 | Mother |
| West of the Pecos | 1934 | Mauree |
| Imitation of Life | 1934 | Delilah Johnson |
| Beggar's Holiday | 1934 | Heliotrope |
| I Give My Love | 1934 | Woman on Street with Newspaper |
| Dr. Monica | 1934 | Sarah - Mary's Maid (uncredited) |
| The Merry Frinks | 1934 | Camille, Hattie's Maid |
| Cheaters | 1934 | Lily |
| Merry Wives of Reno | 1934 | Derwent's Client - Black Mother of 12 Wanting a Divorce (uncredited) |
| I Believed in You | 1934 | Prisoner (uncredited) |
| Glamour | 1934 | Millie |
| Registered Nurse | 1934 | Flo - Sadie's Maid (uncredited) |
| The Woman Condemned | 1934 | Sally - Jane's Maid |
| A Modern Hero | 1934 | Azais' Maid (uncredited) |
| Gambling Lady | 1934 | Suzy - Peter's Cook (uncredited) |
| I've Got Your Number | 1934 | Crystal |
| Bedside | 1934 | Pansy |
| Palooka | 1934 | Crystal |
| Grin and Bear It | 1933 | Short |
| Jimmy and Sally | 1933 | Maid (uncredited) |
| In the Money | 1933 | Lily |
| Only Yesterday | 1933 | Abby, the Emerson's Maid (uncredited) |
| Bombshell | 1933 | Loretta |
