BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Butterfly McQueen was born on January 7th, 1911 in Tampa, Florida with the birth name Thelma McQueen.  She attended the public school system in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from High School in New York.  She had the intention of pursuing a career in nursing, however it was a teacher in High School who suggested to try acting. 
 
She became interested in dance and joined the Venezuela Jones Negro Group.  In 1945, she performed on stage in, "A Mid Summer Nights Dream" and danced the, Butterfly ballet, which is how she earned her nickname.
 
Her professional debut was in the production, "Brown Sugar" and she then worked on a number of other stage productions before becoming involved in the film industry.  She is known for her small role as Lulu on, "The Women" (1939) and Prissy in, "Gone with the Wind" (1939).  She did a number of other film roles such as, "Mildred Pierce" (1945) and "Duel in the Sun" (1946).  
 
Along with film and stage she also worked on radio from `1947 through 1951 on, "Beulah" which soon followed with a television version from 1950 through 1952.
 
When she was not acting, she held various other jobs such as a seamstress, taxi dispatcher, and even a department store salesperson.  She decided to retire from acting becoming so frustrated with the racial typecast roles she was only being offered.  She did earn a bachelors degree in political science from New York City College in 1975 at the age of sixty four. 
 
In 1980, at the age of sixty nine, she was handled roughly by a Greyhound Bus Lines Guard who thought she was stealing and when he grabbed her, he cracked several of her ribs.  She sued and was awarded $60,000 and took the money and moved back to Georgia.
 
She did make a small comeback to the industry to appear in the 1986 film, "The Mosquito Coast".  Butterfly rotated her retirement between New York in the Summer and Augusta in the Winter months.  She never married and never had any children of her own. 
 
When her house caught fire in 1995, she suffered severe burns to her body and was taken to the hospital where she died at the age of eighty four on December 22nd, 1995 in Augusta, Georgia.  Her body was donated to medical science. 

Filmography

1989 Polly 
1986 The Mosquito Coast 
1985 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
1981 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1979 ABC Afterschool Specials 
1978 ABC Weekend Specials
1974 Amazing Grace
1957 Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 Lux Video Theatre
1950-1951 Beulah
1950 Studio One in Hollywood
1948 Killer Diller 
1946 Duel in the Sun 
1945 Mildred Pierce 
1945 Flame of Barbary Coast 
1943 I Dood It 
1943 Cabin in the Sky 
1941 Affectionately Yours 
1939 Gone With the Wind
1939 The Women