Life Essentials - 50K Raised to Highlight a Love Supreme

Through a KickStarter program, with almost 400 backers, Life's Essentials raised their goal of $50K to create the cinematic story of the divine love of Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.  I am eagerly awaiting the completion of this film which is sure to be a how-to for the relationship inclined and a history lesson for those of us who were too young to remember (or not even born) the tide of change during the civil rights era. 

Life's Essentials Video

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Ruby Dee - Essential Life

                               http://rubydee.lifesessentialsdocs.com

Ruby Dee still knows how to draw a crowd. New Rochelle Residents braved the inclement weather last night to view the trailer Life Essentials at Alvin & Friends restaurant in Downtown New Rochelle. Life Essentials is a documentary style film about love, art and activism. The film is told through the eyes of Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee's grandson, Muta' Ali. The film's revealing conversations and never seen-before material gives the current generation a glimpse into the living history that is Ruby Dee. Donations for the production and filming of this living time capsule are still being accepted on the Life Essentials website.

Born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, she spent most of her youth in Harlem. Academia was a priority to Dee and she received degrees in French and Spanish in 1944 from Hunger College. As a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Dee and her husband Ossie Davis were vocal in their disdain for racial injustice. Dee & Davis were close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X and Davis provided the eulogy of Malcolm X in 1965.

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Ruby stared with Sidney Poitier in the 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun. For her spectacular performance, she won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Ossie Davis - A Theatrical Life

Born Raiford Chatman Davis on December 18,1917, he became known to us as Ossie. A clerk completing his birth certificate misheard his mother say RC and wrote down Ossie. In the days of racial unrest, his mother did not feel at liberty to correct the white clerk and left it as Ossie.

Ossie and his wife Ruby Dee moved to New Rochelle in the 1960's and remained for four decades. They were named  to the NAACP Image Awards hall of fame, the National Medal of Arts as well as recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors award.

In January 2006 the Ossie Davis Theater was dedicated at the New Rochelle Public Library. This 145 seat venue allows New Rochelle residents to enjoy Ossie's love of the Arts.

This Actor, Director, Poet, Playwright, Author & Activist gave the eulogy of Malcolm X in 1965 at the Faith Temple of God in Harlem. On February 4, 2005 he took his final bow and  the world said farewell to his benevolent spirit. Ruby Dee continues to live in New Rochelle and remains active in the community. She was inducted into the Westchester County Women's Hall of Fame in 2007.