Ruth Attaway was a renowned American film and stage actress, born on June 28, 1910, in Greenville, Mississippi, to physician W.A. Attaway, PhD. She was the eldest of three siblings, including a sister, Florence, and a brother, William. Attaway's academic pursuits led her to the University of Illinois, where she majored in sociology and graduated with honors.
Attaway made her Broadway debut in 1936, starring in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, You Can't Take It with You. This marked the beginning of her illustrious career on the stage. In 1945, she founded the New York Players Guild, a black repertory theater company, and served as its first director. Throughout her career, Attaway worked with various theater companies, including the Repertory Society of Lincoln Center, from 1964 to 1967.
Attaway's film debut came in 1953, when she portrayed Moll in The President's Lady, opposite Susan Hayward and Charlton Heston. She went on to play a wide range of characters in films, including Philomena in The Young Don't Cry (1957),Serena Robbins in Porgy and Bess (1959),the Farmer's Wife in Terror in the City (1964),Edna in Conrack (1974),and Louise in Being There (1979).
In addition to her stage and film work, Attaway appeared in television, including the unaired pilot, Three's Company, in 1954, and the 1978 television movie, The Bermuda Depths, where she played Delia.
Attaway was married to Allan Morrison, an editor of Ebony, until his untimely death on May 29, 1968, at the age of 51. She continued to work in the entertainment industry until her passing on September 21, 1987, at the age of 77, due to injuries sustained in a Manhattan apartment fire at New York Hospital.
