Oscar Winner Hattie McDaniel Survived Hardships and Found ‘Peace’ and ‘Happiness’ Before Death

Hattie McDaniel arrived at her audition for the role of Gone With the Wind’s Mammy wearing a maid’s uniform. It wasn’t a costume — she was headed to work as a housekeeper later that day. She would, of course, win the part. Her warm and wise performance would also make Hattie the first Black performer to ever win an Academy Award.

An Oscar should have brought new opportunities Hattie’s way, but it didn’t. “Any work she could find was just playing a maid, servant or slave,” explains author ReShonda Tate, whose new novel, The Queen of Sugar Hill (out January 30), dramatizes the events of Hattie’s difficult but inspirational life.

As time went on, Hattie’s Gone With the Wind fame made her a divisive figure. “Blacks didn’t like her because of the roles she played, and whites didn’t like her because she was someone that didn’t know her place,” explains Tate. “She wasn’t accepted in either world.”

Hattie, who had grown up as one of 13 children in a family Tate calls “rich in love” but little else, faced life from a practical standpoint. “Before Gone With the Wind, she had been in over 70 films as an extra, but none of them were credited,” explains Tate. “She played the hand that life dealt her saying, ‘I can be a maid for $7 a week, or I can play a maid for $700 a week.’”

Hattie McDaniel ‘Knew’ She Would Become a Trailblazing Performer

In 1942, the actress purchased a two-story, 17-room home in West Adams Heights, an L.A. neighborhood nicknamed Sugar Hill after Hattie and other Black performers, including Pearl Bailey and Louise Beavers, moved there. Every year, Hattie threw a lavish party at her home — Clark Gable, then the king of Hollywood — always attended. “They had an amazing friendship,” says Tate, who notes they both loved to laugh together. “Hattie was witty and extremely funny,” she says.

But not everyone was happy about Hattie’s presence on Sugar Hill. “Some neighbors sued to get her out,” says Tate. Instead of giving in, Hattie took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against segregated housing. “Today, everyone, all races, are able to live where they want to,” says Tate. “That’s because of Hattie McDaniel.”

Hattie knew other sorrows: None of her four marriages brought her happiness, and she was unable to have children. She also enjoyed other triumphs: In 1947, she became the first Black woman to have her own network radio program, Beulah. Hattie would also play Beulah on TV until 1952 when she became ill with breast cancer. “She was happiest when she was doing Beulah. She was single and had found happiness with herself,” says Tate. “When she died, she was at peace.”