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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate Ruby Dee on being
4 the 2006 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
5 Chicago International Film Festival Black Perspectives; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Ruby Dee was born on October 27, 1924, in
7 Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Harlem, New York; she graduated
8 from Hunter College in 1945 with degrees in French and Spanish;
9 and
 
10     WHEREAS, Ms. Dee made several appearances on Broadway
11 before receiving national recognition for her role in the film
12 "The Jackie Robinson Story"; her acting career has crossed all
13 major forms of media over a span of eight decades; and
 
14     WHEREAS, She has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards and
15 won two, one for her role in "Decoration Day" and once for a
16 guest appearance on the program "China Beach"; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Ms. Dee and her late husband, actor Ossie Davis,
18 were well-known civil rights activists; she has been a member
19 of CORE, the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
20 Committee, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference;
21 and
 
22     WHEREAS, She has appeared in more than 20 films, and her
23 notable stage appearances include roles in "A Raisin in the
24 Sun" and Genet's "The Balcony"; in addition to her two Emmy
25 awards, her acting has been honored with an Obie Award in 1971
26 for her performance in Athol Fugard's "Boesman and Lena", a
27 Drama Desk Award in 1972 for her role in "Wedding Band", and an
28 Ace Award for her ground-braking performance as Mary Tyrone in
29 Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night"; as Kate in
30 "The Taming of the Shrew" and Cordelia in "King Lear", in 1965,

 

 

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1 she became the first African-American woman to play major parts
2 in the American Shakespeare Festival; she has written plays,
3 musicals, and several books of poetry, and she turned her own
4 stories and folk tales into the 1998 one-woman show "One Good
5 Nerve"; and
 
6     WHEREAS, In 1988, she was inducted into the American
7 Theatre Hall of Fame; along with her husband, she has been
8 inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame, awarded the
9 Silver Circle Award by the Academy of Television Arts and
10 Sciences, the National Medal of Arts Award, and the Screen
11 Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award; in December 2004,
12 they were recipients of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors for
13 their contributions to the performing arts; she is a member of
14 Actors' Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, the
15 American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the
16 Writers Guild; and
 
17     WHEREAS, In honor of her many achievements, Ms. Dee will
18 receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago
19 International Film Festival Black Perspectives on Friday,
20 October 13, 2006; therefore, be it
 
21     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
22 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
23 we congratulate Ruby Dee on receiving the Lifetime Achievement
24 Award from the Chicago International Film Festival Black
25 Perspectives; and be it further
 
26     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to Ms. Dee as an expression of our deep respect and
28 esteem.