Background
Ellis was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 2, 1894.
Ellis was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 2, 1894.
The Baltimore Afro American Newspaper on their issue in October 26, 1929 described her as a “quiet and unassuming young lady with a very charming personality" An attractive woman who could have been a leading lady, she chose character roles.
Devoting herself to the theatre, her film roles were few but she appeared in films like The Joe Louis Story and Lady from Shanghai. Towards the end of her career Mission Ellis, as she was called, also directed a few theater plays. Mississippi Not much is known about her earlier life and introduction to acting, but she became a pretty prominent actor within the black community starting in 1919 until 1955.
Ellis made her theatrical debut at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, New York in a production of “Othello" in 1919.
She then move up to Broadway making her debut in the production of Roseanne by Nan Bagby Stephen. Her next big Broadway Show was Porgy in 1927 where she is known for creating the character of Bess and Appeared with Rose McClendon and Frank H. Wilson.
That same year she played a lead role in Ernest Howard Culberston’s production of Goat Alley which dealt with black life in the slums of Washington District of Columbia Here she played the character of Lucy Bell Dorsey and was praised by the New York Times Theatre Review for “her telling portrayal". There was a few years of inactivity due to the stock market crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression, but she came right back and even started directing.
Ellis played in various other theatrical plays like Deep Are the Roots in 1945 where she played Bella Charles a house keeper, and The Royal Family in 1952.
Her next big role however was her lead role in Orson Welles’ Native Son were she played the Hannah Thomas the mother of Bigger Thomas who was played by actor Canda Lee. She also played the same role a year later in an even more successful revival of the play. The Afro American Newspaper states her role was “so realistic that she had already earned the praised of Broadway critics”.
Ellis continued to play various lead roles through her year working with the Dunbar Players of Philadelphia.
During this year she also started a drama school in Long Island for the youth. Ellis directed Horse Play in 1937 and then put on the play Little Woman in 1938 with the junior department at the Negro Little Theatre.
Her most notable work however as a director as well as an actress is in the all black production of Tobacco Road in 1950. She played the role of a starving mother which the New York Times singled out as “truthful elements that left a lasting impression”.
Through her directing of a youth play and her creation of the drama school Ellis was proactive in getting younger kids interested in the art of drama.
Ellis made her last Broadway appearance in 1953 and ended her acting career in 1955 with her final film Interrupted Melody and two years later passed away from a heart aliment on June 5, 1958 at the age of 64. She was hospitalized from December 1957 until her death on June 5th, 1958 at the Variety Club’s Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in Saranac Lake, New New York
