Ruby Dee reflects on art and acting

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Famed actress Ruby Dee sat down to discuss her life and career on Friday during an event at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College.

The 85-year-old Dee, an award-winning actress, author and activist, was in town Friday for the Gordon Parks Celebration of Culture and Diversity and to receive the 2010 Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award, which was established in Parks' honor and is presented annually during the celebration. She talked to a crowd of about 100 people Friday in the auditorium of the fine arts center.

Actor Kyle Johnson, who portrayed the lead role in the Parks-directed film, "The Learning Tree," sat with Dee on the theater's stage and led the discussion, often asking questions of Dee. Johnson's mother, actress Nichelle Nichols, received the Choice of Weapons Award last year.

"It's legendary, your work as an actress, as an activist, and your marriage to (actor) Ossie (Davis)," Johnson said.

Dee, who took a moment early in the conversation to reflect on her life and career, said there is "not one thing that stands out as important. Everything was, as I look back," she said.

Dee talked about herself and others as artists, as well as life being a continuous narrative.

"All of us in some way are artists," she said. "All of life is a text. ... The most important part of my life is all of it, the text."

Dee was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but considers herself a product of Harlem, where she grew up. She began her career as a member of the American Negro Theatre and talked about her childhood and career, and touched on the topics of religion, politics, morality, diversity, commonality and change.

"I came from Harlem, and now that I'm grown, I realize how much Harlem comes from me," she said.

Dee said throughout her life, she has come to "realize what a human being is all about."

"People are miracles. We come from miracle," she said. "I don't think we realize, each of us, what a stunning set of circumstances we represent. ... We are each other, and we're totally individual."

The human race is capable of working toward peace and making positive changes toward the betterment of the world, Dee said.

"Peace is not killing your neighbor. ... We know what peace is," she said. "We have the capacity in us to do the right thing, to change the world."

Her most recent roles have been in the 2007 film "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, "Steam" with Ally Sheedy, and the independent film "All About Us." She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in "American Gangster" and won the Screen Actors Guild award for the same performance. She co-starred in the 1961 film "A Raisin in the Sun."

In 1988, Dee was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. With Davis, to whom she was married for 57 years until his death in 2005, she has been inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame, awarded the Silver Circle Award by the Academy of Television Arts and Science, the National Medal of Arts Award and the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award.

In December 2004, Dee and Davis received the John F. Kennedy Center Honors. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild.

Dee was honored during a tribute dinner Friday at the Liberty Theatre.