The nominations for the 87th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, and among them were two for “Selma”, for Best Picture and its Original Song “Glory” by Common and John Legend. The only other movie prominently featuring African-Americans that garnered a nomination is Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s “Beyond The Lights”, also in the Original Song category for “Grateful” written by Diane Warren and performed by Rita Ora.
If “Selma” does win Best Picture out this year’s field of eight, the producers accepting the Award will be Oprah Winfrey, Christian Colson, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.
A full list of nominees appears below:
Posts tagged as “black Oscar nominees”
Ruby Dee, best known for her role in 1961’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and latterly for her Oscar-nominated turn as Denzel Washington’s mother in 2007’s “American Gangster,” died Wednesday in New York. She was 91.
Dee’s Oscar nomination in 2008 for her performance as the feisty mother of a Harlem druglord played by Washington in Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” was particularly impressive because the actress made an impression on the Motion Picture Academy with only 10 minutes of screen time. She won a SAG Award for the same performance. Dee also won an Emmy in 1991 for her performance in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie “Decoration Day.”
She and her husband, Ossie Davis, who often performed together, were among the first generation of African-American actors, led by Sidney Poitier, afforded the opportunity for significant, dignified dramatic roles in films, onstage and on television.