Aleta Mitchell, who played Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey’s black bottom He died on Broadway and appeared in films by Milos Forman, Wes Craven, Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood. She was 74 years old.
Her family announced that Mitchell died on April 14 at a nursing home in Branford, Connecticut.
In the Haitian voodoo horror film directed by Craven The snake and the rainbow (1988), Celestine Durand appears to Mitchell in a dream sequence as a corpse in a white wedding dress; When she opens her mouth, a huge snake appears to bite Bill Pullman’s character in the face.
Later, the actress appeared in Foreman Valmont (1989), in Lee Malcolm (1992) and in Eastwood Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997).
Mitchell was born in Chicago on February 12, 1952, and grew up in Hyde Park on the South Side. She appeared in touring theater productions throughout the Midwest while attending high school, then earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in acting, respectively, from the University of Iowa in 1981 and the Yale School of Drama.
In 1984, she began her acting career with her role as Dussie in the original Broadway production of the August Wilson play. Ma Rainey’s black bottomwhich began at Yale Repertory Theater and starred Theresa Merritt and Charles S. Dutton.
She also appeared off-Broadway in Distracted, Marvin’s room, Approaching Zanzibar and Murders in Ohio; In the movies No mercy (1986) and OK garage (1998); And on TV The Cosby Show, Law and order, Law and Order: Mens rea, Eq and jury.
Survivors include her husband of 41 years, Thomas; Her son Andrew. And her mother, Geraldine. A celebration of life will be held this summer.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Aleta Mitchell Advancement Fund at the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, PO Box 4550, Iowa City IA 52244-4550.
Her family noted that she was a “Shakespearean actress to the core” and that her epitaph comes from the poet: “We are the stuff dreams are made of, and our little life is about sleep.”
