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Theresa Harris
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Theresa Harris
Theresa Mae Harris (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985) was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
A native of Houston, Harris was one of five children born to Ina and Anthony Harris. A "well-known elocutionist," Ina Harris was said to be the source of her daughter's "histrionic talent."
Harris' family relocated to Southern California in the early 1920s. After graduating Jefferson High School, she studied at the USC Conservatory of Music and the Zoellner Conservatory of Music. She then joined the Lafayette Players, an African American musical comedy theatre troupe.
She made her film debut in 1929 in Thunderbolt, singing the song "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home". As she entered the 1930s, she played, often without credit, maids to characters acted by Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Kay Francis, Mary Duncan, and Barbara Stanwyck. She also floated around studios doing bit-parts, usually at Warner Bros. or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, variously as a blues singer, waitress, tribal woman, prostitute, and hat check girl.
Harris had a featured role as a friend of star Jean Harlow in MGM's Hold Your Man (1933), co-starring Clark Gable. In 1933, she appeared as Chico in the Warner Bros. pre-Code production of Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck. That same year, Harris starred in a substantial role opposite Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart. As Rogers's character's maid, Harris's character subs for Rogers's character as a singer on the radio. Despite the fact that Harris's character was a major point for the story's plot development, she was uncredited for the role.
Throughout the 1930s, Harris played many uncredited parts in films such as Horse Feathers (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) and Morning Glory (1933). She also played Bette Davis's maid Zette in the film Jezebel (1938). In 1937, she appeared in the race film Bargain with Bullets opposite Ralph Cooper for Million Dollar Productions, co-owned by Cooper. While doing promotion for the film, Harris spoke about her frustration over the difficulty African American actors faced in the film industry stating,
I never had the chance to rise above the role of maid in Hollywood movies. My color was against me anyway you looked at it. The fact that I was not "hot" stamped me either as uppity or relegated me to the eternal role of stooge or servant. [...] My ambition is to be an actress. Hollywood had no parts for me.
She also praised Ralph Cooper for starting a production company that produced films starring African American actors. She said,
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Theresa Harris
Theresa Mae Harris (December 31, 1906 – October 8, 1985) was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
A native of Houston, Harris was one of five children born to Ina and Anthony Harris. A "well-known elocutionist," Ina Harris was said to be the source of her daughter's "histrionic talent."
Harris' family relocated to Southern California in the early 1920s. After graduating Jefferson High School, she studied at the USC Conservatory of Music and the Zoellner Conservatory of Music. She then joined the Lafayette Players, an African American musical comedy theatre troupe.
She made her film debut in 1929 in Thunderbolt, singing the song "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home". As she entered the 1930s, she played, often without credit, maids to characters acted by Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Kay Francis, Mary Duncan, and Barbara Stanwyck. She also floated around studios doing bit-parts, usually at Warner Bros. or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, variously as a blues singer, waitress, tribal woman, prostitute, and hat check girl.
Harris had a featured role as a friend of star Jean Harlow in MGM's Hold Your Man (1933), co-starring Clark Gable. In 1933, she appeared as Chico in the Warner Bros. pre-Code production of Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck. That same year, Harris starred in a substantial role opposite Ginger Rogers in Professional Sweetheart. As Rogers's character's maid, Harris's character subs for Rogers's character as a singer on the radio. Despite the fact that Harris's character was a major point for the story's plot development, she was uncredited for the role.
Throughout the 1930s, Harris played many uncredited parts in films such as Horse Feathers (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933) and Morning Glory (1933). She also played Bette Davis's maid Zette in the film Jezebel (1938). In 1937, she appeared in the race film Bargain with Bullets opposite Ralph Cooper for Million Dollar Productions, co-owned by Cooper. While doing promotion for the film, Harris spoke about her frustration over the difficulty African American actors faced in the film industry stating,
I never had the chance to rise above the role of maid in Hollywood movies. My color was against me anyway you looked at it. The fact that I was not "hot" stamped me either as uppity or relegated me to the eternal role of stooge or servant. [...] My ambition is to be an actress. Hollywood had no parts for me.
She also praised Ralph Cooper for starting a production company that produced films starring African American actors. She said,
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