Claudia McNeil

Claudia McNeil was born on August 13, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA as Claudia Mae McNeil.

McNeil married at age 19. Her husband was killed in the Second World War and her son died in the Korean War. Her first husband's name and her son's name are not known. After training as a librarian, she drifted into vaudeville and nightclubs, eventually making her Broadway debut in 1953 as Tituba in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". Married secondly, briefly, and unhappily to Herman McCoy, whom she divorced after two years.

Claudia McNeil was a member of the Actors' Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Negro Actors Guild, and the Screen Actors Guild. She received awards from the Drifters Inc, the National Council of Negro Women (1959), American Jewish Congress and Allied Jewish Appeal, and was a participant in many benefits.

Twice nominated for Tony Awards as Best Actress (Dramatic): first in 1960 for "A Raisin in the Sun" (she recreated her performance for the subsequent film version) and again in 1963 for the drama "Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright".

She was an actress, known for A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Black Girl (1972) and The DuPont Show of the Month (1957). She was married to Herman McCoy and Unknown.

McNeil, a former librarian who came to show business relatively late in life after appearing in radio, vaudeville and clubs as a singer, was an enduring, strong-willed, maternal presence in the same tradition as actresses such as Ethel Waters, Juanita Moore, Theresa Merritt, Mabel King, Esther Rolle, and Virginia Capers, the last of whom won the Tony in 1974 playing McNeil's role in the Broadway musical "Raisin", based on "A Raisin in the Sun".

She was nominated for a 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Candlelight Forum Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.