"Hi-Hat Hattie"
The Colored Sophie Tucker
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HATTIE McDANIEL. (cenotaph) BORN. June 10, 1895. Wichita, Kansas.
ENTERED INTO REST. October 26, 1952. AGE. 57 Years 4 Months 16 Days.
CAUSE OF BREST CANCER
Hattie McDaniel is distinguished as the first African-American to win an Academy Award. In 1940, she received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the awards ceremony held at the famous Coconut Grove in Los Angeles.
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Mini biography
After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted in film as a maid in "The Golden West" (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in "Judge Priest" (1934) and becoming pronounced in "Alice Adams" (1935). In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katherine Hepburn, she makes it clear she has little use for her employers' pretensions status seeking. By "The Mad Miss Manton" (1938) she actually tells off her socialite employer Barbara Stanwyck and her snooty friends. This path extends into the greatest role of her career, Mammy in "Gone With The Wind" (1939). Here she is, in a number of ways, superior to most of the white folk surrounding her. From that point here roles descend again, becoming more and more menial. She played on Amos 'n' Andy and Eddie Cantor radio shows in the 30s and 40s; the title in her own radio show "Beulah" (1947-51), and the same part on TV (1951). Her part in "Gone With The Wind" won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the first black to win an Academy Award.
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Spouse
'Larry Williams' (1949 - 1950) (divorced)
'James Lloyd Crawford' (1941 - 1945) (divorced)
Howard C. Hickman (1938 - 1938) (divorced)
'George Langford' (1922 - 1922) (his death)
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Trivia
Arguably the first African-American woman to sing on radio (1915, with Professor George Morrison's Negro Orchestra, Denver, CO); first African-American to be buried in Los Angeles' Rosedale Cemetery
McDaniel's marriages were all troublesome. Her first husband was shot and killed shortly after the wedding, her second lasted less than a year, and her fourth lasted four months.
The human "Mammy" character in the Tom+Jerry Cartoons was based on her. This human supporting character was best remembered for shouting "THOMAS" very loudly.
Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American person to win an Academy Award. She won as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role of Mammy in "Gone With The Wind".
Weighed 200 pounds. 
(1999) - 47 years after her death, has been memorialized by a pink-and-gray granite monument at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Her wish to be buried in Hollywood at her death in 1939 was denied amid the racism of the era.
Sister of Sam McDaniel.
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Personal quotes
"I'd rather play a maid than be one."
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Actress. (b. June 10, 1895, Wichita, Kans.; d. Oct. 26, 1952.) The first
black actress to win an Academy Award-for her performance as Mammy inGone
With the Wind (1939)-this preacher's daughter appeared in dozens of
movies. Though generally cast as a servant, her commanding presence
made every moment on-screen count. McDaniel's intimidating bulk, moon
face, and throaty chuckle created memorable scenes inJudge Priest (1934,
in which she trades vocal choruses with Will Rogers),Alice Adams (1935,
in which she all but ruins a dinner party),The Little Colonel (1935),Show
Boat (1936, in which she sings "Ah Suits Me"),Libeled Lady
(1936),Saratoga, Nothing Sacred (both 1937),Carefree (1938),The Male
Animal, In This Our Life (both 1942),Johnny Come Lately (1943),Since
You Went Away (1944),Song of the South (1946), andMr. Blandings Builds
His Dream House (1948), among others. She's also Buckwheat's mother
in a number of Our Gang comedies. She was one of several actresses to
star as "Beulah" on radio and TV