"This house was the childhood home of Hattie McDaniel, an actress most famous for her role as Mammy in the 1939 epic movie Gone With The Wind, earning her the prestige of being the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (
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Over the course of her career, McDaniel appeared in over 300 films, although she received screen credits for only about 80. She gained the respect of the show business community with her generosity, elegance and charm.
McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood; one for her contributions to radio and one for motion pictures. In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmakers [sic] Hall of Fame and in 2006 became the first black Oscar winner honored with a US postage stamp.
McDaniel lived in Fort Collins for several years as a child, and [sic] this house, one of the last remaining of the small African-American community in Fort Collins in the early 20th Century." (from (
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"Hattie McDaniel - Actress
June 10, 1895 – October 26,1952
Inducted in Colorado Women's Hall of Fame 2010
Adopted by Alumni and Friends of East High School and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority
Film actress Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar, for her supporting role as Mammy in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. She grew up in Denver, Colorado, the youngest daughter of Susan Holbert and Henry McDaniel, an ex-slave and Civil War veteran. Hattie decided to become an actress at age six. “I knew that I could sing and dance . . . my mother would give me a nickel sometimes to stop,” she recalled. Singing, dancing, and acting would become her pathway out of a life of poverty.
McDaniel enrolled in Denver’s East High School 1908, where she won a drama contest sponsored by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), and joined a local minstrel troop. She left high school in 1910 to join her brother Otis McDaniel’s new carnival company, touring small towns throughout Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. To make ends meet, she took jobs as a maid and laundress.
Show business in the early 1900s was a man’s world. But McDaniel and her sister Etta Goff launched an innovative all-female “black-face” minstrel show in 1914 called the McDaniel Sisters Company. In these early shows, Hattie developed her trademark minstrel character: an assertive “Mammy” who defied and critiqued racial and gender stereotypes of the era through comedy, in the tradition of generations of African American performers before her.
McDaniel gained stardom as lead singer in George Morrison’s Melody Hounds, a popular Denver-based touring jazz orchestra. The touring life brought her to Hollywood, California, where she launched her film career as Mom Beck in The Little Colonel, starring the child actress Shirley Temple.
In 1939, McDaniel landed her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, appearing with superstars Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. Segregation laws prevented her from attending the film’s premier in Atlanta, Georgia, but later she proudly accepted her Academy Award as best supporting actress for this role.
McDaniel appeared in more than 300 films and her own radio series, Beulah. She shared her success by donating generously to educational causes, including the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), and scholarships for her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho. She died in 1952. In 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Hattie McDaniel’s legendary life and achievements." (from (
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"Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita, Kansas. She was the youngest of thirteen children. McDaniel was born into a family of performers. She developed her talents and recited poetry, danced, and wrote songs. She also sang. McDaniel sang so much that her mother bribed her to stop!
In 1901 McDaniel’s family moved to Denver. McDaniel insisted that she wanted to perform. She convinced her parents that she should quit school. McDaniel left East High School her sophomore year. She joined her father’s traveling show. In the mid-1920s McDaniel got her first radio job. She performed on Denver’s KOA radio station. McDaniel was one of the first African American women to perform on radio.
During the Depression, McDaniel moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was looking for work and got her big break at Club Madrid. McDaniel became a featured nightly act. Convinced that her talent could take her further, she moved to Hollywood to join a brother and two sisters in 1931. In Hollywood McDaniel found no shortage of work. In 1936 alone, she appeared in twelve films.
McDaniel earned the role of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind over several rivals. Her salary for the movie was $450 a week. McDaniel’s award-winning performance was generally seen as a symbol of progress for African Americans.
McDaniel’s success allowed her to buy a house in 1942. Unfortunately, she found herself in a legal battle to keep it. Los Angeles limited homeownership rights for African Americans at the time. McDaniel faced the possibility of losing her home. She was one of several black entertainers who challenged the racist system in court, and won.
Despite the fact that McDaniel did not live in Denver until she was six and left the city while still a teen, Denverites have always claimed her as their own. She died on October 2, 1952, and was the first African American buried in Los Angeles’s Rosedale Cemetery" (from (
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More about Hattie McDaniel's struggles, triumphs and contributions may be found at (
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This is currently an occupied, private home, so please be respectful of the owners.