Maidie Norman was born Maidie Ruth Gamble on October 16, 1912, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Louis and Lila Gamble. She received a B.A. from Bennett College in 1934 and a master's degree from Columbia University three years later. She also attended the Actors Lab in Hollywood from 1946 to 1949. Norman first appeared on film in The Peanut Man in 1947. Throughout the fifties-not a good time for film roles for black women-she appeared in a number of films, such as Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier and Torch Song, both in 1953; About Mrs. Leslie and Susan Slept Here in 1954; and 1956's Written on the Wind. These were often servant roles, with a special fifties blandness. Still, Norman was skillful and professional in her execution of them. In 1962, she got a chance to chew up the scenery with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? In 1968-69, Norman was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University and, throughout the seventies, she was lecturer, director, and acting teacher at UCLA. At the same time, Norman was highly visible on television, appearing in Mannix, Adam 12, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, The Jeffersons, and others. She was also part of the cast of Roots: The Next Generation in 1979. Norman was a founding member of the American Negro Theater West; in 1977, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame; and an award in her name is presented each year for outstanding research by an undergraduate in Black Theater at UCLA. She died on May 6, 1998.

Filmography

• 1988Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami — Edna
• 1983Secrets of a Mother and Daughter — Neddy
• Cagney & Lacey — Elevator Operator
• 1982Halloween III: Season of the Witch — Nurse Agnes
• Hotel — Carrie Garland
• Matt Houston
• Simon & Simon
• 1981Thornwell — Ruth Thornwell
• Roots: The Next Generations — Sister Scrap Scott
• 1978Movie Movie — Gussie ("Baxter's Beauties of 1933")
• 1977Airport '77 — Dorothy
• The Incredible Hulk — Mrs. Dennison
• 1976A Star Is Born — Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
• Baretta
• The Jeffersons
• Good Times
• Harry O
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Librarian
• Little House on the Prairie — Mrs. Henry
• Police Woman
• Rhoda
• 1974Sty of the Blind Pig — Weedy Warren
• 1973A Dream for Christmas — Jennie Daley
• 1973Maurie — Mrs. Stokes
• 1973The Lie — Janine
• 1972Another Part of the Forest — Coralee
• Kung Fu — Omar's Mother
• 1972Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole — Nurse Ferguson
• 1972Sixteen — Aunt Ada
• The Streets of San Francisco
• Cannon
• Funny Face
• Adam-12 — Ethel May, Mary Handlin
• Ironside
• Judd, for the Defense
• Mannix
• CBS Playhouse — Mrs. Pierce
• The F.B.I. — Caregiver
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. — Mama Lou
• 19634 for Texas — Burden's Maid
• 1962What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? — Elvira Stitt
• Ben Casey
• Dr. Kildare — Mrs. Johnson
• 1960No Greater Love — Queto's Mother
• The Twilight Zone — Maid (uncredited)
• 1956The Opposite Sex — Violet (uncredited)
• 1956Written on the Wind — Bertha
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Eloise
• 1955Mad at the World — Miss Lovett
• 1955Man with the Gun — Sarah (uncredited)
• Matinee Theater
• 1955Tarzan's Hidden Jungle — Suma
• 1954About Mrs. Leslie — Camilla
• 1954Executive Suite — Housekeeper (uncredited)
• 1954Susan Slept Here — Georgette
• 1953Bright Road — Mrs. Hamilton - Tanya's Mother
• 1953Forever Female — Emma (uncredited)
• Letter to Loretta — Flora, Josi
• 1953Torch Song — Anne
• Cavalcade of America — Aunt Nellie
• Four Star Playhouse — Coralee
• Dragnet
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Lurie
• 1951The Well — Martha Crawford
• Lux Video Theatre — Flora, Maid
• 1949Manhandled — Christine, Bennet's Maid (uncredited)
• 1947The Peanut Man — Lucretia

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2020Delphine and Carole — Self (archive footage)
• 1981Be Pretty and Shut Up! — Self