Ossie Davis

Born: December 18 1917
Where: Cogdell, Georgia, USA

The writer, director and actor has appeared in such classics as The Hill as well as forging a rich working relationship with film-maker Spike Lee.

The son of a railway engineer, Davis attended Washington's Howard University before moving to New York to try his hand at writing.

The next move was performing shows for American troops and he made his Broadway debut in 1946 in Jeb Turner.

During his run he met his wife Ruby Dee, with whom he hosted a radio and television show.

Now an established actor, David began his film career with No Way Out in 1950 and went on to star in the hit TV detective series The Outsider.

His film career included Otto Preminger's The Cardinal and Sidney Lumet's The Hill with a young Sean Connery.

In the early 1970s, he founded the Third World Cinema production company to help black and Puerto Rican film-makers.

He also struck up a fruitful relationship with Spike Lee and had parts in the films School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X and Get on the Bus.

Other film work includes Miss Evers' Boys and Dr Doolittle.

For his civil rights works he was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame and was awarded the National Medal of Arts Awards by President Clinton.

In 2004, he appeared in Lee's below par She Hate Me and the enjoyable cult hit Bubba Ho-Tep alongside Bruce Campbell.

Recent work includes Mario Van Peebles' Blaxploitation-themed Baadassss!.