Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She was best known for her roles in the films 'A Raisin in the Sun' and 'Do the Right Thing'. She was also a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 and died in 2014 at the age of 91.