From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ruth Attaway (June 28, 1910 – September 21, 1987) was an American film and stage actress. Among the films she appeared in include Raintree County (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959) and Being There (1979). Attaway was born on June 28, 1910, in Greenville, Mississippi. She was the daughter of physician W.A. Attaway, PhD. Her siblings included a sister, Florence and a brother, William. She graduated from the University of Illinois, where she majored in sociology. Attaway made her Broadway debut in 1936 in the Pulitzer Prize winning play, You Can't Take It with You. She was the first director of the New York Players Guild, a black repertory theater company formed in New York in 1945. From 1954 to 1955, she portrayed Anna Hicks in the play Mrs. Patterson at the National Theater. From 1964 to 1967, she was wi...read more