Louise Beavers (March 8 1902 - October 26 1962) was an American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. She was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Among the many films she appeared in were The Gold Diggers (1923), Freaks (1932), She Done Him Wrong (1933), General Spanky (1936), Holiday Inn (1942), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), and The Facts of Life (1960). Beavers' most famous and noted role was her portrayal of Delilah Johnson, the housekeeper/cook whose employer transforms her into an Aunt Jemima-like celebrity in the 1934 film Imitation of Life. One of the film's main conflicts was that between Delilah and her light-skinned daughter Peola (played by Fredi Washington), who wanted to pass for white. Imitation of Life was the first time in American cinema history that a black woman's problems were given major emotional weight in a major Hollywood motion picture.Had times been different she might have beaten Halle to the Oscar by some 70 years instead of being relegated to fifth billing.

The vast majority of Beavers' other film roles, however, were not as prestigious. Along with Hattie McDaniel, she became the on-screen personification of the "mammy" stereotype: a large, matronly black woman with a quick temper, a large laugh, and a subservient manner. Beavers' employers had her overeat so that she could maintain her "mammy"-like figure. Although Beavers did not approve of how her characters were scripted, she nonetheless continued appearing in films, because, as her contemporary McDaniel once stated, "it's better to play a maid than be a maid."

Beavers was one of four actresses (including Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray housekeeper Beulah on the Beulah television show. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American, even though the role was a somewhat subservient one.

Louise Beavers died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26 1962, exactly ten years after the similarly typecasted actress Hattie McDaniel, at the age of 60. She was also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. She was inducted posthumously into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1976.

1930s and 1940s film actress Louise Beavers was merely one of a dominant gallery of plus-sized and plus-talented African-American character actresses forced to endure blatant, discouraging and demeaning stereotypes during Depression-era and WWII Hollywood. It wasn't until Louise's triumphant role in Fannie Hurst (I)'s classic soaper Imitation of Life (1934) that a film of major significance offered a black role of meaning, substance and humanity. Despite the fact that Louise was playing yet another of her endless servile roles as housekeeper Delilah who works for single white mother Claudette Colbert, this time around her character was three-dimensional and not merely a source of servitude and/or or comic relief. She had her own dramatic story and brilliantly handled the heartbreaking co-plot of an appeasing single parent whose light-skinned daughter (played by Fredi Washington) went to cruel and desperate lengths to pass for white. While Louise certainly championed in the role and managed to steal the lion's share of reviews right from under the film's superstar, the movie triggered major controversy and just as many complaints as compliments from both black and white viewers. This certainly did not help what could have been a major, positive shift in black filmmaking. Instead, for the next two or more decades Louise was again forced to retreat into secondary status with precious few opportunities to shine. Ms. Beavers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 8, 1902 and moved with her family to the Los Angeles area at age 11. A student at Pasadena High School and a choir member at her local church, her mother, a voice teacher, trained Louise for the concert stage but instead the young girl joined an all-female minstrel company called "Lady Minstrels" and even hooked up for a time on the vaudeville circuit. A nursing career once entertained was quickly aborted in favor of acting. Her first break of sorts was earning a living as a personal maid and assistant to Paramount star Leatrice Joy (and later actress Lilyan Tashman). By 1924 she was performing as an extra or walk-on in between her chores. A talent agent spotted her and gave her a more noticeable role in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927). She went on to gain even more visibility, but was invariably stuck in the background cooking or cleaning after the leads. Despite this her beaming smile and resiliency earned some attention. Following scene-grabbing maid roles to such stars as Mary Pickford in Coquette (1929) Linda Watkins (I) in Good Sport (1931), Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933), Constance Bennett (I) in What Price Hollywood? (1932) and Jean Harlow in Bombshell (1933), Louise received the role of her career. Her poignant storyline and final death scene deserved an Oscar nomination and many insiders took her snub as deliberate and prejudicial. Five years later her compatriot (and close friend) Hattie McDaniel would become the first black actor to not only earn an Oscar nomination but capture the coveted trophy as well for her subordinate role in Gone with the Wind (1939). Despite their individual triumphs, both ladies continued to trudge through more of the same, albeit steadily. Occasionally Louise was rewarded with such Hollywood "A" treats as Made for Each Other (1939) with Carole Lombard (I), Holiday Inn (1942) starring Bing Crosby, and especially Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. In Jackie Robinson Story, The (1950), she offered lovely moments as the baseball star's mother. Although film offers dried up in the 1950s, Louise managed to transfer her talents to the new TV medium and was one of a revolving door of character actresses to play the wise-cracking, problem-solving maid "Beulah" (1950), one of the first sitcoms to star a black actor. She also had a recurring role in Disney's "The Swamp Fox". In 1957, she made her professional stage debut in San Francisco with the short-lived play "Praise House" as a caregiver who extols the Bible through song. Her last few films, which included Goddess, The (1958), All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) and the Bob Hope (I) comedy Facts of Life, The (1960) were typical stereotypes and unmemorable. A long time bachelor lady who finally married in the 1950s, the short and stout actress was plagued by health issues in later years, her obesity and diabetes in particular. She lost her fight on October 26, 1962, at age 60 following a heart attack. In 1976 she was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.