We recently had a chance to see Theresa Harris in “Baby Face,” one of the nearly 100 films she appears in, credited or uncredited. As in most of her films, she is a maid, part of a scene, a spectator, or amid a gaggle of women looking for a break in filmdom. Her role in “Baby Face,” starring Barbara Stanwyck, had a promising beginning but soon vanished as the star she attended to rose in power and acclaim.
Harris was born on December 31, 1906 in Houston, Texas to Isaiah, or Anthony, and Mable Harris, or Ina, both of whom were former sharecroppers from Louisiana. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to Southern California. She graduated from Jefferson High School and then began studying at the UCLA Conservatory of Music and the Zoellner Conservatory of Music. As a member of the acclaimed Lafayette Players, she starred in the musical comedy production of “Irene.”
Her film debut came in 1929 in “Thunderbolt,” where she sang “Daddy Won’t You Please Come Home.” A year later she began the long series of maid roles to such matinee idols as Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Francis Dee, Jean Harlow, Kay Francis, et al. She had bit part and cameo appearances in countless films and in 1933 had perhaps her most substantial role in “Professional Sweetheart,” starring Rogers. Though she is featured in the film, where she substituted for Rogers, she was uncredited.
In 1937, she appeared opposite Ralph Cooper in “Bargain with Bullets,” produced by the Cooper co-owned Million Dollar Productions. It was during her work with Cooper that she expressed her exasperation in Hollywood and the limited opportunities Black actors and actresses endured. “I never had the chance to rise above the role of maid in Hollywood movies,” she told journalist Fay Jackson in 1937. “My color was against me anyway you looked at it. The fact that I was not ‘hot’ stamped me either as uppity or relegated me to the eternal role of stooge or servant… My ambition is to be an actress. Hollywood had no parts for me.” But, according to Jackson, she also praised Cooper for starting a production company that produced films starring African American actors. “We have nothing to lose in the development of an all-colored motion picture company. The competition will make Hollywood perk up and produce better films with our people in a variety of roles.”
Even as she campaigned for more significant roles, she continued to take whatever decent part was offered, including “Tell No Tales,” where she is credited as Ruby, the widow of a murdered man. She also had a sizable role as Eunice Leonard in Jacques Tourneur’s “Out of the Past.”
Hollywood wasn’t her only outlet, though Hollywood Hotel was where she often performed in radio programs, including frequently teaming up with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson. She accompanied him in a sizzling song and dance routine in “Buck Benny Rides Again.” In the 1940s, she had various roles in spooky or horror films, including “Phantom Lady” and “I Walked with a Zombie.”
Television opportunities arrived in the fifties, though she continued to appear in films, most notably playing a role with her name as Nurse Theresa in “Angel Face,” in 1953. She was often seen on “Lux Video Theatre,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “The Loretta Young Show.” In 1958, in “The Gift of Love,” she made her last film appearance.
Harris’s personal life included her marriage in 1933 to George Robinson, a doctor. During her film career she supported Democratic candidates for office, working tirelessly for Adlai Stevenson’s bid in 1952.
A Methodist, she died on October 8, 1985 of undisclosed causes in Inglewood, Calif. and was buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. The title character in Lynn Nottage’s 2011 play “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” is based on Teresa Harris.