Why should I complain

“Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.”

Despite the fact Clark Gable played a joke on her during the filming of “Gone with the Wind” (1939) (he put real brandy in the decanter instead of iced tea during the Bonnie Blue birth celebration scene), Hattie McDaniel and Gable were actually good friends.

Gable later threatened to boycott the premiere in Atlanta because McDaniel was not invited, but later relented when she convinced him to go.

McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Academy Award. She won as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role of Mammy in “Gone with the Wind” (1939). She became the first African-American to attend the Academy Awards as a guest, not a servant.

She willed her Oscar to Howard University, but the Oscar was lost during the race riots at Howard during the 1960s. It has never been found.

Her acceptance speech upon winning the Oscar: “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, fellow members of the motion picture industry and honored guests: This is one of the happiest moments of my life, and I want to thank each one of you who had a part in selecting me for one of their awards, for your kindness.

It has made me feel very, very humble; and I shall always hold it as a beacon for anything that I may be able to do in the future. I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry. My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel, and may I say thank you and God bless you.”

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