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Irma P. Hall Dies at 91: Actress Known for 'Soul Food' and 'The Ladykillers'
· Confirmed
In Short: In addition to 'Soul Food,' Hall starred in 'The Ladykillers' opposite Tom Hanks.
Irma P. Hall, the actress known for her roles in 'Soul Food' and 'The Ladykillers,' died Tuesday at the age of 91 in Dallas.
Hall won an NAACP Image Award for her performance in 'Soul Food' and received a special jury award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in 'The Ladykillers.'
Born on June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, Hall was raised in Chicago and began her acting career later in life after decades as a teacher.
Hall's breakthrough role came in 'Soul Food,' where she portrayed Mama Joe, a character that inspired the Boyz II Men hit 'A Song for Mama.'
In addition to 'Soul Food,' Hall starred in 'The Ladykillers' opposite Tom Hanks, and also appeared in 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,' 'Beloved,' 'Patch Adams,' and 'Collateral.'
Hall's contributions to theater and the performing arts were recognized through the Irma P. Hall Award, which celebrates emerging talent.
Hall was also involved in a serious car accident in 2004, requiring open-heart surgery to repair a punctured aorta.
Hall's daughter, Irma Hall Crayton, said, 'She started as a teacher in the classroom but ended up being a teacher to the world.'
What this adds
Hall's career spanned several decades, with notable roles in 'A Family Thing,' 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,' 'Beloved,' 'Patch Adams,' and 'Collateral,' as reported by Variety and Click2Houston.
Background
Irma P.
What's confirmed
- Hall won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Soul Food and a Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for her performance opposite Tom Hanks in the Coen brothers’ The Ladykillers.
- Irma Dolores Player was born on June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, and raised in Chicago.
- While generations of moviegoers remember her as the family matriarch in Soul Food, Hall appeared in numerous acclaimed productions, including A Family Thing, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Beloved, Patch Adams, The Ladykillers, Collateral and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns.
- Hall, the late-blooming actress known for portraying no-nonsense matriarchs in Soul Food and the Coen brothers’ adaptation of The Ladykillers, has died.
What's still developing
- Hall received a special jury award at Cannes for her performance as Marva Munson, the cantankerous, churchgoing woman in Mississippi who rents a room to the crook Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III (Tom Hanks), in The Ladykillers (2004).
- Hall ventured out as an actress but continued to keep her day job.
- "Decades after its original release, this song is still one of the most popular and enduring Mother's Day anthems of all time." Hall's other credits included A Family Thing (1996), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Beloved (1998), Patch Adams (1998), The Ladykillers (2004), Collateral (2004), and Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008).
- She made her film debut in Book of Numbers (1973).
- She also received recognition from the Chicago and Kansas City film critics associations for her performance in A Family Thing and was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.
- Her father was a saxophone player, and her mother was a hospital administrator.
- “Decades after its original release, this song is still one of the most popular and enduring Mother’s Day anthems of all time.” In addition to the films and series above, Hall’s credits include Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Beloved (1998), Patch Adams (1998), Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (2008), and more.
- Hall went on to appear in numerous films and television shows, including Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Beloved, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, Touched by an Angel and Chicago Fire.
- That same year she shared the screen with Kevin Spacey and John Cusack as witchy healer Minerva in Clint Eastwood’s Savannah-set “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” In the Coen brothers’ “The Ladykillers,” Hall was the religious and aging widow who rents a spare room to a deceiving “professor” (Tom Hanks) and his band of criminals posing as musicians (Marlon Wayans, J.K.