Willa Pearl Curtis

Willa Pearl Curtis (March 21, 1896 – December 19, 1970) was an American actress in film and television. She was active in the Negro Motion Picture Players Association in Los Angeles. Curtis started as a performer in theater and music in Texas. When Curtis first arrived in Los Angeles, she worked as a maid to a stage actress. Like many black actresses of her generation, Curtis was often cast as a maid or cook, often uncredited bit parts, in films during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Her credited appearances included roles in The Wages of Sin (1938), Second Chorus (1940), Unexpected Riches (1942), Mom and Dad (1945), The Lawton Story (1949), Native Son (1951), Oiltown USA (1953), and Queen Bee (1955). Among her many uncredited roles, she played the mother of Buckwheat in an Our Gang short, Tale of a Dog, and clowned with Shemp Howard in "Pick a Peck of Plumbers" (1944). On television, Curti...