#hilda simms

The groundbreaking Minnesota-born actress Hilda Simms (1918-1994) in a scene with Van Heflin from the 1954 film, “The Black Widow.” Ms. Simms was best known for her starring role in the first all-black, American Negro Theater production of “Anna Lucasta” on Broadway in 1944. Despite the tremendous momentum provided by the publicity behind the show, she only made two films (“The Joe Louis Story” in 1953 and this film) and just two more appearances on Broadway (including Langston Hughes’s “Tambourines to Glory” in 1963). Ms. Simms is in the “Sepia Dreamgirls, Pin-ups, & Hollywood Starlets” chapter of my book, Vintage Black Glamour, available at vbgbook.com and Amazon.