MovieChat Forums > Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Discussion > Mrs. Prentice

Mrs. Prentice

posted 16 years ago by rogerneon
19 replies | jump to latest

We are told very little about Mrs. Prentice, but it's obvious that she's a woman of refinement, intelligence, and education. She also makes the observations that cause Matt Drayton to change his mind.

So who was she? My guess is that she was a schoolteacher. There weren't a lot of jobs for educated women in 1967 (and years before... her son would have been born in 1930), let alone for black women. However, schoolteacher was one profession a woman could take up.

[–] aroian_99 15 years ago

In real life she was a civil rights activist who felt very confined by the script and was very unhappy during the shoot playing a demure colored woman.

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[–] lroy77 14 years ago

I thought she was a wimp. Can't even speak for herself. Very timid and mild.

Now Poitier's mom in A Raisin in the Sun is much more to my liking. A woman who doesn't take any crap from anyone---black or white---or any other color for that matter.

BTW=I loved Monseigneur Ryan. As a Catholic, I think the character would've made a great priest...if this were real life. The only difference is I'm very conservative, but probably not as much as others.

[–] christopherbkk 14 years ago

Can't even speak for herself? Are you mad?
Her speech at the end of was pivotal. She did speak up, but in the most refined and dignified way. If I remember correctly, she put her husband in his place a couple of times. She might had been mild, but not timid.

[–] bhoover247 14 years ago

She also seemed to have a bigger influence on Spencer Tracey than his wife, daughter or priest. She was very influential in a mild mannered way.

[–] Forlorn_Rage 9 years ago

Well said. That's the problem with today's audiences. Unless women carry a high position or are aggressive and in your face all the time, they're seen as weak and not worth people's time or concern. I hate those people and their lack of humanity or compassion toward different kinds of women!

[–] irvberg2002 11 years ago

Yes, the mother in Raisin in the Sun, played by the incomparable Claudia McNeil, is magnificent. "In my mother's house there is still God." She's the real star of that movie.

[–] just1Hitch 10 years ago

It should be noted that Beah Richards (Mrs. Prentice) understudied Claudia McNeil in the original Broadway production of "Raisin" and may well have played the role on stage.

Excuse me for talking while you're interrupting.

[–] spost8260 10 years ago

It was called "being a lady"...something that not many women of today know much about and care even less. The women of Mrs. Prentiss' time were dignified, classy ladies. They got their points across with elegance and style, not yelling, screaming and threatening like the classless women of today. In fact, real women/ladies were more effective than the barking dogs of today.

Now before you scream "racist", I'm speaking of women in general, not a specific color. I see far too often those screaming meemies who make racism out of absolutely nothing at all. So I needed to make that clear.

[–] Forlorn_Rage 9 years ago

It was called "being a lady"...something that not many women of today know much about and care even less. The women of Mrs. Prentiss' time were dignified, classy ladies. They got their points across with elegance and style, not yelling, screaming and threatening like the classless women of today. In fact, real women/ladies were more effective than the barking dogs of today.

Yes, it is tragic. I feel very badly for women who go through this type of awful contempt and inhumane treatment because they're not aggressive and "on your face" the way women are made to be today.

[–] vpilutis 11 years ago

I never went to college but some folks think I did when they see how knowledgeable I am on many subjects

See some stars here
http://www.vbphoto.biz/

[–] babyfir77 14 years ago

I'd say Katherine won her Oscar for her performance......in particular her speech when she fires Hillary. That was awesome and well delivered!

[–] singerchick 14 years ago

Yes! The firing of Hillary was easily my favorite scene! :)

***************************************
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[–] sad-989-416571 12 years ago

If you had seen the movie when it came out, like I did, that would have felt like a weird scene. The actress was famous for acting in Folger's Coffee as Mrs. Olsen. Mes.Olsen was the friend to everyone and made the best coffee ever.

How do we know for an absolute fact that hard work never killed anyone?

[–] bradford-1 9 years ago

Hah! I saw the movie with my parents in late '67. When Virginia Christie came on screen, ny old man nudged me and said, "Mrs. Olsen got a better job!"
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

[–] intofilm 9 years ago

I don't think she was a school teacher because (1) John would have mentioned it (2) she doesn't have the assertive, confident manner of a schoolteacher.
I think if she hadn't been so non-threatening in her manner she wouldn't have been able to get Matt to re-think his position. She said some very harsh things to him, but not in a harsh way, and that got through his defenses.

[–] mark.waltz 9 years ago

Beah Richards also gave a memorable performance in a "Designing Women" episode as the dying 102 year old woman in "The First Day of the Last Decade of the 20th Century", being warm and welcoming to the women of Sugarbaker's (particularly Julia) who visit her at the desk nurse's suggestion. She gives a beautiful speech about the changes she's seen, and her last line always breaks me into tears. She was one of the founding members of the black theater in New York and her legacy lives onto this day. Her gentility and warmth shine through in both characters, and to me is a more productive way of getting people to listen rather than screaming and shouting. Speaking from the heart through the need for compassion always wins me over rather than through anger and the threat of violence.

"Great theater makes you smile. Outstanding theater may make you weep."

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

She might have been a teacher. She could also have been a nurse, there were certainly black nurses.

There were other careers apart from teacher for educated women, there were women doctors and lawyers, though not in such large numbers as nowadays. But I imagine few black women were entering those professions in the 60s.