Irma P. Hall, Actor From Soul Food and The Ladykillers, Dies at 91
Irma P. Hall, the actor who played firm, warm matriarchs in films including Soul Food and The Ladykillers, has died at the age of 91. Her family announced that she died on a Tuesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Her family described her as "a beloved actress, author, poet, educator and public speaker" whose contributions touched countless lives.
Hall was born Irma Dolores Player Hall on June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, and grew up in Chicago. She spent 27 years as a schoolteacher before she became a full-time actor. Her first wide notice came in A Family Thing (1996), where she played Aunt T. opposite Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones.
Her best-known roles followed. She played Mama Joe in Soul Food (1997), the family drama written and directed by George Tillman Jr., and she won an NAACP Image Award for the film. She later returned to the character on the Showtime series based on the movie.
In the Coen brothers' The Ladykillers (2004), she played Marva Munson, sharing the screen with Tom Hanks. She received a special jury award at Cannes for her performance in the film. Her television work also included the role of Meemaw, a neighbour, on the Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard.
Hall's life had hard moments too. In January 2004, she was involved in a serious car accident during a snowstorm in Chicago. She needed open-heart surgery to repair a punctured aorta, the main artery that carries blood out of the heart.
In 2005, she was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in Austin. Joel and Ethan Coen introduced her at the ceremony.
Hall was 91 when she died. Her roles as a mother, aunt and neighbour gave many viewers some of the most memorable family figures of their screen-watching years.
