A GOOD LIFE - GERTRUDE JEANNETTE (2007)

A short documentary about legendary black theater actress and playwright Gertrude Jeannette (November 28, 1914 – April 4, 2018).

A Good Life is a short documentary about legendary Black actress and playwright Gertrude Jeannette. One of the rare opportunities to hear about Jeannette’s life and times from her own voice.

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette (November 28, 1914 – April 4, 2018) was an American playwright and film and stage actress. She is also known for being the first woman to work as a licensed taxi driver in New York City, which she began doing in 1942. Despite being blacklisted during the Red Scare in the 1950s, she wrote five plays and founded the H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players in Harlem, remaining active in mentoring Black actors in New York City. In the 1960s and 1970s she appeared in Broadway productions such as The Long Dream, Nobody Loves an Albatross, The Amen Corner, The Skin of Our Teeth and Vieux Carre. She also appeared in films such as Cotton Comes to Harlem in 1969, Shaft in 1971 and Black Girl in 1972. She acted into her 80s and retired from directing theater at the age of 98.