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Irma P. Hall, the veteran American actress who found fame later on in life after decades as a teacher, has died at the age of 91.
Her family announced her death and no cause was given. In a statement, Hall was described as “a beloved actress, author, poet, educator and public speaker whose contributions touched countless lives throughout her remarkable career”.
Born Irma Dolores Player on 3 June 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, she was raised in Chicago and later returned to Texas for college. She taught English and foreign languages in Dallas public schools for more than two decades.
Her path to the screen began when actor and director Raymond St. Jacques heard her recite poetry in Dallas and cast her in his 1973 film Book of Numbers.
Hall continued teaching as she took acting roles, then made performance her full-time work in the 1980s. She also helped establish the Dallas Minority Repertory Theatre and remained involved in developing young artists.
Hall was 60 when A Family Thing brought her a major film role in 1996. She played Aunt T., a blind woman whose counsel helps guide two half brothers, played by James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall. The part drew attention to a performer who had spent years developing her craft onstage and in smaller screen roles.
“I was just concentrating on developing this craft,” Hall said in a 1996 interview with The Associated Press. “I guess you really never know where you are, you probably think you are on a lower rung than you really are.”
More roles followed, including the part many will remember most fondly for: Josephine “Mother Joe” Joseph, the family’s steadying force in the 1997 film Soul Food. The role led to a return as the character in the television series based on the film.
Hall also appeared in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Beloved, Patch Adams, Collateral and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns.
Consecration came in 2004 when she received a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize for her performance as Marva Munson, a Bible-reading landlady opposite Tom Hanks in the Coen brothers’ 2004 comedy The Ladykillers.
Hall also starred in two Werner Herzog films, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (2009).
“She started as a teacher in the classroom but ended up being a teacher to the world,” her daughter, Irma Hall Crayton, said. “My mom used to always say, ‘To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.’ And she was just that to many people.”
RIP Irma P. Hall 1935 – 2026
Additional sources • AP