It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of BroadwayBlack actress Barbara Meek. She was best known for playing the character of Ellen Canby for three seasons on Archie Bunker’s Place. She passed away on October 3, 2015 at the age of 81.
@violadavis Thank you so much for your kind words about Barbara. She was one of a kind and will be deeply missed.
— Trinity Rep (@trinityrep) October 5, 2015
Barbara Meek left behind a prolific body of work. Her career began in college when the Detroit native was asked as an undergraduate to join Wayne State University’s graduate theater program. Later, Meek went on to work both in television and on stage. A few of her television performances included roles in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Life Among the Lowly,“ “Melba,” starring Melba Moore and “Big Brother Jake.” Meek was also featured in the Emmy Award-winning television movie, “See How She Runs.”
Importantly, Barbara Meek was among the cadre of Black actresses who transformed their roles into more than just “the help.” These characters were brought to life in what were supposed to be subservient positions, yet instead highlighted the quick wit and intelligence that is the true reality of Black women. As ‘Ellen Canby,’ Meek was able to mostly tame the overtly racist character Archie Bunker and earn his gratitude for her help in raising his abandoned 10 year old family member, Stephanie. Meek went on to play many other strong characters both male and female, Black and white.
Even until her death, Meek was an active actress with the Trinity Repertory Company in Rhode Island, which she joined with husband Martin Molson (who preceded her in death) in 1968. She appeared in over 100 Trinity productions. Highlights of Meek’s stage career at Trinity included leading roles in auspicious plays such as August Wilson’s Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun. Meek also appeared in the Broadway production of Wilson in the Promised Land. In addition to her work with Trinity, Meek worked at other theaters including Vienna’s English Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Hilberry Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Cleveland Play House and the O’Neill Theater Center.
To be sure, her work did not go without accolade. Barbara Meek received an Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from the University of Rhode Island, and was awarded the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence, the 2004 Rhode Island Pell Award, the Wayne State University Arts Achievement Award in Theatre, the Foundation for Repertory Theatre Award, and the 2006 Edward Bannister and Christiana Bannister History Makers Award from the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society.
We are grateful for the legacy of hard work, culture and class left behind by Barbara Meek and we mourn her passing.
