Bee Freeman

Bee Freeman was known as "the sepia Mae West" because of her sexy voice and innuendo-laden manner of delivering her lines. Bee had a style all her own, though--cool, calm and collected with a lot of sex appeal. Bee Freeman was one of Oscar Micheaux's favorite ladies, appearing in his best films: Chicago After Midnight (1928), Murder in Harlem (1935), Temptation (1935) and Underworld (1937). Freeman was famous for playing the cigarette-smoking seductress and the femme fatale, and was one of the few black sex symbols on the screen. Even without her sex appeal, however, she was a fine actress, very natural and convincing. Audiences back then enjoyed her performances in films, as do audiences of today. Little is known about Bee but it is known that she danced in the chorus lines of major Broadway shows with future stars like Josephine Baker. Her name is familiar to modern film aficionados and her films can be seen today, but not much is known about the woman herself. Hopefully some information will surface in the future on this talented lady.