Butterfly McQueen

Butterfly McQueen (1911 - 1995)
American actress best known for her role as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's squeaky-voiced maid in Gone With the Wind.

Born Thelma McQueen, in Tampa, Florida, McQueen was given the nickname "Butterfly" after dancing as a butterfly in a 1935 ballet production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gone With the Wind was the first film in which McQueen had a credited role (she had appeared, uncredited, in The Women, also in 1939), and after America saw her squeal out, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!", she was irrevocably typecast as comic relief - not that there were many other possibilities for black actresses in that period.

After a series of roles playing excitable maids, McQueen left the industry in 1948 and did not appear in another film until 1974. She also worked in television, playing yet another maid in the 1950s sitcom "The Beulah Show". Her last film role was in the 1986 Harrison Ford vehicle The Mosquito Coast. McQueen died in 1995 of burns suffered in a kerosene heater accident in her home.

Not to be confused with Butterfinger McFlurry.