Kaycee Moore (1944-2021)

This summer, on 13 August, actress Kaycee Moore passed away at her home in Kansas City at the age of 77. Her acting debut came with Killer of Sheep (1978), Charles Burnett’s first feature and his thesis for the film program at the University of California, Los Angeles. This role and her next in Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1983) and Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991) made her an iconic presence in the cinema of the so called L.A. Rebellion, a community of Black independent filmmakers in the United States. While Moore played only in a handful of films she nevertheless left a lasting impact with her nuanced acting and the grace she imbued her characters with, helping to create a dignified view of Black lives as opposed to an often racialized mainstream image.