Actor Irma P. Hall, Star of Soul Food, Dies at 91

Actor Irma P. Hall, whose career included acclaimed roles in Soul Food and The Ladykillers, has died at 91, her family announced. Hall died Tuesday in Dallas, surrounded by loved ones, according to her family. The family did not disclose a cause of death.

Hall became widely known for playing Big Mama, the matriarch of the Joseph family, in the 1997 film Soul Food. The role earned her an NAACP Image Award, and she later reprised the character in a television series based on the film. In 2004, she received a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Marva Munson in The Ladykillers, the Coen brothers’ comedy starring Tom Hanks.

Her screen career also included A Family Thing, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Beloved, Patch Adams, Collateral and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. Hall worked in film, television and theater, with roles spanning several decades. In the 1996 film A Family Thing, she played Aunt T., a blind woman whose advice guides two half brothers portrayed by James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall.

Born Irma Dolores Player on June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, Hall was raised in Chicago and later returned to Texas for college. She graduated...