For me life is a challenge. And it will be a challenge if I live to be 100 or if I get to be a trillionaire.

Richards was nominated for a Tony award for her 1965 performance in James Baldwin's The Amen Corner. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Sidney Poitier's mother in the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. In 1948 Beah Richards graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans and two years later moved to New York City.