Hall, best known for playing Big Mama in the 1997 film Soul Food, has reportedly died at the age of 91. Fox Local reported her death on November 11, 2026. Actress Irma P. No cause of death has been shared so far.
He offered her a role in the 1973 film Book of Numbers. Hall became widely known for playing Big Mama in Soul Food (1997). A year earlier, she had appeared alongside Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones in A Family Thing (1996). In 2004, Hall received the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in The Ladykillers.
Her acting career began after actor and director Raymond St. Jacques noticed her during a poetry reading in Dallas. Her performance earned her an NAACP Image Award for supporting actress. Her work in the film earned supporting actress awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle. She had been recovering from a serious car accident at the time. Hall was also inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame and helped establish the African American Repertory Theatre in DeSoto, Texas.
Her father was a jazz musician who introduced her to performances at clubs and local events. Hall spent decades working in films, television and theatre. However, acting was not her first career.
She worked as a schoolteacher in Dallas for 20 years before deciding to pursue acting full time in 1984. Born Irma Dolores Player on June 3, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas , Hall moved with her family to Chicago in 1942.
