Goodbye to Irma P. Hall, Marva Munson in Ladykillers by the Coen brothers

Irma P. Hall, an actress known, among others, for playing the role of Marva Munson in Ladykillers by the Coen brothers and for which she won the Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, has passed away in Dallas at the age of 91. Hall worked for 27 years as a teacher of English and foreign languages before establishing herself in the world of cinema starting in the 1970s, reaching the general public with 'Soul Food (1997)', in the role of matriarch Josephine 'Big Mama' Joseph. “I didn't know I wanted to act, but God knew, and He didn't tell me until it was late,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 1996. “I taught high school for 27 years, working in one-room schools in rural Texas before integration.”

She was discovered by director Raymond St. Jacques, who cast her in his 1973 film Book of Numbers, her first role ever. He began making small appearances on TV and film and began acting in regional theater. His main goal, as he said again in an interview, was to put his family in a position to succeed. “I have four grandchildren, and I want to make sure they have money to go to school.” Hall was divorced and had two children, a boy and a girl, and four grandchildren. She first gained widespread attention for her role in the 1996 film 'A Family Thing,' in which, according to critics, she gave a roguish, scene-stealing performance as Aunt T, opposite Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones.