White Mama is a 1980 television film drama directed by Jackie Cooper and adapted from the novel of the same name by Robert C. S. Downs. It stars Bette Davis in the title role, with Ernest Harden Jr., Eileen Heckart, Virginia Capers, Anne Ramsey, Lurene Tuttle and Vincent Schiavelli. Davis portrays Adele Malone, a poor, elderly woman living in a ghetto who befriends a young African American man played by Harden. He offers her protection while she assumes the role of a mother to him. For her performance, Davis was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.