Ossie Davis, the actor, writer, director and producer, will appear on stage in Cornell University's Statler Auditorium at 8 p.m. Nov. 1, for a program entitled "In Other Words. . ." Tickets -- $13 for students and $15 for all others -- are available at the Willard Straight Hall box office.

Davis' performance will be a mixture of dramatic readings of stories, poems and excerpts from novels, historical writing and plays. Much of the program is based on the works of African American authors, but it also includes works from other cultures and is interspersed with Davis' observations on the arts and current political and economic trends.

Davis, 78, is well known as a speaker and a performer -- often with his wife, Ruby Dee. His most recent film performances were for Spike Lee in School Daze, Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever. He has directed several films, including Cotton Comes to Harlem, Black Girl and Gordon's War; and he has starred on the Broadway stage in The Green Pastures, A Raisin in the Sun, I'm Not Rappaport, Anna Lucasta and his own satirical farce Purlie Victorious. Through their company Emmalyn Enterprises, Davis and Dee have produced television programs for PBS including: Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum; A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers and the series With Ossie and Ruby.

Davis, whose friends have included Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (Davis gave his eulogy), also is known for his political and social activism. He has received many awards, citations and honorary degrees, including induction into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.

His appearance is sponsored by the Cornell University Program Board, a unit of the Office of the Dean of Students.