Transcendent thanx, HooRaq, for your thoughtful and kind remembrance of the alluring
Admittedly, her general omission was specifically regrettable in the extremis (then again, that’s where enterprising video experts like yourself - and, hopefully, others - come in heavenly handy since we can’t possibly remember or cover everyone! Y’all continue to fill in them colorful blanks, y’hear?)
As to that, we weren’t aware of her teevee appearances since she came to our belated attention as El Sid’s wife in the 2nd and 3rd incredibly lackluster 1980s Virgil Tibbs flicks, “They Call Me MISTER Tibbs” and “The Organization”.
Barbra Whoooooo? Department.
Her main claim to cinema (not sinema) fame was her steamy appearance (also in Playboy at the same time) opposite Raymond St. Jacques in 1968’s
which included the most graphic love-making sequence between a black man and woman yet (um) unveiled (even topping Your Lady and Jim Brown ‘s inter-human coupling in the same year’s “100 Rifles”).
Sadly, she never truly equaled her musical artistry in either film
or television
but her beautiful radiant gift remains the truest testimonial to her talent anyone could want …
“Look at me. Never mind my color. Please just look at me!”
She was one of the most graceful embodiments of truly titled Talent and sublime Sensitivity showcased within an independent woman whose benevolent beauty could never bely or obscure her igniting intelligence and committed character.
Her breakout performance arrived in the original Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun”
by Lorraine Hansberry,
whom the dynamic Miss Sands thrillingly evoked as the author’s spiritual embodiment in
the restless adventurous sister whose ambition to be a doctor won’t be denied due to her color or any other illusionary impediment.
“Acting to me is control over my emotions. I hold them in, then I funnel them through a character.”
Her groundbreaking racial stereotype-blasting achieved historic moment in 1965 when (over many actresses, including Judy Garland) she won the role opposite Alan Alda in
(tho she was inevitably disappointed when she lost the opportunity to reprise it in the film version to Barbra Streisand).
“Most white actresses who have been received as I have been on Broadway and television wouldn’t have to go into repertory theater. They wouldn’t have the time ...”
Co-starring with close friend Diahann Carroll in the latter’s “Julia” teevee series.
She was originally slated to play the lead in
but when she became seriously ill with the cancer that was taking her life, she insisted her friend take the role (which the latter later won an Oscar nomination for).
One of her hallmark characterizations was her conflicted tenant
in director Hal Ashby woefully-underrated and still splendid
“See, the secret is this. Everyone in this world is crazy.
Your challenge in this life is to choose the kind of craziness you can live with.
Vonetta McGee, one of the most alluring actresses appearing in films during the 70s, died on July 9th.
El Sid spotted her in a French flick and then arranged her first American appearance in 1969’s
Her screen stock continued to rise throughout the ensuing decade vis-a-vis
Opposite William Marshall in (awright, be nice, now) “Blacula”
and with Fred Williamson in “Hammer”
As well as in “The Eiger Sanction”.
"I was pleased to see her get a role with Clint Eastwood," Mr. Williamson commented. "Not many black actors had that opportunity to be in a movie where color doesn't matter.
"Vonetta McGee was like a lot of actors and actresses at that time, like myself, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree, Billy Dee Williams and Pam Grier,” he continued, “ in that we had more talent than we were allowed to show because everything was perceived as a black project.
Once they categorize you, your marketability becomes limited."
To her conscious credit, Miss McGee despised the entire “blaxploitation” cliché. It's a lazy, insulting label used, she said, “like racism, so you don't have to think of the individual elements, just the whole. If you study propaganda, you understand how this works."
It wasn’t the black part she found so offensive – that was always a source of infinite pride –
“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.
They're what make the instrument stretch - what make you go beyond the norm.
“You never know what motivates you.
“I was in California when this journalist made a blanket statement about the fact that she did not think that black men and women had the kind of love relationship that Rebecca and Nathan had in Sounder.
‘My God,’”, I said, ‘you’re saying we’re not human beings!
“I am not a quitter. I will fight until I drop. It is just a matter of having some faith in the fact that as long as you are able to draw breath in the universe, you have a chance.
I don't condemn anyone for making their choices. If someone chooses those roles, fine. But not for me. When someone stops me and says, You're the reason I became an actress, that lets me know I made the right decision.
“I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there's nothing left for you to work towards.
I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life
“I'm just so blessed to be able to do what I just love and have loved since I was a teenager, since I first found it, and to be encouraged by others for it.
“Well, I know one indicator is that if I don’t fall asleep reading the script. (Laughs) There is some that I read and I declare by page 3 I am out of it or some scripts are just painful to read. Usually about 115 pages and it feels like 315. I can’t get through it. That sort of indicates to me that the story is not holding or it’s not pulling me along. It’s not keeping my interests. I don’t believe it. It’s not truthful. It’s contrived.
But when I read a script and laugh out loud or I look up and I am at the end or I am crying just like it touches me in that way then that is pretty much a go for me.
“It still all begins on the page. If I think that I can bring something to the table, then –
yeah -
I am more inclined to say yes.
“I would have to say honestly I was very pleased to be in a film whether it was good or bad with De Niro, Norton and Brando - even if I don't have any scenes with them - I thought it was pretty good company to keep.”
With Mr. Fishburne in the acclaimed Pasadena production of “Fences”.
And opposite him again
in
“Well, when I came to Hollywood I walked down Hollywood Boulevard along the streets and saw all the names of some really amazing individuals, people who entertained me for years and well respected. You thought - oh, gosh. I had dreams of coming to this town and working and not just doing any kind of work, but doing work that would resonate with people, that would touch people. That would mean something and hoping that I could grow as an actor and just keep it going and it worked out. It’s worked out.
You always remember where you were in the beginning. You were idealistic and hoping people would accept you and allow you to do what it is that you love doing and not initially looking for the accolades, just looking for the opportunity. Then when the accolades come, it just makes it that much sweeter.
"Loving God is like me being black. I just am. [No one says] 'You know what? I'm gonna be blacker today!' It's my culture. It's not something I put on or take off or show more. You just communicate that in the way you live your life."
The Penultimate Appreciation to Our Favorite Songstress Department:
She first came to world-class attention in the latter part of the not-so-swinging- ‘60s as part of the
(appropriately enuff with a dazzling rendition of a key anthem of that tempestuous, transformative tyme :
[ Sorta amusing to recall how the group was continually criticized for sounding too ‘white’ when all they were doing was making marvelous music beyond such daff limited lynchings. ]
Tho she still singlehandedly delivered probably the emotionally-soulful, touchingly anguished definitive take on one of Bacharach-David’s supreme accomplishments:
When she went doubly solo with the great love of her life,
the hits just kept on keepin’ on …
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Although her acting engagements have been few and far between, she gave this soap a touch of her class for a brief stint as one of Marlena (Deidre Hall)’s best friends with this royal rendition at the latter’s wedding:
Still, her decades-long marriage continues to grow, thrive and evolve
into more explorations of their gospel background,
Sparing and missing no opportunity to unveil and pay tribute to their abiding faith Outside of themselves and affection within each other.
As to this (and that) herewith what we regard as her most peerless anthem of commitment to the greatest adventure ever: equal partnership supportive, empowering and dedicated to discovering – and, most important of all, ALLOWING – one another to dive deep into discovering and celebrating their own unfolding uniqueness –
Individually As One … being part of a Dynamic Interdependent Two.
Our deepest and saddest offerings to Samantha MacLachlan,
whose mother - the marvelous and transcendently talented Janet - died in November.
We sincerely wish for you a protective and supportive environment from family, friends and other admirers of your { Mother } as you face your first holiday season without her.
Our final installment in this { Appreciation } will encapsulate and, we hope, pay proper tribute to - not only one of the most humanely compassionate individuals we’ve ever had the honor to spend time with - but an actress whose work the last 40 years is in the upper echelon of artistic achievement and personal integrity.
Imitation ain’t always the sincerest form of flattery, but when you add imagination and the talent to pull it off into the foundational formula, you can come up with something equally significant – if not more so. Thus, when Creator Mara Brock Akil came up with the concept for a far more (shall we say) colorful version of that other Manhattan phenomenon involving a quartet of single-ladies, it didn’t take Executive Producer Kelsey Grammer
overly long to provide pivotal backing for the show (y’know, he didn’t spend all those years playing a therapist for nuthin’) – and the rollicking (we’d even go out onna limb and affix that over-used 60s phrase ‘relevant’, as well) result was
With a mighty meaty eight-year run (2000-2008), it provided the dramatic/comedic and farcial showcase for a splendid array of actresses playing friends in Los Angeles:
TRACEY ELLIS ROSS,
(And, yep-per, her Mom is exactly who you thought it wuz!)
As someone who has some of Marilyn M's songs on his ipod at all times, and who can't make a list of the women on this thread I love so I'll just say "See above," one thought has kept bobbing to the surface. I'm sure you or someone has made it already, as it's not terribly deep, but I think it has to be repeated.
There was SUCH resistance to black Americans (aka Americans--but you know me and that hyphenated-American thing I can't stand) in certain quarters, particularly in the south, being portrayed as anything but porters in American flicks back in the day.
{You know the name "George" and its significance here, I am sure. That alone tells you what you need to know.}
Not nearly enough credit has been given to the odd, sometimes bizarre independent/NON-Hollywood films that were the ONLY outlet for black Americans in film. I roll my eyes and laugh bitterly when I heard Hollywood congratualting itself as george Clooney did when he won his Oscar, as if Hollywood was trying oh-so-hard to have black stars, when it was doing no such thing. It was the almost invisible small-term successes of BLACK independent films--I guarantee 95% of the folks reading this couldn't name one, hell, *I* can't name any off the top of my head without my reference materials, because they're so hard to find in viewable copies these days--that gave notice, via regional theater owners, that there was a whole untapped audience and money to be made.
I'm skipping over a lot of names and history only to get to my real point, which is that as difficult as it was for Sidney Poitier to make it (and who ELSE was making it in his league when he was becoming the first black American movie star?)...it was THAT MUCH HARDER for the women to make it.
Why? My personal theory: Because until relatively recently, women's roles were very, very specialized, and almost all women stars had to be attached to a male romantic lead, and who was going to romance these women? Poitier, that's who...but then you've got a 'black movie' and you've lost a ton of theaters in the south. How about white men? Nope, again, that miscegenation doesn't go over well in certain areas (and to large parts of the audience in more 'enlightened' areas of the country--and let's not get into foreign countries, shall we not?).
) you’ve probably got oodles of neat screen captures that’d do her
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Our deepest and saddest offerings to Samantha MacLachlan,
