Barbara Montgomery (born June 25, 1939) is an American stage, television and film actress, and

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

and film director. She is best known for her performance in ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jewish, Christian, and ...

'' (1986-1990).

Career

Born in Queens, Montgomery began her career on the stage in the 1960s in

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

theatrical groups. She was a member of

Negro Ensemble Company The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) is a New York City-based theater company and workshop established in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation ...

and the

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

. In the early 1970s, she starred as "Mama" in the

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production of ''My Sister, My Sister'' for which she earned an

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

. The play later ran on Broadway from April to August 1974 for which Montgomery reprised her role. In 1986, Montgomery won the role of Cassietta Hetebrink on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

''. Montgomery played the role for four years before leaving the series in 1990. Later that year, she starred in the short-lived

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

program ''

Married People ''Married People'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC as part of its 1990–91 schedule. It was a production of Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc. in association with Columbia Pictures Television and aired between September 18, 1990 and ...

'' as Olivia Williams. She has also appeared on many shows such as ''

A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) a ...

'', ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart t ...

'', ''Disneyland'', and ''

Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who shared personal and profes ...

''. In 2013, Montgomery made her directorial debut with the historical film ''Mitote'', starring Ruby Dee and

S. Epatha Merkerson Sharon Epatha Merkerson (born November 28, 1952) is a film, stage, and television actor. Known by her stage name S. Epatha Merkerson, she has received numerous high-profile accolades for her work, including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, ...

Work

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Barbara 1939 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New York (state) African-American actresses American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American theatre directors Women theatre directors American women film directors Living people People from Queens, New York Film directors from New York City 20th-century African-American women singers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people