Mary Alice Smith (December 3, 1936
[ – July 27, 2022), known professionally as Mary Alice, was an American television, film, and stage actress. Alice was known for her roles as Leticia "Lettie" Bostic on the sitcom '']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) an ...
'' (1987–1989) and Effie Williams in the 1976 musical drama ''Sparkle
Sparkle may refer to:
* Sparkle (catamaran), a catamaran designed by Angus Primrose
* Sparkle (drink), a lemon-flavored soft drink
* Sparkle, a brand of paper towels owned by Georgia-Pacific
* Sparkle Plenty, a character in the ''Dick Tracy'' c ...
'', and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her recurring role on the series ''I'll Fly Away
"I'll Fly Away" is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''.Richard Matteson, Jr.''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'' Mel Bay Publications, 2006 ...
''. Alice also performed on the stage, and received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. The ...
for her appearance in the 1987 production of August Wilson
August Wilson ( Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of ten plays, collectively called ' (or ...
's ''Fences
A fence is a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary.
Fence or fences may also refer to:
Entertainment Music
* Fences (band), an Amer ...
''.
Early life and education
Born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Mississippi, Alice was the daughter of Ozelar (née Jurnakin/Journakin) and Sam Smith.[ She showed an early and natural ability for acting, and began her stage career in her hometown.] Her family moved from Mississippi to Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_name ...
when she was two years old. She graduated from Chicago Teacher's College (now known as Chicago State University), and taught at an elementary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
.
Career
Mary Alice returned to acting in the mid-1960s through community theater and appeared in three Douglass Turner Ward's plays, including ''Days of Absence'' and ''Happy Endings''. Mary Alice also washed the cast's laundry for a salary of $200 a week. She did some acting in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
during the late 1960s and early 1970s, performing in multiple productions at 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 Manhattan's East Village
The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street on the north and ...
between 1969 and 1973. Her first production at La MaMa was Adrienne Kennedy
Adrienne Kennedy (born September 13, 1931) is an American playwright.Peterson, Jane T., and Suzanne Bennett. "Adrienne Kennedy". ''Women Playwrights of Diversity''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 201–205. She is best known for '' Funnyhous ...
's '' A Rat's Mass'' in September 1969. She reprised her role as Sister Rat in the October 1969 production, and again in the January 1971 production. All three productions were directed by Seth Allen. In 1970, Mary Alice performed in Ed Bullins
Edward Artie Bullins (July 2, 1935November 13, 2021), sometimes publishing as Kingsley B. Bass Jr, was an American playwright. He won awards including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and several Obie Awards. Bullins was associated with ...
' ''Street Sounds'', directed by Hugh Gittens. She later performed in Lamar Alford's ''Thoughts'' in December 1972 and January 1973.
Mary Alice made her screen début in the 1974 film ''The Education of Sonny Carson
''The Education of Sonny Carson'' is a 1974 American blaxploitation drama film based on the best-selling autobiography of Sonny Carson. The film was directed by ''The Mack'' director Michael Campus, and starring Rony Clanton, Don Gordon, Joy ...
'', and later appeared in the television shows '' Police Woman'' and ''Sanford and Son
''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the United ...
''. She played Ellie Grant Hubbard on the soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
'' during the mid-1980s, and the role of Cora in Stan Lathan
Stan Lathan (born July 8, 1945) is an American television and film director and television producer. He is executive producer and director of BET's ''Real Husbands of Hollywood''. He has produced and directed numerous stand-up comedy specials st ...
's 1984 cult-classic Beat Street
''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to var ...
, as well as co–starred in ''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) an ...
'' as Leticia 'Lettie' Bostic from the series' start in 1987 until the end of the second season in 1989. She won an Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1993 for ''I'll Fly Away
"I'll Fly Away" is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''.Richard Matteson, Jr.''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'' Mel Bay Publications, 2006 ...
''. Her other film credits include ''Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...
'' (1992), ''The Inkwell
''The Inkwell'' is a 1994 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Matty Rich. The film stars Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, Suzzanne Douglass, Glynn Turman, Jada Pinkett and Vanessa Bell Calloway.
Plot
Set in the summer of 1976, the film follows the ...
'' (1994), and ''Down in the Delta
''Down in the Delta'' is a 1998 American-Canadian drama film, directed by Maya Angelou in her sole film directorial effort and starring Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman, Jr., Esther Rolle (in her final film appearance before her death), Loretta Devine, ...
'' (1998).
In 2000, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She replaced Gloria Foster
Gloria Foster (November 15, 1933 – September 29, 2001) was an American actress. She had acclaimed roles in plays ''In White America'' and '' Having Our Say,'' winning three Obie Awards during her career. Foster played the Oracle in ''The Matrix ...
as the Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
in the sequel ''The Matrix Revolutions
''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months following ''The Matrix Reloaded''. The film stars ...
'' (2003) and the video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
tie-in ''Enter the Matrix
''Enter the Matrix'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. It was the first game based on ''The Matrix'' film series. Its story is concurrent with that of ...
'' (2003) after Foster, who originated the role, died in 2001. She retired from acting in 2005.
Personal life and death
Alice never married nor had children. Alice died on July 27, 2022, at her residence in Manhattan at the age of 85 due to natural causes
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...
.[People – Mary Alice, A Different World and Sparkle Actress, Dead at 85: 'A Shoulder We All Stood On'; Mary Alice, who was best known for her roles in A Different World and Sparkle, died on Wednesday at her home in Manhattan – 28 July 2022]
/ref>[BET – Mary Alice, 'Different World', 'Sparkle' Actress Dies – July 27, 2022]
/ref>
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Video games
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
Mary Alice's page on La MaMa Archives Digital Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alice, Mary
1936 births
2022 deaths
American television actresses
American film actresses
American stage actresses
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Tony Award winners
Drama Desk Award winners
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
African-American actresses
Actresses from Chicago
Actresses from Mississippi
Chicago State University alumni
20th-century African-American women
21st-century African-American women
People from Indianola, Mississippi