Norma C. Donaldson (August 18, 1928 – November 22, 1994) was an American actress and singer. Perhaps she is best known for her roles, as Miss Adelaide in the 1976 revival of ''Guys and Dolls'';

Lillie Belle Barber A list of notable characters from the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' that significantly impacted storylines and debuted between January 1990 and December 1999. Lillie Belle Barber Lillie Belle Barber first appeared in 1990 as ...

on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television

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 ...

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', in which she played from 1990 until her death in 1994.

Biography

Early life

Donaldson was born Norma C. Donaldson in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

section of

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 ...

. Her parents were Laura, a housekeeper and Fredrick Donaldson (b. 1906; d. 1955). The first of two children, Donaldson attended

Boys and Girls High School Boys and Girls High School, the oldest public high school in Brooklyn, is a comprehensive high school in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, United States. The school is located at 1700 Fulton Street. As of the 2014–15 school year, the ...

(known at the time as Girls' High School), studying there until her junior year.

Career

In 1949, Donaldson then aged 21, launched her career as a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

, booking gigs in throughout New York City. During her nightclub stint, Donaldson began touring with

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

and later

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

. Donaldson began her acting career in the late–1960s, first appearing in an episode of ''Callback!'' which aired on March 8, 1969, in which

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

was music director of this show. Beginning in the 1970s, Donaldson began appearing in some

Blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

films. Most notably of the genre, Donaldson portrayed Gloria Roberts in 1972's ''

Across 110th Street ''Across 110th Street'' is a 1972 American action-crime film directed by Barry Shear and starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin. The film is set in Harlem, New York and takes its name from 110th Street, the ...

'' and Honey in 1973's ''

Willie Dynamite ''Willie Dynamite'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by Gilbert Moses and starring Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, and was released by Universal Pictures. The eponymous Willie Dynamite is a pimp in New Yo ...

''. In 1975, Donaldson began her acting career on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and was most famous for portraying the loveless chorine Miss Adelaide, opposite

Robert Guillaume Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American actor and singer, known for his role as Benson DuBois in the ABC television series ''Soap'' and its spin-off, ''Benson'', as well as for voici ...

, in an all–black revival of

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

's ''Guys and Dolls'' which premiered in 1976. Donaldson co–starred alongside Guillaume again in ''

Purlie ''Purlie'' is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis's 1961 play ''Purlie Victorious'', which was later made into the 1963 film ''Gone Are the Days!'' and w ...

'' and '' No Place to be Somebody''. Prior to her lengthy recurring role on "The Young and the Restless", she had played Dr. Paulina Ravelle on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' on a recurring basis from 1987 to 1989, who strove to prevent her daughter, Simone, from marrying the white Dr. Tom Hardy.

Personal life and death

Donaldson never married or had children. Donaldson died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Cedars Sinai Hospital Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

in Los Angeles, California on November 22, 1994, at 66 years old. She was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

References

External links

* 1928 births 1994 deaths American soap opera actresses Actresses from New York (state) 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers Nightclub performers 20th-century American women singers {{US-tv-actor-1920s-stub