Marlene Clark, an actor who appeared on “Sanford and Son,” the horror movie “Ganja & Hess” and several other films of the ’60s and ’70s, died on May 18. She was 85.
Clark starred in several films ahead of landing her breakout role as Lamont Lawson’s (played by Demond Wilson) wife Janet in “Sanford and Son.” She later starred in the 1973 horror movie “Ganja & Hess” alongside Duane Jones.
Clark was born and raised in Harlem, N.Y., and spent time in West Virginia during her summers. She returned to New York after attending Morristown Jr. College in Tennessee and enrolled in City College. While at school, Clark participated in school plays, igniting her interest in the acting world.
Clark later moved to Los Angeles with her then-husband Billy Dee Williams. She began her career in entertainment as a fashion model before landing her first role in the 1968 film “For Love of Ivy.
Clark starred in several films ahead of landing her breakout role as Lamont Lawson’s (played by Demond Wilson) wife Janet in “Sanford and Son.” She later starred in the 1973 horror movie “Ganja & Hess” alongside Duane Jones.
Clark was born and raised in Harlem, N.Y., and spent time in West Virginia during her summers. She returned to New York after attending Morristown Jr. College in Tennessee and enrolled in City College. While at school, Clark participated in school plays, igniting her interest in the acting world.
Clark later moved to Los Angeles with her then-husband Billy Dee Williams. She began her career in entertainment as a fashion model before landing her first role in the 1968 film “For Love of Ivy.
- 5/30/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
Marlene Clark, best known for her portrayals of Lamont’s girlfriend Janet in the 1970s NBC sitcom Sanford & Son and as Ganja Meda in the 1973 horror film Ganja & Hess, has died.
Demond Wilson, who played Lamont on Sanford & Son, paid tribute to Clark on Twitter, writing “Rip beautiful actress Marlene Clark. . . It was a delight to work with you…,” noting she died on May 18. Wilson listed her age as 73, but that has not been confirmed.
Clark joined Sanford & Son in the comedy’s fifth season in 1976 as a recurring opposite Wilson, remaining through the series’ final season the following year.
Raised in the Harlem section of New York City, Clark was a fashion model before her transition to acting.
Her earliest work began in films in the 1960s including For Love of Ivy opposite Sidney Poitier and Putney Swope in 1969, directed by Robert Downey Sr. She went...
Demond Wilson, who played Lamont on Sanford & Son, paid tribute to Clark on Twitter, writing “Rip beautiful actress Marlene Clark. . . It was a delight to work with you…,” noting she died on May 18. Wilson listed her age as 73, but that has not been confirmed.
Clark joined Sanford & Son in the comedy’s fifth season in 1976 as a recurring opposite Wilson, remaining through the series’ final season the following year.
Raised in the Harlem section of New York City, Clark was a fashion model before her transition to acting.
Her earliest work began in films in the 1960s including For Love of Ivy opposite Sidney Poitier and Putney Swope in 1969, directed by Robert Downey Sr. She went...
- 5/26/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Marlene Clark, the statuesque actress who portrayed Lamont’s fiancée on Sanford and Son and stood out in such 1970s’ films as Ganja & Hess, Switchblade Sisters and Slaughter, has died. She was 85.
Clark died May 18 in her home in Los Angeles, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.
Clark also starred as a reptilian seductress in Roger Corman’s Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) and as one of the suspected werewolves in the British horror film The Beast Must Die (1974), and she was an early victim in the Larry Hagman-directed Beware! The Blob (1972).
Clark played John Saxon‘s secretary in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and her big-screen body of work also included Black Mamba (1974), Newman’s Law (1974), Lord Shango (1975) and The Baron (1977), where she appeared opposite her Beast Must Die onscreen husband, Calvin Lockhart.
In the surreal Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn,...
Clark died May 18 in her home in Los Angeles, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.
Clark also starred as a reptilian seductress in Roger Corman’s Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) and as one of the suspected werewolves in the British horror film The Beast Must Die (1974), and she was an early victim in the Larry Hagman-directed Beware! The Blob (1972).
Clark played John Saxon‘s secretary in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and her big-screen body of work also included Black Mamba (1974), Newman’s Law (1974), Lord Shango (1975) and The Baron (1977), where she appeared opposite her Beast Must Die onscreen husband, Calvin Lockhart.
In the surreal Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn,...
- 5/26/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jay Weston, producer of films like “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Buddy Buddy,” died of natural causes Feb. 28 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 93.
Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about her starring Diana Ross in 1972. “Lady Sings the Blues” marked Ross’ feature debut and went on to score five Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Ross and original screenplay.
“I read the book and I said to [Holiday’s] agent, ‘I want to make a movie out of it,’” Weston said in a 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, referring to the jazz singer’s autobiography. “He said, ‘Give me $5,000, and I’ll think about it.’ So I gave him $5,000, and it took 13 years and many $5,000 payments to keep the rights because everybody wanted it.”
The veteran filmmaker...
Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about her starring Diana Ross in 1972. “Lady Sings the Blues” marked Ross’ feature debut and went on to score five Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Ross and original screenplay.
“I read the book and I said to [Holiday’s] agent, ‘I want to make a movie out of it,’” Weston said in a 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, referring to the jazz singer’s autobiography. “He said, ‘Give me $5,000, and I’ll think about it.’ So I gave him $5,000, and it took 13 years and many $5,000 payments to keep the rights because everybody wanted it.”
The veteran filmmaker...
- 3/3/2023
- by Katie Reul
- Variety Film + TV
Jay Weston, a veteran producer of Hollywood films including 1972’s “Lady Sings the Blues” starring Diana Ross and 1968’s “For Love of Ivy” starring Sidney Poitier, has died at the age or 93.
Weston, who also built a respected career as a restaurant critic, died at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California.
Weston’s most notable producing efforts likely came on “Lady Sings the Blues,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards. Other features included “Buddy Buddy” (notable for being Billy Wilder’s final film), “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” and “W.C. Fields and Me.”
Weston was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 9, 1929, to Phillip and Shirley Weinstein. He went to NYU as a pre-med student, but soon switched to an arts curriculum. After earning a BA, he began a career in publicity before being drafted and sent to Korea in 1952. There he started a newspaper, The Hialean,...
Weston, who also built a respected career as a restaurant critic, died at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California.
Weston’s most notable producing efforts likely came on “Lady Sings the Blues,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards. Other features included “Buddy Buddy” (notable for being Billy Wilder’s final film), “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” and “W.C. Fields and Me.”
Weston was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 9, 1929, to Phillip and Shirley Weinstein. He went to NYU as a pre-med student, but soon switched to an arts curriculum. After earning a BA, he began a career in publicity before being drafted and sent to Korea in 1952. There he started a newspaper, The Hialean,...
- 3/3/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Jay Weston, who was working as a publicist when a chance meeting with Billie Holiday at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival would lead to the producing of her 1972 biopic Lady Sings the Blues, died February 28 of natural causes at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA. He was 93.
His death was announced by spokesperson Jeff Sanderson on behalf of the Weston family.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Ricou Browning Dies: 'Creature From The Black Lagoon's Gill-man Was 93 Related Story Brett Radin Dies: Talent Manager With Knitting Factory Management Was 53
A prominent restaurant critic later in life, Weston’s show business career in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s was marked by such high points as producing Billy Wilder’s last film, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash with Carol Burnett and Alan Arkin, W.C. Fields...
His death was announced by spokesperson Jeff Sanderson on behalf of the Weston family.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Ricou Browning Dies: 'Creature From The Black Lagoon's Gill-man Was 93 Related Story Brett Radin Dies: Talent Manager With Knitting Factory Management Was 53
A prominent restaurant critic later in life, Weston’s show business career in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s was marked by such high points as producing Billy Wilder’s last film, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash with Carol Burnett and Alan Arkin, W.C. Fields...
- 3/3/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Jay Weston, who produced the Diana Ross-starring Lady Sings the Blues and Billy Wilder’s final feature, Buddy Buddy, has died. He was 93.
Weston died Tuesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
Weston also served as head of ABC’s feature film division, Palomar Pictures, where his first project was the Sydney Pollack-directed They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), nominated for nine Oscars.
And he produced the 1969 Broadway drama Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, starring Al Pacino in a career-launching, Tony-winning turn.
A chance meeting with Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival led him to securing the rights to her autobiography. He then produced Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the Sidney J. Furie-helmed biopic that collected five Academy Award nominations.
Weston followed with films including W.C. Fields and Me (1976), starring Rod Steiger; Chu Chu and...
Weston died Tuesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
Weston also served as head of ABC’s feature film division, Palomar Pictures, where his first project was the Sydney Pollack-directed They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), nominated for nine Oscars.
And he produced the 1969 Broadway drama Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?, starring Al Pacino in a career-launching, Tony-winning turn.
A chance meeting with Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival led him to securing the rights to her autobiography. He then produced Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the Sidney J. Furie-helmed biopic that collected five Academy Award nominations.
Weston followed with films including W.C. Fields and Me (1976), starring Rod Steiger; Chu Chu and...
- 3/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Three of this year’s Oscar nominated tunes were penned by Black songwriters: Celeste reaped a bid (along with Daniel Pemberton) for “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago”; D’Mile, recent Grammy champ H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas collaborated on “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”; and supporting actor nominee Leslie Odom Jr. was cited with Nashville based singer/songwriter Sam Ashworth for “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami.”
The first Black tunesmith to contend for Best Original Song at the Oscars was Quincy Jones who was nominated in 1967 (alongside lyricist Bob Russell) for “The Eyes of Love” from the long-forgotten “Banning.” (Jones earned the first of his four score Oscar nominations that same year for “In Cold Blood.”) He and Russell reaped another bid the following year for the title tune from “For Love of Ivy.” His last nomination to date was in 1985 for...
The first Black tunesmith to contend for Best Original Song at the Oscars was Quincy Jones who was nominated in 1967 (alongside lyricist Bob Russell) for “The Eyes of Love” from the long-forgotten “Banning.” (Jones earned the first of his four score Oscar nominations that same year for “In Cold Blood.”) He and Russell reaped another bid the following year for the title tune from “For Love of Ivy.” His last nomination to date was in 1985 for...
- 3/22/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Easily the best family-oriented black experience movie of the early 1970s, the Third World Cinema Corporation’s first film features Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in a funny, endearing saga of life in the welfare system, with human feeling and compassion to spare. But the triumphant socially progressive movie fails the 2020 diversity test — its primary producer, cameraman, writers and director are white. Are we still allowed to enjoy it?
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
Claudine
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1052
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 13, 2020 / 39.95
Starring: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell, David Kruger, Yvette Curtis, Eric Jones, Socorro Stephens.
Cinematography: Gayne Rescher
Film Editor: Louis San Andres
Original Music: Curtis Mayfield
Written by Lester Pine and Tina Pine
Produced by J. Lloyd Grant, Hannah Weinstein
Directed by John Berry
In 1974 Claudine impressed this viewer quite a bit. I hadn’t seen many really good...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: The CW has put in development Gg (Goodgame) a gaming industry drama series that merges the worlds of gaming and Hollywood, from producers Kim Moses and J Moses (Grand Theft Auto), TV executive/producer Debbie Liebling (PEN15), writer-producer Daisy Gardner and CBS Television Studios.
Gg (Goodgame) marks the first project from OptIn, a production company launched by siblings J Moses and Kim Moses, which is designed to bring together storytelling, talent, relationships, portfolios, discipline and knowledge in the TV and Games industries. OptIn will produce in association with Cbstv Studios, with Liebling, Gardner and the Moses serving as executive producers.
Written by Gardner, Gg (Goodgame), a one-hour drama with comedic elements, centers on the adventures of a rebellious, young female excelling in the male-dominated gaming industry. The story will be told through the young woman’s perspective. Throughout her life, she struggles...
Gg (Goodgame) marks the first project from OptIn, a production company launched by siblings J Moses and Kim Moses, which is designed to bring together storytelling, talent, relationships, portfolios, discipline and knowledge in the TV and Games industries. OptIn will produce in association with Cbstv Studios, with Liebling, Gardner and the Moses serving as executive producers.
Written by Gardner, Gg (Goodgame), a one-hour drama with comedic elements, centers on the adventures of a rebellious, young female excelling in the male-dominated gaming industry. The story will be told through the young woman’s perspective. Throughout her life, she struggles...
- 9/2/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
President Barack Obama is one of many who have offered words about Maya Angelou’s death, calling Angelou “a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman” in a statement released today.
After news broke that Angelou died Wednesday at the age of 86, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and more released statements reacting to the celebrated poet’s death. Read them below, and check back for updates throughout the day:
President Barack Obama: “When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that ‘No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn.
After news broke that Angelou died Wednesday at the age of 86, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and more released statements reacting to the celebrated poet’s death. Read them below, and check back for updates throughout the day:
President Barack Obama: “When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that ‘No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn.
- 5/28/2014
- by Ariana Bacle
- EW.com - PopWatch
Today in history… February 20th, 1927, Sidney Poitier, a man who I’m sure needs absolutely no introduction on this website, was born in Miami, Florida. Happy 84th birthday Mr Poitier!
I’ve seen nearly all of his films, although it’s been months since I last revisited any of them. The last Sidney Poitier film I watched was Buck And The Preacher, some time last year. It’s one of my favorite Poitier films, along with In The Heat Of The Night, For Love Of Ivy, and Let’s Do It Again, the 2nd in the comedy/action trilogy of films he made with Bill Cosby in the 1970s.
I’d say that my preference leans towards his latter films – specifically those he had some creative control over, whether writing or directing, as the above films I listed indicate (In The Heat Of The Night aside).
Buck And The Preacher...
I’ve seen nearly all of his films, although it’s been months since I last revisited any of them. The last Sidney Poitier film I watched was Buck And The Preacher, some time last year. It’s one of my favorite Poitier films, along with In The Heat Of The Night, For Love Of Ivy, and Let’s Do It Again, the 2nd in the comedy/action trilogy of films he made with Bill Cosby in the 1970s.
I’d say that my preference leans towards his latter films – specifically those he had some creative control over, whether writing or directing, as the above films I listed indicate (In The Heat Of The Night aside).
Buck And The Preacher...
- 2/21/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Jazz singer Abbey Lincoln has died at her New York home, aged 80. The star passed away at her Manhattan property on Saturday, August 14, her brother David Wooldridge confirms to The New York Times.
Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930, she released her debut album, "Abbey Lincoln's Affair - A Story of a Girl in Love", in 1956. Largely inspired by Billie Holiday, Lincoln went on to release more than 20 albums throughout her six-decade long career.
She also branched out into movies, starring opposite Sidney Poitier in 1968's "For Love of Ivy" and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film. Lincoln married jazz musician Max Roach in 1962, but they divorced in 1970.
She is survived by her brothers David and Kenneth Wooldridge and her sister, Juanita Baker.
Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930, she released her debut album, "Abbey Lincoln's Affair - A Story of a Girl in Love", in 1956. Largely inspired by Billie Holiday, Lincoln went on to release more than 20 albums throughout her six-decade long career.
She also branched out into movies, starring opposite Sidney Poitier in 1968's "For Love of Ivy" and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film. Lincoln married jazz musician Max Roach in 1962, but they divorced in 1970.
She is survived by her brothers David and Kenneth Wooldridge and her sister, Juanita Baker.
- 8/16/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Jazz singer, actor and civil rights activist strongly influenced by Billie Holiday
If Abbey Lincoln was overwhelmed by the responsibility of being proclaimed "the last of the jazz singers", she never let it show. As her great contemporaries and principal influences among the classic female jazz vocalists fell away – with Billie Holiday the first to go, in 1959, and Betty Carter the last, in 1998 – Lincoln steadfastly maintained her dignified, almost solemn, focus; her tart, deftly timed Holiday-like inflections, and her commitment to songs that dug deeper into life's meanings than the usual lost-love exhalations.
And, like Ella Fitzgerald, who all her life took to a stage as if she were surprised to find anyone had come to see her, Lincoln became the opposite of a celebrated jazz diva. In some of her London performances during the 1990s, she would sit quietly beside the piano, tugging at her clothes, like someone who...
If Abbey Lincoln was overwhelmed by the responsibility of being proclaimed "the last of the jazz singers", she never let it show. As her great contemporaries and principal influences among the classic female jazz vocalists fell away – with Billie Holiday the first to go, in 1959, and Betty Carter the last, in 1998 – Lincoln steadfastly maintained her dignified, almost solemn, focus; her tart, deftly timed Holiday-like inflections, and her commitment to songs that dug deeper into life's meanings than the usual lost-love exhalations.
And, like Ella Fitzgerald, who all her life took to a stage as if she were surprised to find anyone had come to see her, Lincoln became the opposite of a celebrated jazz diva. In some of her London performances during the 1990s, she would sit quietly beside the piano, tugging at her clothes, like someone who...
- 8/15/2010
- by John Fordham
- The Guardian - Film News
"Abbey Lincoln, a singer whose dramatic vocal command and tersely poetic songs made her a singular figure in jazz, died on Saturday in Manhattan," reports Nate Chinen in the New York Times. "She was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side." Her "career encompassed outspoken civil rights advocacy in the 1960s and fearless introspection in more recent years... She starred in the films Nothing But a Man, in 1964, and For Love of Ivy, opposite Sidney Poitier, in 1968."
Update, 8/15: A remembrance from Glenn Kenny, a bit of viewing from Phil Nugent and a profile to listen to from NPR.
For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow The Daily Notebook on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.
Update, 8/15: A remembrance from Glenn Kenny, a bit of viewing from Phil Nugent and a profile to listen to from NPR.
For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow The Daily Notebook on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.
- 8/15/2010
- MUBI
I revisited Buck And The Preacher over the weekend (thank you NetFlix Instant Watch), and, having seen nearly all of Sidney Poitier’s films, I’ll put this one right up there – along with other favorites, In The Heat Of The Night, For Love Of Ivy, and Let’s Do It Again, the 2nd in the comedy/action trilogy of films he made with Bill Cosby in the 1970s.
It only recently came to me that my preference leans towards his latter films – specifically those he had some creative control over, whether writing or directing, as the above films I listed indicate (In The Heat Of The Night aside).
Buck And The Preacher was his directorial debut (although it wasn’t originally planned that way), and a fine job I’d say he did with it. He also starred in the film, as Buck, alongside Harry Belafonte as the nutty preacher.
It only recently came to me that my preference leans towards his latter films – specifically those he had some creative control over, whether writing or directing, as the above films I listed indicate (In The Heat Of The Night aside).
Buck And The Preacher was his directorial debut (although it wasn’t originally planned that way), and a fine job I’d say he did with it. He also starred in the film, as Buck, alongside Harry Belafonte as the nutty preacher.
- 3/23/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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