- Born
- Died
- Birth nameTerresa Graves
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Teresa Graves started her career as a singer with The Doodletown Pipers. She later turned to acting, appearing regularly on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) as the "Mod, Mod World" bikini girl in 1969 and 1970. She had supporting roles in several films during the 1970s, including Black Eye (1974), That Man Bolt (1973) and Old Dracula (1974), with David Niven. On Get Christie Love! (1974), which ran during the 1974-1975 season, she played the first black woman hired by a big-city police department. She left acting shortly afterward. She died tragically in a house fire in 2002, aged only 54.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Michaelginty@hotmail.com
- SpouseWilliam D. Reddick(June 25, 1977 - 1983) (divorced)
- Childrennone
- ParentsMarshall GravesWillie Graves
- RelativesA.D. Graves(Sibling)Mannie Graves(Sibling)
- Nicknamed "Tootie" (or "Tudie"), Teresa lived with her ailing mother, Willie Graves, in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles for quite some time. Her mother was hospitalized after suffering a stroke at the time of the 12:30 a.m. fatal home fire on October 10, 2002, which probably saved her life.
- Completely abandoned her acting career in 1983 in order to concentrate on her spiritual life as a Jehovah's Witness.
- Firefighters responding to a fire in the Hyde Park section of Los Angeles found Graves unconscious in a rear bedroom of her home. She was taken to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in nearby Inglewood, where she died. A faulty portable space heater was determined to be the cause of the blaze. A smoke alarm in the front of the house was activated but Teresa failed to hear it. Neighbors said they didn't know of the highly religious Graves's past life as a TV star. She died of burns and smoke inhalation not long after arriving at the hospital.
- Was acknowledged as the first African-American woman to play the lead in a police film and TV show and the first to have her own one-hour series.
- The shapely actress was widely recognized as the "Mod, Mod World's Bikini Girl" on the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) series. That led to her touring with Bob Hope on his USO shows and TV specials. Her final professional appearance, in fact, was on a Hope TV special in 1982.
- Jehovah is first. My job is second.
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