Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor. Williams was the son of a professional musician, Clarence "Clay" Williams Jr., and grandson of jazz and blues composer/pianist Clarence Williams and his singer-actress wife, Eva Taylor. Raised by his paternal grandmother, he became interested in acting after accidentally walking onto a stage at a theater below a Harlem YMCA.
Williams began pursuing an acting career after spending two years as a U.S. Army paratrooper in C Company, 506th Infantry, of the 101st Airborne Division. He first appeared on Broadway in The Long Dream (1960). Continuing his work on stage, he appeared in Walk in Darkness (1963), Sarah and the Sax (1964), Doubletalk (1964), and King John. His breakout theatrical role was in William Hanley's Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. The New York Times drama critic Howard Taubman wrote of his performance, "Mr. Williams glides like a dancer, giving his long, fraudulently airy speeches the inner rhythms of fear and showing the nakedness of terror when he ceases to pretend." He also served as artist-in-residence at Brandeis University in 1966.
Williams' breakout television role was as undercover cop Linc Hayes on the popular ABC counterculture police television series The Mod Squad (1968), along with fellow relative unknowns Michael Cole and Peggy Lipton. After the series ended in 1973, he worked in a variety of genres on stage and screen, from comedy (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Half-Baked) to sci-fi (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and drama (Purple Rain).
Spanning over forty years, his career included the role of Prince's tormented father, who was also a musician, in Purple Rain (1984), A guest appearance in Miami Vice (1985), a recurring role in the surreal TV series Twin Peaks (1990), a good cop in Deep Cover (1992), a rioter in the mini-series Against the Wall (1994), and Wesley Snipes' chemically dependent father in Sugar Hill (1993). His other roles on television include Hill Street Blues, the Canadian cult classic The Littlest Hobo, Miami Vice, The Highwayman, Burn Notice, Everybody Hates Chris, Justified, Cold Case, and Law & Order. He can be seen in films such as 52 Pick-Up, Life, The Cool World, Deep Cover, Tales from the Hood, Half-Baked, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, Hoodlum, Frogs for Snakes, Starstruck, The General's Daughter, Reindeer Games, Impostor, and as the early jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton in The Legend of 1900. He also played a supporting role as George Wallace's fictional African-American butler and caretaker in the 1997 TNT film George Wallace.
From 2003 to 2007, Williams had a recurring role as Philby Cross in the Mystery Woman film series on the Hallmark Channel. He appeared in all but the first of the eleven films alongside Kellie Martin (J.E. Freeman played Philby in the Mystery Woman first film). In the seventh (Mystery Woman: At First Sight) film, he reunited with his Mod Squad co-star Michael Cole. He played Bumpy Johnson in the film American Gangster. From 2005 to 2007 Williams had another recurring role as the voice of Councilor Andam on the Disney animated series American Dragon: Jake Long.
Williams died in Los Angeles, on June 4, 2021, at the age of 81, from colon cancer. He is buried in St Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, New York.
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Wings Hauser (born December 12, 1947) is an American actor, director, film writer.
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Harold Thomas Wright is an American television and theatre actor. Wright has appeared in over 40 stage productions on and off Broadway. He began his acting career as an original member of The People's Light and Theater Company outside of Philadelphia. Wright also spent four years at the National Playwrights Conference and two summers at the Sundance Institute. On Broadway, he performed in A Taste of Honey which received two Tony Award nominations. Some of the notable theaters in which he has appeared include the American Place Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, New York Theater Workshop, Actors Theater of Louisville, Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Hartford Stage, Los Angeles Stage and Film, and Theatre De La Jeune Lune in Minneapolis starring in Farthest From The Sun with Steve Guttenberg. In 1987, he played a hitchhiker in the horror film Creepshow 2. Wright co-starred in the feature films Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business with Ice Cube. He also co-starred with Angela Bassett as her ex-lover in Sunshine State, his fifth film with writer/director John Sayles. The other four Sayles films include: Passion Fish, City of Hope, Matewan and The Brother from Another Planet. Since then he co-starred in another Sayles feature, Honeydripper. In 2000, Wright won the Best Actor Award at the Santa Monica Film Festival for his portrayal of John Shed in the indie film Dumbarton Bridge. He has played roles on several television programs but is best known for playing Mr. Morgan, Yankees co-worker of character George Costanza (Jason Alexander) on Seinfeld; and the hybrid alien Tuvix in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tuvix".
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Michael Massee (born 1955) is an American actor perhaps best known for his roles as villains in film and television.
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Duane Whitaker (born June 23, 1959) is an American actor.
Duane Whitaker is probably best known for his role in Quentin Tarantino's popular 1994 film Pulp Fiction as Maynard, the sadistic pawn shop owner. He wrote and portrayed the title role in Eddie Presley (based on his own successful stage play). Whitaker also wrote, directed and appeared in Together and Alone.
Other notable roles include; a racist cop in Tales from the Hood, the bouncer Roadrash in Hobgoblins, Boss Man in Feast, The Sheriff in Trailer Park of Terror, Luther in From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (which he also co-wrote), Buddy in Dead Letters (film), Winslow in Broke Sky, Mickey in Cordoba Nights and Dr. Bankhead in The Devil's Rejects.
Most recently Duane has appeared in the feature films Albino Farm and Dozers and on TV in the Cold Case episode "The Brush Man" and appears in the new Rob Zombie film Halloween II. Whitaker has also written numerous screenplays including "Stripteaser."
On March 31, 2010, American Cinematheque hosted a screening of Eddie Presley and "Together and Alone" at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles.
Duane is a graduate of Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas.
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David Alan Grier is an American comedian and film and television actor, best known for his work on the sketch comedy television show "In Living Color".
Brandon La Ron Hammond (born February 6, 1984) is a former child actor who appeared in several movie and television roles mainly during the 1990s. He appeared in the feature films Waiting to Exhale (1995), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Soul Food (1997).
Paula Jai Parker (born August 19, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her supporting roles in the films Friday (1995), Sprung (1997), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998), Phone Booth (2002), Hustle & Flow (2005) and Idlewild (2006).
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George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff (born December 13, 1960) is an American film/television director, actor, and writer. His notable credits are as director/writer of and lead actor in the This Is Spinal Tap-like rap satire Fear of a Black Hat, as writer of the second installment to House Party, and as director of the horror anthology Tales from the Hood. He also directed the 1997 film, Sprung. He was also a director for Chappelle's Show and a correspondent on TV Nation. He also directed and starred in a U Can't Touch This parody titled Yes We Can, which focuses on Barack Obama. Cundieff was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Christina and John A. Cundieff, both of whom appeared in Tales from the Hood. He is married to Trina Davis Cundieff with whom he has two children. Cundieff is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. He also portrayed a fraternity brother (of the fictitious Gamma Phi Gamma) in Spike Lee's School Daze in which actual members of Alpha Phi Alpha were featured. Cundieff is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
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Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He is best known for his roles as retired police detective Henry Spencer on USA Network's series Psych and it's subsequent TV movies, divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series L.A. Law and the TV movie, and Roger Dorn in the Major League trilogy.
He also portrayed Jerry in Lay the Favorite (2012), Gil Gordon in The Big Year (2011), Harlan Dexter in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Dr. Alan Feinstone in The Dentist I & II, and Jason Chadman in Hello Again (1987). He starred as USAF Col. Henry 'Bull' Eckert on the series The Cape and Brett Sooner on the sitcom A Whole New Ballgame.
He appeared recurring as Kyle Nevin on the FOX medical drama The Resident, Sinclair Dryden on Showtime's City on a Hill, Francis 'Icepick' Hofstetler on the Magnum P.I. reboot, Milt Leakey on the CBS series Tommy, Anderson Schultz on the Netflix series Marvel's The Punisher, Chief Cantuck on Sundance TV's series Hap and Leonard, Michael Longworth on A&E's police drama The Glades, Jack Sherwood on UPN's sitcom Cuts, Captain Owen Sebring on JAG, Ken Graham on Ryan's Hope, and has had intermittent appearances as John Durant on General Hospital and Father Todd Williams on The Young and the Restless.
He is the eldest son of Harry Bernsen Jr., a Hollywood producer, and veteran soap actress Jeanne Cooper, who appeared on The Young and the Restless.
Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee.
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Arthur James “Art” Evans is an American actor who has made multiple film and television program appearances over the span of three decades. His acting career, spanning over 30 years, started with Frank Silvera's Theater of Being in Los Angeles. He took a starring role in The Amen Corner, which transferred to Broadway in 1965. His first uncredited acting performance in film was Claudine in 1974. His first credited role was in Chico and the Man as Bubba in the episode Too Many Crooks, which aired in 1976. He is probably best known for his role as Leslie Barnes in the action 1990s films Die Hard 2: Die Harder, in which he plays an air traffic control tower employee. Evans has also appeared in Fright Night and Fright Night II, as well as many appearances in a variety of television shows such as MAS*H and Hill Street Blues. In 1984, Evans co-starred in the all-star African-American drama A Soldier's Story as the memorable brown-nosing character Wilkie. His talents for many instruments came in handy when playing Blind Lemon Jefferson in the movie Leadbelly. Also starred in the music video for Stevie Wonder's Go Home.
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Rosalind Cash (December 31, 1938 – October 31, 1995) was an American singer and actress, whose best known film role was as Charlton Heston's character's love interest Lisa, in the 1971 science fiction cult classic, The Omega Man. To soap audiences, she is probably best remembered as Mary Mae Ward on General Hospital from 1994–1995.
Cash was the second of four children. Her siblings were John (1936–1998), Robert, and Helen. All were born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Her older brother, Col. John A. Cash, enjoyed a long illustrious career with the United States Army. He died in 1998 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Rosalind Cash graduated with honours from Atlantic City High School in 1956. She attended City College of New York and was an original member of the Negro Ensemble Company founded in 1968. Her career extended to stage, screen, and television. Her films included Klute (1971), The New Centurions (1972) with George C. Scott, Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Sydney Poitier, and Wrong Is Right (1982). In 1995, she appeared in Tales from the Hood which marks her last film appearance during her lifetime.
Cash was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on the Public Broadcasting Service production of Go Tell it on the Mountain and in 1973 appeared as Goneril with James Earl Jones' Lear at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
She died of cancer on October 31, 1995, at the age of 56.
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Richard George Harris II (October 5, 1965 – December 26, 2016) was an American producer, actor, and comedian. He was known for his role as Malvo in the UPN/The CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.
Mark Christopher Lawrence (born May 22, 1964) is an American character actor, stand-up comedian and voice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as esoteric D.J., Tone Deaf, in the 1994 satirical rap mockumentary, Fear of a Black Hat. He has co-starred in popular films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Planet of the Apes, Lost Treasure and The Pursuit of Happyness. Lawrence can currently be seen in his regular role as Big Mike on the NBC series Chuck. He has made guest appearances on many television programs, most notably Heroes, My Name Is Earl, Crossing Jordan, Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Touched by an Angel, Malcolm & Eddie, Men Behaving Badly, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, and Martin. He is also featured on the Radio Series Adventures in Odyssey as "Ed Washington".
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