Lynne Thigpen
Encyclopedia
Cherlynne Theresa “Lynne” Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American stage and television actress, most famous as "The Chief" in the various Carmen Sandiego
Carmen Sandiego
Carmen Sandiego is a media franchise of educational computer and video games, television programs, books and other media featuring a thieving villain of the same name. The basic premise of the franchise lets the user or protagonists become agents of the ACME Detective Agency, who attempts to thwart...

 television series.

Early life

Thigpen was born in Joliet, Illinois
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...

, and obtained a degree in teaching. She taught English in high school briefly in while studying theatre and dance at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. Thigpen moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1971 to begin her work as a stage actress.

Theatre

Thigpen had a long and prolific theater career, and appeared in numerous musicals including Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

, The Night That Made America Famous
The Night That Made America Famous
The Night That Made America Famous is a musical written by folk singer Harry Chapin. After fourteen previews, the production opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on February 26, 1975 and closed on April 6 of that year, after 75 performances. Chapin's brothers Tom and Stephen, in addition to...

, The Magic Show
The Magic Show
The Magic Show is a one-act musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Bob Randall. It starred magician Doug Henning. Produced by Edgar Lansbury, it opened in May 1974 at the Cort Theatre and ran for 1,920 performances, closing on December 31, 1978...

, Working
Working (musical)
Working is a musical with a book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, music by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor, and lyrics by Schwartz, Carnelia, Grant, Taylor, and Susan Birkenhead....

, Tintypes
Tintypes
Tintypes is a musical revue conceived by Mary Kyte with Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle.With its time frame set between the turn of the 20th century and the onset of World War I, this chamber piece with a cast of five provides a musical history lesson focusing on an exciting and tumultuous period in...

and An American Daughter (for which she won her Tony Award
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
This is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...

 for her portrayal of Dr. Judith Kaufman in 1997) .

Film

Her first feature film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 role was Godspell
Godspell (film)
Godspell, released in 1973, is the film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical Godspell created by John-Michael Tebelak.Set in modern New York City, the film stars Victor Garber as Jesus and David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas...

(1973
1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....

) co-starring opposite Victor Garber
Victor Garber
Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jesus in Godspell, Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Early life:Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Garber is...

 and David Haskell
David Haskell
David Michael Haskell was an American film, stage and television actor and singer.-Career:Haskell is best remembered for his dual performance in the 1970s in the New York City, New York, Off-Broadway musical-theatre production Godspell and its subsequent film adaptation Godspell: A Musical Based...

. She appeared notably as the omniscient Radio DJ in The Warriors, and the mother of an expelled student in Lean on Me
Lean on Me (film)
Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being...

, a story of famous American principal Joe Louis Clark
Joe Louis Clark
Joe Louis Clark is the former principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, one of New Jersey's toughest inner city schools. He is also the subject of the 1989 film Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman. Clark gained public attention in the 1980s for his unconventional and controversial...

. She had a role in Shaft
Shaft (2000 film)
Shaft is a 2000 American action-crime film directed by John Singleton, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Pat Hingle, Toni Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams, and Mekhi Phifer. This film is not a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, but rather a sequel,...

, alongside Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...

, as the murder victim's mother. She also played the Second President of the world council in Bicentennial Man
Bicentennial Man (film)
Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American drama and science fiction film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues...

 (1999
1999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

). Her last film was Anger Management
Anger Management
Anger Management is a 2003 slapstick comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, directed by Peter Segal and written by David S. Dorfman...

(2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...

) starring Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...

 and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

 (which was released only a month following her death and paid tribute to her in the end credits).

Television

Thigpen was perhaps best known for playing "The Chief" of the ACME Detective Agency in the long-running PBS children's
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the brand for children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States founded in 1993. As with all PBS programming, PBS Kids programming is non-commercial. It is aimed at children ages 2 to 10...

 geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which involves both education and comedy, and, on occasion, musical performance. As well as it's succesor, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, she still remained the Chief, but was the Chief of ACME Time Net. She also appeared in many other television series during her career, most notably her recurring role as Grace Keefer on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 daytime drama All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

and a supporting role as Ella Mae Farmer, a statistics clerk for the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 police department, on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 crime drama The District
The District
The District is a television police drama which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000 to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s Police Department .-Premise:...

. She guest-starred in episodes of Gimme A Break!
Gimme a Break!
Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.-Premise:...

, L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...

, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...

, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

, and Thirtysomething.

Radio

She appeared in radio skits of the Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

 program The American Radio Company of the Air. Her voice was also heard on over 20 audio books, primarily works with socially relevant themes.

Death

Thigpen died of cerebral hemorrhage on March 12, 2003 in her Marina del Rey, California
Marina del Rey, California
-Demographics:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Marina del Rey had a population of 8,866. The population density was 6,094.6 people per square mile...

 home. She had been complaining of headaches for several days. Drugs and foul play were ruled out by the coroner's autopsy, which found "acute cardiac dysfunction, non-traumatic systemic and spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage and hemorrhage in the brain". Thigpen was interred at Elmhurst Cemetery in her hometown of Joliet, Illinois.

Response and legacy

When Thigpen died, the third season finale of The District centered around a funeral for her character, Ella Mae Farmer. Her untimely death led to a four-year hiatus
Hiatus (television)
In television scheduling, a hiatus refers to a break of at least several weeks in the normal schedule of a broadcast programming. It can occur during a season of a television program, or can be between television seasons .- Planned hiatus :Many times television stations will implement a hiatus...

 of Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

. A planned film version of Bear was also put on hold. According to journalist Tara Mooney (who plays Shadow on the show), who interviewed with "Bear's" Ray D'Arcy
Ray D'Arcy
Raymond 'Ray' D'Arcy is an Irish television and radio presenter. He currently presents a weekday morning radio programme, The Ray D'Arcy Show, on Today FM...

 on Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

's Today FM
Today FM
Radio Ireland Ltd, trading as 100-102 Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station which is available nationally. The station, which commenced broadcasting on Saint Patrick's Day in 1997, can be received nationally and carries a mix of music and talk...

 in 2005, stated that "the crew's hearts just weren't in it anymore." Thigpen's family and close friends established a non-profit foundation, The Lynne Thigpen - Bobo Lewis Foundation, to help young actresses and actors learn how to survive and succeed in New York theater, to mentor the next generation of Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 stars.

Thigpen was posthumously nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...

 for voicing Luna the moon in Bear in the Big Blue House, but lost to Jeff Corwin
Jeff Corwin
Jeffrey Scott Corwin is an American animal and nature conservationist, best known as host and executive producer of Animal Planet cable channel television programs, The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest.-Early years:...

. Her final film, Anger Management
Anger Management
Anger Management is a 2003 slapstick comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, directed by Peter Segal and written by David S. Dorfman...

, starring Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...

 and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

, was dedicated to her memory.

Stage

  • Godspell: 1973
  • The Night That Made America Famous: 1975
  • The Magic Show: 1976
  • Working
  • But Never Jam Today 1979
  • Tintypes
    Tintypes
    Tintypes is a musical revue conceived by Mary Kyte with Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle.With its time frame set between the turn of the 20th century and the onset of World War I, this chamber piece with a cast of five provides a musical history lesson focusing on an exciting and tumultuous period in...

    : 1980-81
  • August Wilson
    August Wilson
    August Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...

    's Fences: 1988
  • Athol Fugard
    Athol Fugard
    Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...

    's Boesman and Lena: Obie award, 1992
  • A Month of Sundays
  • Wendy Wasserstein
    Wendy Wasserstein
    Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University...

    's An American Daughter:1996-7 (Tony Award 1997)
  • Jar the Floor

Film

  • Godspell
    Godspell (film)
    Godspell, released in 1973, is the film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical Godspell created by John-Michael Tebelak.Set in modern New York City, the film stars Victor Garber as Jesus and David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas...

    (1973)
  • The Warriors (1979) (She appears as the radio announcer, only her lips are seen.)
  • Tootsie
    Tootsie
    Tootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...

    (1982)
  • Streets of Fire
    Streets of Fire
    Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...

    (1984) (She appears as a subway train engineer, reading in her train; brief dialogue with the main character.)
  • Sweet Liberty
    Sweet Liberty
    Sweet Liberty is an American comedy film written and directed by Alan Alda, and starring Alda in the lead role, alongside Michael Caine and Michelle Pfeiffer, with support from Bob Hoskins, Lois Chiles, Lise Hilboldt and Lillian Gish....

    (1986)
  • Lean on Me
    Lean on Me (film)
    Lean on Me is a 1989 dramatized biographical written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being...

    (1989)
  • Article 99
    Article 99
    Article 99 is a 1992 American dramatic film written by Ron Cutler and directed by Howard Deutch. It was produced by Orion Pictures and starred Kiefer Sutherland, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, John C. McGinley, Rutanya Alda and Lea Thompson...

    (1992)
  • Bob Roberts
    Bob Roberts
    Bob Roberts is a 1992 film written and directed by Tim Robbins. It is a satirical mockumentary, chronicling the rise of Bob Roberts, a conservative politician who is a candidate for an upcoming United States Senate election...

    (1992)
  • The Paper
    The Paper
    The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close. The film depicts 24 hours in a newspaper editor's professional and personal life.-Plot:...

    (1994)
  • Blankman
    Blankman
    Blankman is a 1994 superhero parody film starring Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier, who are both of In Living Color fame. The film was directed by Mike Binder and written by Damon Wayans and J. F. Lawton, whose biggest success was writing Pretty Woman.-Plot:Darryl Walker is a clumsy nerdy...

    (1994)
  • Random Hearts
    Random Hearts
    Random Hearts is a 1984 novel by American author Warren Adler. In 1999, the novel was made into a motion picture directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.-Plot summary :...

    (1999)
  • The Insider
    The Insider (film)
    The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...

    (1999)
  • Bicentennial Man
    Bicentennial Man (film)
    Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American drama and science fiction film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues...

    (1999)
  • Shaft
    Shaft (2000 film)
    Shaft is a 2000 American action-crime film directed by John Singleton, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Pat Hingle, Toni Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams, and Mekhi Phifer. This film is not a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, but rather a sequel,...

    (2000)
  • Novocaine
    Novocaine (film)
    Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas. The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois area, during a limited 32-day schedule. The film received extra publicity during production and as...

    (2001)
  • Anger Management
    Anger Management
    Anger Management is a 2003 slapstick comedy film starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, directed by Peter Segal and written by David S. Dorfman...

    (2003) – Posthumously Released

Television

  • Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (game show)
    -Original music and theme song:All of the music on the series was vocal music, arranged and performed by the a capella group, Rockapella. The music package included a popular theme song, and many short signature stings, such as "Let's Get Packing" when the contestant won the grand prize...

    as The Chief
  • Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego (game show)
    Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? was an American children's television game show loosely based on the computer game of the same name created by Brøderbund Software. The program aired on PBS from October 7, 1996 to October 2, 1998. It stars Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief", Kevin Shinick as "ACME Time...

    as The Chief
  • The District
    The District
    The District is a television police drama which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000 to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s Police Department .-Premise:...

    as Chief Jack Mannion's Director of Administration, Ella Farmer
  • All My Children
    All My Children
    All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

    as nurse Grace Keefer, aunt of Noah (played by Keith Hamilton Cobb
    Keith Hamilton Cobb
    -Career:He is best known for his roles as the ruthless Nietzschean mercenaryTyr Anasazi in the science-fiction series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda from 2000 to 2002, and as Noah Keefer on All My Children from 1994 to 1996...

    )
  • thirtysomething
  • L.A. Law
    L.A. Law
    L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...

  • Law & Order
    Law & Order
    Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

    as Judge Ida Boucher
  • Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

    as Luna
  • Frank's Place
    Frank's Place
    Frank's Place is an American comedy-drama series which aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television schedule. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star Tim Reid.-Plot:Set in New Orleans, Frank's Place chronicles the life of Frank Parrish...

    as the "good" voodoo woman who helps Frank evict a "bad" voodoo female tenant, played by Rosalind Cash
    Rosalind Cash
    Rosalind Cash 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...

  • King of the Hill
    King of the Hill
    King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...

    as a judge who hears the case when Hank disputes a credit card charge over nonexistent movies he never ordered
  • Roseanne
    Roseanne (TV series)
    Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...

    as a doctor
  • The Cosby Show
    The Cosby Show
    The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...

  • Homicide: Life on the Street
    Homicide: Life on the Street
    Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

    as Regina Wilson

Software

  • Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? as The Chief
  • Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? is a computer game based on the popular game, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? In the game, players, who are ACME agents, travel to 51 locations around the United States in order to find Carmen Sandiego's V.I.L.E. henchmen...

    as The Chief
  • Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
    Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? is the title of three edutainment computer games in the Carmen Sandiego series that teach history. The concept was later adapted into a television show on PBS.- Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? :...

    as The Chief

Voice

  • America's War on Poverty, PBS
  • All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, by Maya Angelou
    Maya Angelou
    Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

  • Reading Rainbow
    Reading Rainbow
    Reading Rainbow is an American children's television series aired by PBS from June 6, 1983 until November 10, 2006 that encouraged reading among children. The award-winning public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including scores of Emmy Awards, many for "Outstanding Children's...

  • The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
    The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a 1971 novel by Ernest J. Gaines. The story depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman...

    , by Ernest J. Gaines
  • Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

    , as Luna
  • The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

  • House of Dies Drear, by Virginia Hamilton
    Virginia Hamilton
    Virginia Esther Hamilton was an award-winning author of children's books. She wrote 41 books, including M. C. Higgins, the Great, for which she won the National Book Award in 1974 and the 1975 Newbery Medal....

  • Jazz, by Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

  • One Better, by Rosalyn McMillan
  • Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler
    Octavia E. Butler
    Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.- Background :Butler...

  • Paradise, by Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison
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    Mildred D. Taylor
    Mildred DeLois Taylor is an African American author, known for her works exploring the struggle faced by African-American families in the Deep South....

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    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

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    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

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    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...

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    Zora Neale Hurston
    Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...

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    Christopher Allen Darden is an American lawyer, writer, lecturer and practicing attorney. He was a 15-year veteran of the Los Angeles County District Attorney, where he was assigned to the prosecution of O.J. Simpson. Darden gained fame during the O.J...

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  • The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor
    Gloria Naylor
    Gloria Naylor is an African American novelist and educator.-Early life:Born in New York, she was the first child to Roosevelt Naylor and Alberta McAlpin. As Naylor grew up, her father was a transit worker and her mother was a telephone operator. When Naylor was young, her mother encouraged her to...

  • 2000X: Tales of the Next Millennia, science fiction collection

Awards and honors

Awards won
  • 1997 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – An American Daughter


Awards nominated
  • 1987 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award – Fences
  • 1992 Obie Award
    Obie Award
    The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...

     – Boesman and Lena
  • 1994, 1995, 1996 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series - Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
  • 1996 NAACP Image Awards for Informational Youth or Children's Series/Special – Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
  • 1997 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series – All My Children
    All My Children
    All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

  • 2000 Obie Award
    Obie Award
    The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...

     – Jar the Floor
  • 2000 AudioFile Awards Golden Voices for the Year
  • 2004 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series – Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House
    Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...

    (Posthumously nominated)


Honors
  • Lynne Thigpen Elementary School, Joliet, IL

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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