Virginia Capers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eliza Virginia Capers (born September 22, 1925 in Sumter , South Carolina , † September 11, 2004 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress and singer .

life and career

The African American Virginia Capers attended Howard University and took singing lessons at the Juilliard School in New York. She initially worked for some time as a singer, including for the band leader Abe Lyman . In 1957 she was seen for the first time as an actress on Broadway : In the musical Jamaica , she replaced Adelaide Hall , which had left the production. Capers was considered a seasoned character actress, but it wasn't until 1973 that she received more attention for her leading role in the Broadway musical Raisin . Here she played the mother of an African American family in Chicago in the 1950s. The critics came up with praise and Capers won the 1974 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical .

The heavyweight African American had been active in film and television since the early 1960s, where she was often cast in matronly supporting roles - sometimes in higher-ranking roles as a judge or nurse, but occasionally in more stereotypical roles as a loud mother or maid. She starred in films like Big Jake (1971), Ferris Makes Blue (1986), A Family Called Beethoven (1993) and Tina - What's Love Got to Do with It? (1993). She has also been a guest actress in numerous television series and took on a recurring role as the mother of Philip Banks , played by James Avery , in the television series The Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s . She played her last role a year before her death in the television miniseries Kingpin . In Los Angeles she also founded the Lafayette Players , a theater group for black actors.

Virginia Capers died in 2004 after developing pneumonia at the age of 78. She was survived by her son.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Virginia Capers ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at African-American Registry @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aaregistry.org
  2. ^ Obituary in the New York Times
personal data
SURNAME Capers, Virginia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Capers, Eliza Virginia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American theater and film actress and singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Sumter , South Carolina , United States
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2004
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States