Legendary actress and Emmy winner Ja’Net DuBois has died at the age of 74.
TMZ is reporting that DuBois died unexpectedly in her sleep Monday night. She was said to be in good health and even appeared at an event in Hollywood in the past few days.
She first got her start in the industry on Broadway in Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr. She made history as the first Black woman to be a regular cast member on a daytime soap opera when she was cast as Loretta Allen on CBS’s Love of Life in 1970.
DuBois is most known for her star-making role as Willona Woods in the sitcom Good Times. She also famously performed the theme song for another sitcom, The Jeffersons.
Her other major credits include, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Roots: The Next Generations, The Wayans Bros. and The PJs. She won two Emmy Awards for her work in the latter.
The actress founded Ja’net DuBois Academy of Theater Arts and Sciences, a performing arts school in Long Island, New York that operated in the 1980s. DuBois, Danny Glover and Ayuko Babu also founded the Pan-African Film Festival in 1992, which is currently taking place in Los Angeles this week.
This is a developing story; more to come.
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Photo: CBS
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