Actress-singer Olga James passes away at 95
Actress-singer Olga James, who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte's character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, has died.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, James passed away on January 25. She was 95.
She died of complications from "a fall in which she broke her pelvis."
James also portrayed the fiancee of Sammy Davis Jr.'s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, and she recurred as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby's high school gym teacher, on the comedian's eponymous 1969-71 NBC sitcom.
James had attended the Juilliard School of Music and was a trained opera singer when she was cast as the heartbroken Cindy Lou, who loses her troubled man, Joe (Belafonte), to the bewitching title character (Dorothy Dandridge) in 20th Century Fox's Carmen Jones (1954), filmed in CinemaScope.
Carmen Jones transformed her into a sought-after nightclub performer, and in 1955, she made her first television appearance when Saperstein had her sing at halftime of a Globetrotters-Washington Generals game.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Khaleej Times
'Maybe Happy Ending' triumphs at Tony Awards with top musical wins
Maybe Happy Ending, a sweet and futuristic story that follows two obsolete helper robots as they navigate isolation, affection and what it means to be human, was the big musical winner at the Tony Awards, capping a record-grossing post-pandemic Broadway theatre season. The show won three big awards including best musical. Darren Criss won his first Tony for best leading actor in a musical for his role as the innocent Oliver, and its director Michael Arden won the award for best director of a musical. The modern reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic Sunset Blvd. also won big, taking awards for best revival of a musical and for Nicole Scherzinger, who stars as the faded movie star Norma Desmond, won best actress in a musical. The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Purpose won the best play award. Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the play follows a family whose carefully constructed legacy unravels when their youngest son returns home with an unexpected guest, exposing buried secrets and faith-based conflict. Host Cynthia Erivo, the Wicked film star, opened the show at Radio City Music Hall with a walk to the stage from the dressing room that mimicked actor Tom Francis' viral post-intermission live outdoor Manhattan stroll as he sings the title song in Sunset Blvd. Buoyed by a post-pandemic rebound, the 2024-25 season grossed a record $1.89 billion (Dh6.94 billion) in revenue and drew 14.7 million attendees, the Broadway League said. Cole Escola won the Tony for best lead actor in a play for his creation Oh, Mary! The show, Escola's reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln's life and relationship with husband Abraham Lincoln, blends historical satire with absurd camp. The show also earned Sam Pinkleton the Tony for best director of a play. TV's Succession star Sarah Snook, who made her Broadway debut this season, won the award for best leading actress in a play for her tour-de-force performance of more than two dozen roles in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Hamilton reunited The original cast of Hamilton, including the show's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, reunited to perform an electric medley in honor of the musical's 10th anniversary. The number also served as a reintroduction to Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr, a role he will resume in the production later this year for a limited time. Francis Jue won best actor in a featured role in a play for Yellow Face. He thanked the Asian American actors who came before him and addressed the next generation: 'This community sees you and I hope that encourages you to be brave, and to dream and to dream big.' Kara Young, who was nominated for a Tony in the role of featured actress in a play four years in a row, won for the second year in a row for her role in the 2025 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Purpose. Natalie Venetia Belcon won the award for best featured actress in a musical for her role as Cuban singer Omara Portuondo in Buena Vista Social Club. Other awards remained to be announced. Jak Malone won the award for best featured actor in a musical for Operation Mincemeat, a fast-paced World War Two spy farce based on a bizarre true British plot to trick the Nazis with a dead body. Best revival of a play went to Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day, a sharp comedy about well-meaning parents at a progressive school whose unity cracks open over a vaccine debate. Rising production costs a factor Alongside the creative highs this year were economic realities plaguing producers and audiences alike. Premium seats for some productions run upwards from $400, prompting concern that Broadway is increasingly out of reach for casual and younger theatre lovers. Even with lotteries and rush ticket programs, demand-driven pricing has become the norm. Jason Laks, president of The Broadway League, said in a statement that rising costs have affected every facet of production, making it harder and harder to bring live theater to the stage. The Broadway League presents the awards along with the American Theatre Wing. This season showcased a wide range of voices and perspectives, with many shows being led by Asian American, Black, Middle Eastern and Hispanic actors and resulting in some historic nominations. Four-time Tony-winning actor and writer Harvey Fierstein received a special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theater. 'I dedicate this award to the people in the dark," he said, "and I offer my most profound thanks to the people in my community.'
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Khaleej Times
‘Stranger Things' play wins Tony Awards, setting stage for TV series finale
With bloody body contortions, booming blasts and brooding high school angst, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, based on the 12-time Emmy-winning Netflix science fiction series Stranger Things, took home Tony Awards for best scenic design, lighting design and sound design of a play along with a special award for its illusions and technical effects. Miriam Buether, the scenic designer for Stranger Things: The First Shadow reflected on the journey of creating frightening moments on stage. "We love scaring people," she said backstage at the ceremony hosted by Wicked film star Cynthia Erivo. The play, directed by Stephen Daldry, was nominated for five Tony Awards in total, including best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for Louis McCartney for his performance as Henry Creel, the younger version of the main antagonist of the Stranger Things series who is later called Vecna. Stranger Things: First Shadow is one of the expansions of the 'Stranger Things' universe created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, who announced the launch of Upside Down Pictures in 2022, marking an overall deal with Netflix that will also include a live-action Stranger Things spin-off series. The series has spawned video games, cosplay, in-person immersive experiences and merchandise licensing deals, including the January 2025 deal with the company behind the popular Squishmallow plush toys. Last month, at Netflix's globally livestreamed fan event called Tudum Live, it was announced that the Stranger Things TV series would have a fifth and final season split into three parts, with part one on November 26, 2025, part two on December 25, 2025 and the series finale on December 31, 2025. The final season of Stranger Things was delayed by dual Hollywood strikes in 2023. Stranger Things, the story of a group of adolescent friends in rural Indiana in the 1980s who battle creatures from an alternate dimension called the Upside Down, premiered on Netflix in 2016 and became a smash hit created by the Duffer brothers for the streaming platform. The play, produced by the Duffer brothers, takes audiences back in time to 1959, two decades before the period explored in the TV show. Jim Hopper and Joyce Maldonado — adult characters in the TV show — are seen as high school classmates with normal teen concerns about cars and classes until a new student named Henry arrives. Henry Creel is an odd and troubled boy that holds the future of the small town of Hawkins, Indiana in his hands. The New York cast includes Harlem actor Burke Swanson as Jim Hopper, Shameless actor Alison Jaye as Joyce Maldonado and McCartney as Henry Creel, who reprised his role after being in the London production. The monster-filled play debuted in London in 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre and made its New York Broadway debut in March 2025 at the Marquis Theatre.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Actress Mindy Kaling tells why she has taken a break from acting
Hollywood star Mindy Kaling has talked about why she has taken a step back from acting. During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter as part of the Paley Media Council Series. Kaling detailed how her superstitions played a role in that decision while explaining why she didn't make a cameo in her Netflix series Never Have I Ever, reports Kaling and Lang Fisher co-created the teen comedy, which ran for four seasons and takes inspiration from Kaling's cultural upbringing. 'A show literally about an Indian American family in Southern California, and if I wasn't on that — what's wrong with me?' Kaling began. 'I think there is a part of me that feels a little superstitious. I'm like, 'these seem to have gone well and I'm not in them so maybe I'll wait.'' Kaling said fans may see more of her on screen soon. 'I miss it. I would like to write or co-create a show for me to act in soon.' For Kaling, she would love to have the opportunity to double as an actor and director in her next project, which is 'unbelievably fun and it's so efficient.' She said: 'I would love to do that again. That's the thing that maybe in the next couple of years, when I launch a couple of other things that are earlier in the pipeline, that would be something that would be fun to do again.' In February, Kaling's co-created and executive-produced Netflix show Running Point was released, starring Kate Hudson in the lead role. While attending an Emmy consideration event for their Netflix show, Hudson praised Kaling's work ethic, especially after giving birth. Kaling has three children: a daughter, born in 2017, a son, born in 2020 and a daughter born in 2024. She has kept the paternity of her children private. Kaling first gained recognition for playing Kelly Kapoor in the NBC sitcom The Office (2005—2013), on which she also worked as a writer. For her work on it, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. She gained wider attention for creating, producing and playing the title role in the Fox/Hulu sitcom The Mindy Project (2012—2017). She then created other television comedy series, including Never Have I Ever (2020—2023), The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021—2025), and Running Point (since 2025). Her film career includes voice roles in Despicable Me (2010), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), and Inside Out (2015) as well as live action roles in No Strings Attached (2011), The Five-Year Engagement (2012), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Late Night (2019), the last of which she also wrote and produced. She wrote two memoirs both reaching The New York Times Best Seller list. She also received a Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop. Agencies
