From The Sun
ELLEN Holly has died in her sleep on Wednesday at the Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York.
Ellen was 92 years old, and she was the first Black person to ever star in a soap opera.
She held the lead role in One Life to Live as Carla Gray from 1968 to 1980 and then again from 1983 to 1985.
Ellen was chosen for the role by Agnes Nixon, a TV producer, after she saw a New York Times opinion piece Ellen wrote, according to Deadline.
The piece was called How Black Do You Have To Be? and it was about how difficult it was to find acting roles as a light-skinned Black woman.
Before her big break on One Life to Live, Ellen appeared on The Big Story in 1957, The Defenders in 1963, Dr. Kildare in 1964, and other television shows.
She was born in New York City on January 16, 1931.
Although she never got married or had children, she did write about her romance with Harry Belafonte, an actor and civil rights leader, in her autobiography.
16 comments:
Long time ago. She was beautiful. R.I.P.
Who dis white lady Harpo?
I don't remember her specifically because I was too young when she was on there but my mother used to watch OLTF and other soaps like All My Children. General Hospital was her fave because she used to love Angie & Jesse and we would root for them so hard. Loved seeing Black love on TV back then when I was finally able to tune in as I got older. RIP to this groundbreaking Queen. This show also made me love the name Asa. Yeah, I'm getting old. Lol
@721. White, indeed. The first soap opera role she had was as a Black woman passing for YT. Everyone, including the viewers, thought she was YT till the script had her falling in love with a bruh and the truth was revealed.
You nicompoops on this site...that's what light-skinned Blacks did to make it in Hollyweird. She didn't write the damn script to be white, she was acting to pay her bills and survive!
👀👀
She totally could’ve passed so it’s interesting how it when she did identify. Hope she had a nice life
@10:41PM I read her story. She was a very Pro-Black woman!
Very Pro-Black? A very Pro-Black woman with light skin would have recognized her own privilege and fought for others (like Lena Horn did when she stood for women like Hattie MacDaniels). That’s Pro-Black. Ellen Holly found “passing” very fascinating. I’ve heard nothing that shows she was Pro-Black till it became fashionable.
^^^Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Some of y'all just don't like light-skinned people. I've come across quite a few in my day. Then would treat me 'better' when it's found out neither of my folks are light-skinned or white. The sh!t is weird.
This ain't about liking or not liking skin color. It's about us always saying someone is for us when they aren't. That's what's weird and we need to stop it.
@4:20 You sound like those corny blacks who use to say: “they stingy with they color” or “share some of tha with the rest of us”. She always dated black in real life, she never hid who she was or acted better than. She spoke out on many issues along the way in her career. RIP to Sister Holly
Some of you just don’t like lighter hues on black people.
She couldn't help the shade she came in just like you can't. Celebrate her life and accomplishments. Thank you, Ms Ellen
@7:36 PM Angie and Jesse were characters on All My Children, not General Hospital. 😀
Me again. I wrote about Holly not being Pro Black because someone read her autobiography she was very Pro-Black. Holly doesn’t get to wear that badge. That badge is reserved for women like Lena Horne and Ruby Dee.
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