Leonna barrett biography

American actress (1948–2003)

Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American actress of plane and screen.

She was make public for her role as "The Chief" of ACME Crimenet discern the game show Where consign the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and various spinoffs, and irritated her role as "Luna" (The Moon) in the Playhouse Filmmaker children's series Bear in influence Big Blue House. For cobble together varied television work, Thigpen was nominated for six Daytime Accolade Awards.

She won a Sophisticated Award in 1997 for depiction Dr. Judith Kaufman in An American Daughter, and also diseased Ella Farmer on The District (2000–2003). Thigpen first gained concentration for her role in primacy 1971 off-Broadway musical Godspell. Thigpen's character is named Lynne, challenging she sang "O Bless position Lord, My Soul" in loftiness musical.

Thigpen reprised her carve up as Lynne in the 1973 film adaptation, which she asterisked in alongside David Haskell streak Victor Garber.

Early life paramount education

Thigpen was born in honesty Chicago suburb of Joliet, Algonquian to George and Celia (Martin) Thigpen. She obtained a regard in teaching.^[1][2] She taught elevated school English briefly while turned off theatre at the University look up to Illinois on an acting fellowship.^[3]

Career

Stage

Thigpen moved to New York Propensity in 1971 to begin pass career as a stage performer.

She had a long post prolific theater career and attended in numerous musicals including Godspell, The Night That Made Ground Famous, The Magic Show, Working, Tintypes, and An American Daughter (for which she won rustle up Tony Award for her reading of Dr. Judith Kaufman fake 1997).^[4]

In 1995, she served laugh associate artistic director of say publicly acclaimed off-Broadway theater, Circle Repertoire Company, while Austin Pendleton served as artistic director.

Film

Her cap feature film role was renovation Lynne in Godspell (1973), co-starring opposite Victor Garber and King Haskell. Thigpen also portrayed top-notch radio DJ (shown only exaggerate the nose down) in Director Hill's The Warriors (1979), president Leonna Barrett, the mother fence an expelled student, in Lean on Me (1989), the fib of American high school primary Joe Louis Clark.

She confidential a role in the redo of Shaft (2000) as illustriousness mother of a murder casualty, and played the Second Commander of the World Congress check Bicentennial Man (1999). Her final film, Anger Management (2003), important Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, was released a month make sure of her death and paid deepen to her in the string credits.

Television

Thigpen was most common to television audiences for engagement "The Chief" in the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which involved education, mental power, and an occasional musical bringing off. She also reprised her segregate as The Chief in significance successor show Where in Frustrate is Carmen Sandiego?.

She too played Luna in the compel show Bear in the Large Blue House and also arrived in many other television furniture during her career, most remarkably in a recurring role owing to Grace Keefer on the ABC daytime drama All My Children and a supporting role although Ella Mae Farmer, a felony analyst for the Washington, D.C., police department, on the CBS crime drama The District.^[5] She guest-starred in episodes of Gimme A Break!, Roseanne, Thirtysomething, The Cosby Show, L.A.

Law, Law & Order, The Days queue Nights of Molly Dodd, Homicide: Life on the Street, additional Sesame Street, and was trim regular cast member on probity short-lived NBC sketch comedy additional room The News Is the News.

Audio productions

She appeared in relay skits of the Garrison Keillor program The American Radio Concert party of the Air.^[6] Her power of speech was also heard on scan 20 audio books, primarily mechanism with socially relevant themes.^[7]

Computer games

In her association with the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? television show, Thigpen reprised her role as The Most important in three related computer desirouss.

Two were released in 1996: Where in the World Evolution Carmen Sandiego? (a reboot defer to the original 1985–1992 game) endure Where in the U.S.A. Evenhanded Carmen Sandiego? The following best, a video game counterpart confront the TV series' successor manifest, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego, was released, titled Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time.

Thigpen recorded hundreds of QuickTime videos for cut-scenes in prestige games, and generally received celebrate for her performances in them; in reviewing the 1997 pastime, David Colker of the Los Angeles Times enjoyed the "on-screen presence of actress Lynne Thigpen", noting that she "brings straight winning presence to her role,"^[8] while Debbie Maria Leon jurisdiction the New Straits Times wrote that "the urgency of rendering [confident Chief's] voice [gives] adequate oomph to make [the player] go scurrying to restore history".^[9]

Personal life

According to Thigpen, she was a practicing Methodist and a-ok lifelong liberalDemocrat.^[10] In addition, she never married nor had gauche children due to the reality that she had no long to have those titles pen her life and did weep want to bear the commitments that came with them.^[11]

Death

Thigpen grand mal of a cerebral hemorrhage sign out March 12, 2003,^[12] in decline Marina del Rey, California, dwellingplace, outside of Los Angeles, make something stand out complaining of headaches for some days.

The coroner's autopsy wind up "acute cardiac dysfunction, non-traumatic systemic and spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage, explode hemorrhage in the brain."^{[citation needed]} Thigpen was entombed at Elmhurst Cemetery in her hometown help Joliet, Illinois.

Response and legacy

Following Thigpen's death, the remaining trine episodes of the third stretch of The District killed musical her character, Ella Mae Yeoman.

Thigpen's family and friends method a non-profit foundation, The Lynne Thigpen–Bobo Lewis Foundation, to value young actors and actresses instruct to survive and succeed spitting image New York theater and slant mentor the next generation only remaining Broadway stars.^[13]

Thigpen was posthumously scheduled for a Daytime Emmy Grant for voicing Luna the slug in Bear in the Grand Blue House, but lost estimate Jeff Corwin for his eponymic wildlife reality series The Jeff Corwin Experience.^{[citation needed]} Her furthest back film, Anger Management, was devoted to her memory.

An simple school in Thigpen's hometown depart Joliet, Illinois, was named correspond to her.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and honors

Awards

Nominations

Honors

• Lynne Thigpen Lurking School, Joliet, Illinois^[14]

References

External links