Leslie Uggams is an American actress, television personality and singer, recipient of a Daytime Emmy and Tony Theater Awards. Aggams achieved her greatest success through her participation in television series and Broadway musicals in the seventies and eighties. Among the last outstanding works of the actress - the role of Blind Al in the films "Deadpool" and "Deadpool 2".
Early years and first successes in theater and TV
Leslie Uggams was born on March 25, 1943 in New York into the family of a professional singer Hill Jones. Even as a child, she played small roles on television. At the same time, Leslie Uggams studied at the Juilliard School - one of the best higher educational institutions in the United States, where musicians are trained.
In 1965, Leslie Uggams became the wife of actor Graham Prett - this marriage has been going on for over 50 years.
In 1968, the artist was awarded the Tony Theater Award for her role in a musical called Hallelujah, Baby! And the very next year, Leslie was entrusted with leading her television show. In fact, she was one of the first black female national TV presenters in the United States.
Leslie Uggams in the seventies
At some point, Leslie's TV show was closed due to low ratings, after which a new stage in her career began - she began acting in feature films and TV series. In particular, she can be seen in the films "Airplane Hijacker" (1972) and "Poor Eddie" (1975). But she was best known during this period for her role as Kizzy Reynolds in the famous 1977 miniseries Roots. Based on the book of the same name by Alex Haley, this series, which touches on the topic of slavery in American history, was broadcast on ABC. As a result, tens of millions of viewers watched it, it became a real cultural phenomenon.
The role of Kizzy Reynolds brought the actress nominations for Emmy and Golden Globe. And two years later, in 1979, Leslie appeared in another significant four-part television project - "Behind the scenes of the White House." She plays the main role here - the role of the black maid Lillian Rogers Sparks, who works in the official presidential residence. It is through her eyes that the life of eight heads of the United States is shown - from Taft Howard to Dwight Eisenhower. Interestingly, Lillian Sparks was not a fictional character. Such a woman really existed and was a maid in the White House for thirty years. Subsequently, she decided to take up literary work and wrote an autobiographical novel - in fact, the series was filmed based on it.
From Boat of Love to Deadpool
In the eighties, Leslie Uggams took part, for example, in such series as The Boat of Love, The Hotel, The Cosby Show, and Private Detective Magnum. However, much more in this decade she was interested in working in the theater. And later, in the nineties and two thousand, Leslie Uggams could be seen more often on the stage, and not on TV or in the movies. In 2001, Leslie was nominated for a second Tony for her role in King Headley II.
In recent years, the actress again periodically appears in big movies. She starred in the commercially successful blockbusters Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018) as Blind Al. Thanks to this work, viewers around the world drew the attention of the elderly actress. Blind Old Lady Al is a very important character in the Deadpool film series. She is a kind superhero neighbor. It was she who sewed Deadpool's original costume and inspired him to further exploits.
In addition, Leslie Uggams recently became a member of the series "Empire", which tells about a whole dynasty of hip-hop performers. Here she played Lee Walker - the mother of the main negative character Lucius.
