Anne-marie johnson
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Suzzanne Douglas, veteran star of stage and screen, has died at the age of 64. Her death was announced by a member of her family on social media on Tuesday night.
“A beautiful and talented actress made her transition today,” wrote Douglas’s cousin, Angie Tee, on Facebook. "She warmed our hearts on movie screens and television sets all over the world. This beautiful soul was my cousin…. The world will miss your talent but your soul will live on forever Rest in Paradise my beautiful cousin Suzzane [sic] you will be missed RIP.”
Born in Illinois, Douglas grew up in a public housing project on the South Side of Chicago and creditedThe Sound of Music with sparking her love of the arts. She attended Illinois State University and earned a bachelor’s degree and eventually a master’s in music at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. Douglas’s big break would come in 1989 when she starred opposite the legendary Gregory Hines in the dance drama film Tap, a performance that earned Douglas an NAACP Image Award.
Douglas went on to consistently work in television, film, an
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Susan J. Douglas is a prize-winning author, columnist, and cultural critic, and the Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor of Communication Studies at The University of Michigan. Her work focuses on the representation of women in the media and the history of broadcasting, especially radio. She has lectured at colleges and universities around the country, and has appeared on The Today Show, The CBS Early Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Working Woman, CNBC’s Equal Time, NPR’s Fresh Air, Weekend Edition, The Diane Rehm Show, Talk of the Nation, and Michael Feldman’s Whad’ya Know.
Douglas has written for The Nation, In These Times, The Village Voice, Ms., The Washington Post and TV Guide, and was media critic for The Progressive from 1992-1998. Her column “Back Talk” appeared monthly in/In These Times, where she is a senior editor. Douglas was the 2010 Chair of the Board of The George Foster Peabody Awards, one of the most prestigious prizes in electronic media, which recognize distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing or
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Douglas is best known for her role as matriarch Jerri Peterson in the television sitcom The Parent 'Hood, starring Robert Townsend. Douglas has starred in several motion pictures, among them Tap, where she co-starred with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis, Jr, How Stella Got Her Groove Back with Angela Bassett and Regina King, Jason's Lyric with Forest Whitakker, The Inkwell with Jada Pinkett Smith, as well as the Disney/ABC version of Sounder with Carl Lumbley.
She has numerous television guest star appearances, most recently The Good Wife. Douglas has also appeared on The Parkers, The Cosby Show, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, NYPD Blue, and Touched by an Angel. On stage, Douglas performed the role of Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera starring Sting and Dr. Bearing in Wit, where she was the first African American to perform the role.
Douglas is an Award winning actress: a two time Image Award w
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