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Five Great Mary Alice Guest Appearances

In a feature spotlighting character actors who routinely do strong guest appearances on TV series, Brian spotlights five fine TV performances by Mary Alice.

Today, we look at five great guest appearances by Mary Alice.

This is “Following a Star,” a new feature where I spotlight five great guest spots by an actor who frequently did/does guest spots on TV series in their careers. It doesn’t mean that they’ve NEVER been regulars on shows, but obviously I’m not looking to spotlight people who are best known for their regular TV roles (like no Jason Alexander or Florence Henderson, for instance).

Since this is Black History Month, I’ll specifically spotlight Black character actors this month, finishing tonight!

Mary Alice is probably the best example I can think of of an iconic actor who, by virtue of her best work coming on the stage, is sadly best known for her season and a half as the dorm director on A Different World. This is the woman who originated the role of Rose Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences, people! She even won a Tony Award for that performance. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She’s won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. And yet, her best known role is still that of Lettie Bostic on A Different World, a dorm monitor character who the series quickly realized was a superfluous character (as the show was really all about the students). However, the people who worked with her knew of her immense talent, and they often found ways to give her some excellent guest spots in TV shows over the years (as well one of her last major roles, taking over from Gloria Foster as the Oracle in the Matrix sequels).