Alaina Reed Hall Dies at 63 (1946-2009)

[Adamantium]

I'll always remember her in the movie "Follow That Bird", where she sang the song One Little Star. She was singing it with Big Bird, even though Big Bird was far away. It was sad.

[ThomasE]

I remember that I was in Philadelphia Thursday working on a show and while I was worrying about getting my per diem money, this woman is being put to rest. Wow. Amazing!

[80sTrivia]

Oh, no... so very sad to hear of her passing...

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Adamantium

I'll always remember her in the movie "Follow That Bird", where she sang the song One Little Star. She was singing it with Big Bird, even though Big Bird was far away. It was sad.

That was the very first movie I ever saw in a theater, back in 1985. I was about 6 years old and went with my grandma. That was indeed a touching scene - and I think even as an adult I cried when Big Bird was blue and crying. They just don't make them like that anymore...and that's why I am doing my best to instill these shows and values (and the people like Alaina Reed-Hall, Jim Henson, etc.) into my young nephews!

[catlover79]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5733815.story

By Dennis McLellan
December 22, 2009

Alaina Reed Hall, a singer and actress who played Olivia Robinson on "Sesame Street" for a dozen years beginning in the mid-1970s and later played Rose Holloway on the situation comedy "227," has died. She was 63.

Reed Hall, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, died Thursday at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said her husband, Tamim Amini.

One of the original cast members of the 1974 off-Broadway production of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road," Reed Hall joined "Sesame Street" in 1976 and played Olivia -- a professional photographer and sister to the character Gordon -- until 1988.

In a 2004 interview with the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, Reed Hall described "Sesame Street" as "the best job I ever had."

When she heard fans calling out to her as she rode in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, she said, "It dawned on me. I have a big responsibility. I was in their house every day."

On "227," the 1985-90 NBC sitcom, she played the apartment landlady and best friend to star Marla Gibbs' Mary Jenkins character.

In the show's final season, Reed Hall's character falls in love with Warren Merriwether, played by Kevin Peter Hall, and the two characters wed. In real life, the two actors were already married.

"It was a wonderful segment because we had [guest star] Luther Vandross, who was also a friend of Alaina's, sing; and we had the same minister who performed the actual wedding," Gibbs told The Times on Monday.

Gibbs, who had attended the couple's real wedding, first met Reed Hall when she auditioned for the TV series.

"She was very good in the role, and some episodes were written around her," said Gibbs, adding that Reed Hall "was a wonderful singer. As a matter of fact, she and I did a nightclub act together at my club, Marla's Memory Lane," while doing the series.

"She worked on Broadway, she did stuff in New York; she was a very well-known singer in New York for a while before she did the show," Gibbs said. "After we finished the show, she did quite a few commercials, so I was calling her the 'Commercial Queen.'

"She was just a wonderful friend. She will be sorely missed; she fought the good fight."

Born Bernice Reed in Springfield, Ohio, on Nov. 10, 1946, she appeared in stage productions of "Hair," "Chicago" and "Eubie."

She also made guest appearances on TV series such as including "ER," "NYPD Blue," "Friends" and "Ally McBeal," and appeared in a number of films, including "Death Becomes Her," "Cruel Intentions" and "I'm Through With White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks)."

Reed Hall's first marriage ended in divorce. Her marriage to the 7-foot-2 Hall, who played the Bigfoot character Harry in the film and television series "Harry and the Hendersons," ended with his death in 1991. Reed Hall married Amini in 2008.

A list of surviving family members was not provided.

No funeral service will be held. A celebration of Reed Hall's life is being planned for early next year.

[Heidi Dawn]

I didn't even know Alaina was battling breast cancer. That reminds me, I should watch the 227 extras on season 1 again. Alaina's death marks 3 cast members from 227's main cast that are no longer with us: Helen Martin and Paul Winfield. Also no longer with us, recurring cast members Whitman Mayo and Beah Richards (Mary's parents), Eve Smith (Cora), George Kirby (Lester's dad), Ron Richardson (Reverend Davis), Kevin Peter Hall (Warren Merriwether).

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Heidi Dawn

I didn't even know Alaina was battling breast cancer. That reminds me, I should watch the 227 extras on season 1 again. Alaina's death marks 3 cast members from 227's main cast that are no longer with us: Helen Martin and Paul Winfield. Also no longer with us, recurring cast members Whitman Mayo and Beah Richards (Mary's parents), Eve Smith (Cora), George Kirby (Lester's dad), Ron Richardson (Reverend Davis), Kevin Peter Hall (Warren Merriwether).

It is indeed sad. Alaina seemed like such a sweet lady. May she .

[TMC]

Celebrity Underrated - Whatever Happened To? Episode 3

Celebrity Underrated chronicles the lives and deaths of entertainers, sports figures, world leaders, and others both famous and infamous. The channel highlights their background and upbringing, their rise to fame, their trials and tribulations, and the often mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased.