Actor / Director Profile

African-American actress, producer, and writer Beverly Todd is best remembered by audiences for her prolific work in the 1970s although she chooses to work these days on a different scale and level. Her mentor at the onset of her film career was none other than actor/director Sidney Poitier, working with him frequently during this peak decade. Roles in Poitier's The Lost Man (1969), They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970)_, Brother John (1971) and A Piece of the Action (1977) eventually led to other distinguished and more important work.The Chicago native was born on July 11, 1946, and was first seen on stage in such plays as "Deep Are the Roots" (1960). She also played the Diahann Carroll role in the London cast of the musical "No Strings" (1964) with Art Lund and Hy Hazell in which she sang the hit song "The Sweetest Sounds." She also appeared on the daytime soap "Love of Life" (1951) for a couple of years (1968-1970) before her film career kicked in.On TV she proved quite adept at playing both classy and streetwise urban roles. Highlights include stand-out performances on the PBS special Six Characters in Search of an Author (1976) (TV), the esteemed mini-series _"Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy Satchel Paige" (1981)_ in which she co-starred opposite Louis Gossett Jr. as Mrs. Paige, and as an integral part of the historical TV event "Roots" (1977) playing the role of Fanta as an adult. She went on to co-star with Richard Pryor in the comedy Moving (1988) and supported Diane Keaton in Baby Boom (1987), Whoopi Goldberg in Clara's Heart (1988) and Morgan Freeman in Lean on Me (1989). Seen sporadically since, she has more recently been spotted in the movies _Crash (2004)_ and _Animal (2005/II)_, and in a recurring role on the critically-acclaimed series "Six Feet Under" (2001).Beverly's acting career began to simmer down in the 1980s but she has since persevered as an event writer/producer and proven herself just as influential, taking on demanding civic and cultural issues that deal with equality, black awareness and child schooling, among others.