Olivia Carlena Cole (November 26, 1942 â€" January 19, 2018) was an
American actress.Cole was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of
Arvelia Cole (née Cage), a tennis player, instructor, entrepreneur
and William Calvin Cole, a worker for Grumman. After graduating from
Manhattan's Hunter College High School in 1960, she studied drama at
Bard College in New York and earned a scholarship to attend the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she graduated with honors in
1964. After returning to the United States, she earned a master's
degree in theater arts with minor in Scandinavian studies in 1967 from
the University of Minnesota. She made her screen debut in the daytime
soap opera Guiding Light in 1969 and later appeared in over 30 shows
and films.Cole won an Emmy Award for her performance as Matilda,
Chicken George's wife, in the 1977 miniseries Roots. Cole became the
first African American actress to win an Emmy award for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Television Movie for her performance in
Roots.She also was known for her role as Maggie Rogers in the 1979
miniseries Backstairs at the White House, for which she was nominated
for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a
Miniseries or a Movie.
American actress.Cole was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of
Arvelia Cole (née Cage), a tennis player, instructor, entrepreneur
and William Calvin Cole, a worker for Grumman. After graduating from
Manhattan's Hunter College High School in 1960, she studied drama at
Bard College in New York and earned a scholarship to attend the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she graduated with honors in
1964. After returning to the United States, she earned a master's
degree in theater arts with minor in Scandinavian studies in 1967 from
the University of Minnesota. She made her screen debut in the daytime
soap opera Guiding Light in 1969 and later appeared in over 30 shows
and films.Cole won an Emmy Award for her performance as Matilda,
Chicken George's wife, in the 1977 miniseries Roots. Cole became the
first African American actress to win an Emmy award for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Television Movie for her performance in
Roots.She also was known for her role as Maggie Rogers in the 1979
miniseries Backstairs at the White House, for which she was nominated
for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a
Miniseries or a Movie.
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