Olga James, Actress-Singer Who Portrayed Harry Belafonte’s Sweetheart in ‘Carmen Jones’, Dies at 95
Actress-singer Olga James, who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte's character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, dies at 95
Actress-singer Olga James, who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte's character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, is no more. As per The Hollywood Reporter, James breathed her last on January 25. She was 95. She died of complications from "a fall in which she broke her pelvis." James also portrayed the fiancee of Sammy Davis Jr.'s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, and she recurred as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby's high school gym teacher, on the comedian's eponymous 1969-71 NBC sitcom. Bernie Marcus Passes Away at 95: Home Depot Cofounder and Philanthropist Dies.
James had attended the Juilliard School of Music and was a trained opera singer when she was cast as the heartbroken Cindy Lou, who loses her troubled man, Joe (Belafonte), to the bewitching title character (Dorothy Dandridge) in 20th Century Fox's Carmen Jones (1954), filmed in CinemaScope. First Miss World Kiki Haakonson Dies Aged 95: Beauty Queen From Sweden Was Crowned Miss World in 1951.
Carmen Jones transformed her into a sought-after nightclub performer, and in 1955, she made her first television appearance when Saperstein had her sing at halftime of a Globetrotters-Washington Generals game. James played the supportive Ethel Pearson in Mr. Wonderful, which ran for 383 performances and also starred Jack Carter and Chita Rivera.