On this day in Alabama history: Actress and singer Nell Carter was born
Rosetta Reitz with the performers at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1980. Featured in the photograph are: (standing, left to right) Koko Taylor, Linda Hopkins, George Wein, Rosetta Reitz, Adelaide Hall, Little Brother Montgomery, Big Mama Thornton, Beulah Bryant and (seated left to right) Sharon Freeman, Sippie Wallace, Nell Carter. (Barbara Weinberg Barefield, Wikipedia)
September 13, 1948
Actress and singer Nell Carter was born in Birmingham. Carter won national acclaim in the hit Broadway musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” a tribute to the Harlem Renaissance featuring songs by Jazz Age composer Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller. The role won Carter a Tony Award in 1978 and a Primetime Emmy Award in 1982. Carter is perhaps best remembered for playing a sassy housekeeper on the NBC sitcom “Gimme A Break!” from 1981 to 1987. She received two Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations for her work on the show. Carter was inducted into the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame in 2000.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Nell Carter, photographed here in 2002 at a Quest for the Crown event, which raises money and awareness for people living with AIDS and HIV. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by J e a N N Y o u n G)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
