Helen Martin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Helen Dorothy Martin (July 23, 1909 – March 25, 2000) was an American actress of stage and television who is perhaps most well known for her role in the sitcom 227 as Marla Gibbs' neighbor Pearl. Martin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Amanda Frankie (née Fox) and William Martin, a minister. Martin was a Broadway character actress for many decades, debuting in Orson Welles' production of Native Son in 1941. She appeared in at least a dozen Broadway shows including Jean Genet's The Blacks, Raisin from 1973 to 1975, Ossie Davis' Purlie Victorious (and later the musical version, which was called Purlie), The Amen Corner and Tennessee Williams' Period of Adjustment. She was an original member of the American Negro Theater. She first became famous later in life for her guest role as Wanda on the television series Good Times, and later as the wisecracking neighbor Pearl Shay on the television sitcom 227. She also played on the short-run sitcoms Baby, I'm Back (as mother in-law, Luzelle) and That's My Mama; as Loc Dog's grandma, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), the matronly grandmother Mama Doll in the 1998 film Bulworth, and the no-nonsense grandmother in the film Hollywood Shuffle. Helen Martin died of a heart attack on March 25, 2000. Description above from the Wikipedia article Helen Martin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
as Loc Dog's GrandmaWhen Ashtray moves to South Central L.A. to live with his father (who appears to be the same age...
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Kiss the Girls
as Nana CrossForensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped...
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Death Wish
as Alma Lee BrownAfter his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a...
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When his boss is killed, Detroit cop Axel Foley finds evidence that the murderer had ties to a...
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Repo Man
as Mrs. ParksA down and out young punk gets a job working with a seasoned repo man, but what awaits him in...
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Doc Hollywood
as Maddie, Welcoming CommitteeAfter leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a...
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Bulworth
as Momma DollA suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the...
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House Party 2
as Mrs. DeeversKid'N'Play leave their neighborhood and enter the world of adulthood and higher education. Play...
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Deal of the Century
as Baptist #3Arms dealers from several companies vie to sell the most expensive and highest tech weapons to a...
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The Phenix City Story
as Helen WardA crime-busting lawyer and his initially reluctant attorney father take on the forces that run...
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Hollywood Shuffle
as Bobby's GrandmotherAspiring actor and hot-dog stand employee Bobby Taylor catches the ire of his grandmother for...
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Night Angel
as SadieA legendary she-demon, in the updated guise of a beautiful model, infiltrates the offices of a...
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I Got the Hook-Up
as GrandmotherTwo broke buddies feel lucky when they come upon a truckload of cellular phones and begin...
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Something to Sing About
as Elderly WomanTommy is a troubled young man with a history of crime. When he meets Memaw, an elderly lady, the...
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Cindy
as Flower LadyA revisionist twist on Cinderella with an all-black cast and set in Harlem during WWII. Cindy is...
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The Jerk, Too
as Grandma JohnsonNavin Johnson heads to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of his pen pal, Marie. On the way, he...
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Wacko
as Harbinger's MotherThirteen years after the "Lawnmower Killer" killed her sister, high school student Mary Graves...
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Better Late Than Never
as uncreditedHarry Landers is a feisty senior citizen who refuses to abide by the rules in a stodgy...
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A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich
as Mrs. BellA troubled boy becomes addicted to heroin, and his mother and foster father help him fight it.
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Amos
as Mrs. McKenzieAmos Lasher loses his wife and home in an accident, finding himself in the care of the state, or...
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A Raisin in the Sun
as Mrs. JohnsonA substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a...
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J.T.
as Mrs. HillJ. T. Gamble, a shy, withdrawn Harlem youngster, shows compassion and responsibility when he...
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Robert Townsend: Partners in Crime: Vol. 2
as uncreditedDirector Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle) knows how to construct and, when necessary, even...
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Dummy
as Mrs. HarrodThe real-life account of an illiterate, deaf-and-mute, black youth who was accused of murdering...
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Lawman Without a Gun
as Mrs. CartwrightDuring the 1960s' civil rights movement, a black civil rights worker returns to his small...
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Hill Street Blues
as uncreditedA realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
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St. Elsewhere
as uncreditedSt. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from...
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Full House
as ShirleyAfter the death of his wife, Danny enlists his best friend and his brother-in-law to help raise...
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The Bill
as uncreditedThe daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the...
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Starsky & Hutch
as Vivian FellersStreetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch'...
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Good Times
as uncreditedGood Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1,...
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227
as Pearl ShayA housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington,...
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T. J. Hooker
as Mrs. SearsSergeant Thomas Jefferson Hooker is a tough-as-nails veteran police officer with the LCPD who...
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The Wayans Bros.
as Mother EvansThe Wayans Bros. is a situation comedy that aired from January 1995 to May 1999 on The WB. The...
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Maude
as uncreditedWell-educated and upper middle class, Maude Findlay is the archetypal feminist of her...
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The Jeffersons
as uncreditedSitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as...
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The Jamie Foxx Show
as uncreditedTexas native Jamie King is an aspiring actor who heads to Hollywood in hopes to find fame and...
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Sanford and Son
as uncreditedThe misadventures of a cantankerous junk dealer and his frustrated son.
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Hardcastle and McCormick
as uncreditedHardcastle and McCormick is an American action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell...
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The White Shadow
as Old WomanThe White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from...
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Benson
as uncreditedA butler deals with life at the governor's mansion.
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The Flash
as Sadie GrossoWhen a bolt of lightening crashes through a police crime lab, a mix of electrically charged...
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The Parent 'Hood
as uncreditedThe Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July...
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What's Happening!!
as uncreditedWhat's Happening!! is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976 to...
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That's My Mama
as uncreditedClifton Curtis has got it made—he runs a successful business he inherited from his late father...
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Baby, I'm Back
as uncreditedBaby, I'm Back is an American sitcom that aired CBS from January to April 1978. The series stars...
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The Stockard Channing Show
as uncreditedThe Stockard Channing Show is an American sitcom starring Stockard Channing, Ron Silver, Sydney...
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