31 Facts About Amanda Randolph

Amanda E Randolph was an American actress and singer.

Amanda Randolph was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's The Laytons.

Amanda Randolph had a younger sister, Lillian who became an actress.

At the age of 14, Amanda Randolph began earning extra money playing the piano and organ in Cleveland, Ohio.

Amanda Randolph did her work for the company under the name Mandy Amanda Randolph.

Still working under the name Mandy Amanda Randolph, she recorded "Cootie Crawl" on April 30,1923, and "I Got Another Lovin' Daddy" for Gennett Records.

Amanda Randolph was invited to join the Sissle and Blake musical, Shuffle Along, in New York in 1924 and went on to do Lucky Sambo as one of the Three Dixie Songbirds.

Amanda Randolph then worked in musicals at New York's Alhambra Theater until 1930, following that with work in Europe and England for a year.

Amanda Randolph worked on the vaudeville and burlesque circuits as a comedian and as a singer, noting that Abbott and Costello got their start the same way.

Amanda Randolph took a four-year hiatus from show business in 1932; she married and helped her husband run their restaurant in New York called The Clam House, which was a favorite of those in the entertainment industry.

Amanda Randolph then returned to performing, playing piano at a Greenwich Village club called The Black Cat.

Amanda Randolph continued recording for Bluebird Records, a label created in 1932 and owned by RCA Victor Records.

Amanda Randolph did the vocals with her own band, billed as Amanda Randolph and her Orchestra.

Amanda Randolph recorded "After Hours"; some of these songs can be heard on radio station KBRD which broadcasts on the internet.

Amanda Randolph went on to do several Oscar Micheaux films, among them: Swing, Lying Lips and The Notorious Elinor Lee.

Around the same time, Amanda Randolph broke into radio, helped by people she met at The Clam House, who got her a CBS audition.

Amanda Randolph began working on various radio shows: Young Dr Malone, Romance of Helen Trent and Big Sister.

Amanda Randolph went on to become a regular cast member on Abie's Irish Rose, Kitty Foyle, and Miss Hattie with Ethel Barrymore, where she had the role of Venus.

Amanda Randolph appeared on Rudy Vallee's radio show and on Grand Central Station.

Amanda Randolph continued working in films until the 1960s, and was one of the first African-American women to become a comedy favorite on television.

Amanda Randolph did not settle in California until 1949, when she earned a role in Sidney Poitier's No Way Out.

Amanda Randolph then became a regular on the early TV series, The Amos 'n' Andy Show, as Sapphire's mother, Ramona Smith, from 1951 to 1953; she played the same role for the show's radio version from 1951 to 1954.

Amanda Randolph then began working with her sister, Lillian, who played Madame Queen on the radio and television shows.

Amanda Randolph was the star and titular character in The Beulah Show from 1953 to 1954, assuming the role from Lillian.

Amanda Randolph did some work for CBS Radio Workshop in 1956, playing the role of the folk heroine Annie Christmas in The Legend of Annie Christmas.

Amanda Randolph had a recurring role as Louise the Maid on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show and appeared in the show's 1967 reunion program, which aired shortly after her death.

Amanda Randolph guest-starred on the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

In 1955, Amanda Randolph opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called "Mama's Place", where she did the cooking.

Amanda Randolph died of a stroke in Duarte, California, on August 24,1967, aged 70.

Amanda Randolph is survived by a son, Joseph, and a daughter, Evelyn.

Amanda Randolph is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills beside her sister, Lillian.