1. Leslie Marian Uggams is an American actress and singer.
20 Facts About Leslie Uggams
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Leslie Uggams attended the Professional Children's School of New York and Juilliard.
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Leslie Uggams started in show business as a child in 1951, playing the niece of Ethel Waters on Beulah.
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Leslie Uggams got her biggest break on The Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on Sing Along with Mitch, starring record producer-conductor Mitch Miller.
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In January 1954, ten-year-old Leslie Uggams released a double-sided single by MGM Records.
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Leslie Uggams came to be recognized by TV audiences as an upcoming teen talent in 1958 on the musical quiz show series Name That Tune.
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Leslie Uggams appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show singing The Beatles' "Yesterday" in 1965 and later had her own television variety show, The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969.
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Leslie Uggams had a lead role in the 1977 miniseries Roots, for which she received an Emmy nomination, as Kizzy.
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In 1996, Leslie Uggams played the role of Rose Keefer on All My Children.
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Leslie Uggams won a 1983 Daytime Emmy Award as a host of the NBC game show Fantasy.
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Leslie Uggams later appeared in Sugar Hill opposite Wesley Snipes, and played Blind Al in Deadpool in February 2016.
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Leslie Uggams appeared as Sadie in the 2017 television film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and in 2018, she returned as Blind Al in Deadpool 2.
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Leslie Uggams is an active Democrat and hosted a 1984 Democratic Telethon.
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In 2023, Leslie Uggams voiced a character, Grandma, in My Dad the Bounty Hunter and appeared as Agnes in the film American Fiction.
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Leslie Uggams won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical.
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Leslie Uggams appeared on Broadway in the revue Blues in the Night in 1982 and in the musical revue of the works of Jerry Herman, Jerry's Girls in 1985.
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Leslie Uggams replaced Patti LuPone as Reno Sweeney in the Lincoln Center revival of Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes on Broadway in March 1989.
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In January 2009, Leslie Uggams played Lena Horne in a production of the stage musical Stormy Weather at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, directed by Michael Bush and choreographed by Randy Skinner.
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In June 2012, Leslie Uggams played Muzzy in a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Muny in St Louis.
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Leslie Uggams has been married to her longtime manager Grahame Pratt since 1965, at the time a rare high-profile interracial marriage.