Novella Christine Nelson (December 17, 1939 – August 31, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She established her career as a singer, both on the off-Broadway and Broadway stage and in

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

-style locales.

Career

Starting in 1961, Nelson had a decades-long stage career, performing, directing and producing, primarily in New York. She was a featured performer on Broadway in 1970 in the musical ''

Purlie ''Purlie'' is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis's 1961 play '' Purlie Victorious''. Plot ''Purlie'' is set in an era when Jim Crow laws still we ...

''. In 1975, Nelson directed the play ''La Femme Noire'' at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...

. Her film career began at age 39 with a small part in 1977's ''

An Unmarried Woman ''An Unmarried Woman'' is a 1978 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, and Cliff Gorman. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Pi ...

'', and continued for the next several decades with roles in movies and television. She may be best known for her role as Mrs. Tate in the 2002 movie ''

Antwone Fisher Antwone Quenton Fisher (born August 3, 1959) is an American director, screenwriter, author, and film producer. His 2001 autobiographical book '' Finding Fish'' was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. The 2002 film '' Antwone Fisher'' was writt ...

''.

Early life

Nelson was born on December 17, 1939, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, to James and Evelyn (formerly Hines) Nelson. Her father was a pastor and a taxi driver. Her mother was an executive assistant at magazine publisher

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides i ...

. An African American, she attended the predominantly white

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

in the late 1950s, majoring in biochemistry. She took a speech class, which was an acting course, and was asked to perform in a play. For the play she took on the role of Berenice, the housekeeper, in ''

The Member of the Wedding ''The Member of the Wedding'' is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete, although she interrupted the work for a few months to write the novella '' The Ballad of the Sad Café''.McDowell, Mar ...

'' by

Carson McCullers Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits ...

. After being on stage in this and other plays, the future actress changed course becoming a theatre major.

Death

Nelson died of cancer on September 1, 2017, aged 77, in her native

, New York.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

References

External links

* *
New York Times
obituary
Novella Nelson papers, 1949-2017
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Novella 1938 births 2017 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Actresses from Brooklyn Brooklyn College alumni Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses