Minnie Gentry on AllMovie

Distinguished singer/actress Minnie Gentry primarily worked on stage and television, but she also appeared in a few films. While growing up in Cleveland she began performing in church choirs. She made her acting debut with the Charles Gilpin Players at the Karamu Playhouse, Cleveland, and remained in close contact with them. In the late 1940s, Gentry went to New York and eventually landed on Broadway appearing in various highly acclaimed productions that include Lysistrata, her Broadway debut in which she starred opposite Sidney Poitier, A Raisin in the Sun, and All God's Chillun Got Wings. She also worked off-Broadway in such plays as Medea. On television she had a role on the daytime serial All My Children and played Gram Tee on the Cosby Show. Minnie Gentry's film credits include Georgia, Georgia (1971) and Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1981).