Actress and singer Olga James, best known for her role as the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte’s character in Otto Preminger’s landmark film musical Carmen Jones, has passed away.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, James died on January 25 at the age of 95. She succumbed to complications from “a fall in which she broke her pelvis.”
James also played the fiancée of Sammy Davis Jr.’s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful. She had a recurring role as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby’s high school gym teacher, on the comedian’s NBC sitcom, which aired from 1969 to 1971.
A trained opera singer, James attended the Juilliard School of Music before being cast as the heartbroken Cindy Lou in Carmen Jones (1954), filmed in CinemaScope. In the film, her character loses her troubled lover, Joe (Belafonte), to the bewitching title character played by Dorothy Dandridge.
The success of Carmen Jones made James a sought-after nightclub performer. In 1955, she made her television debut when Saperstein invited her to sing at halftime during a Globetrotters-Washington Generals game.
In Mr. Wonderful, Olga James portrayed the supportive Ethel Pearson. The Broadway production ran for 383 performances and also featured Jack Carter and Chita Rivera.