Greetings Everyone!
This week for Foxxy Friday I am paying homage to none other than Cleopatra Jones herself, Tamara Dobson!
Tamara Dobson was born in Baltimore, Maryland May 14, 1944(some sources say 1947). She started a career as a licensed beautician and later earned a degree in fashion illustration at the Maryland Institute of Art. Between 1970 and 1971, Dobson went to New York, after the statuesque (6'2") beauty was selected for a fashion show. She embarked on a career as a Vogue model and appeared in a number of commercials before entering films. In 1972, she had small roles in several films, including Come Back, Charleston Blue and Fuzz, but is best known for her roles in the Blaxploitation films, Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975).
As if those accomplishments weren't enough, Dobson was also recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records as the "Tallest Leading Lady in Film." With strong performances in Cleopatra Jones, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, and Norman... Is That You ?, it would seem that Tamara's stardom was assured, but that wasn't the case. The blaxploitation genre perished in the mid 1970s, and many actors suffered because of it. Dobson worked in films and television only sporadically from the late 1970s through the early 1980s; her last film was Amazons, a 1984 made-for-TV film directed by Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky & Hutch).
The late 1990s saw a renewed interest in blaxplotation films and their stars. For several years now, Warner Bros. has shown interest in a remake of Cleopatra Jones, this time with Whitney Houston in the title role, but the remake has not come to pass. Entertainer Beyonce played a character based on Dobson's Cleopatra Jones, ironically named "Foxxy Cleopatra", in the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember.
Sadly, Tamara Dobson passed away from complications of pneumonia and multiple sclerosis on October 2, 2006, at the age of 59. She remains an icon in the 1970s Blaxploitation era.
Here's Tamara:
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