FOXXY FRIDAYS - JUDY PACE

GREETINGS EVERYONE!

Today I'm honoring another trailblazer, the one & only Miss JUDY PACE!!

Judy was born June 16, 1942, in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from high school, she attended Los Angeles City College where she majored in sociology. She was enticed away from college with an offer to join the prestigious Ebony Fashion Fair (an extension of Ebony/Jet magazine) as a model. Judy wasn't interested in a career in film until a movie director saw her pictures in Ebony and chose her for a part in the film, 13 Frightened Girls. After that film small parts on television and films developed, leading up to Judy's first major role in the 1968 film Three in the Attic.

Judy followed up her success in Three in the Attic with another groundbreaking role, this time on the small screen. Judy landed a part on the popular 60's night time soap Peyton Place, where she played Vickie Fletcher, television's first black villainess. When Peyton Place was cancelled in 1969, Judy appeared in The Young Lawyers, where she played one of three young lawyers who took on cases dealing with the poor and oppressed.

The 70s for Judy brought her fame when she starred in the first Hollywood produced and financed film by a Black company, Cotton Comes to Harlem. Directed by actor Ossie Davis, Cotton Comes to Harlem was derived from the writings of African American novelist Chester Himes. She played Iris, the girlfriend of Calvin Lockhart's Minister Deke O'Malley. The film became the first black action "blockbuster", paving the way for what would later be deemed Hollywood's "blaxploitation" film era of the early 1970's. After this film Judy became popular in film and television, appearing on Bewitched, The Mod Squad, That's My Mama, Sanford and Son, What's Happening, and Good Times.

Check out this clip from "Good Times":

Judy continued to act but parts became more scarce. She has been married twice, to actor Don Mitchell ("Ironside"), and legendary baseball player Curt Flood. She is currently semi retired.

Judy Pace was the original "chocolate drop". During a time when her fairer toned counterparts were becoming popular, Judy paved the way for fellow chocolate sistas to be acknowledged for their beauty and talent, and her influence in how the world sees Black women, particularly dark-skinned Black women, cannot be diminished nor should it be ignored.

Here's to you Judy, for showing that Black is truly beautiful!

MORE JUDY...

I hope you enjoy Foxxy Fridays as much as I enjoy finding our treasures. Please leave comments and if there's anyone you want profiled you can drop me a line.

I'm also going to begin a new feature, Exclusive Wednesdays, where I'll be interviewing people you may or may not have heard of. It's going to be a busy fall!
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!