Jonelle Allen

Jonelle R. Allen (born July 8, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s, Allen has co-starred in films, Broadway productions, and television. In 1972, Allen was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. As a child, she made regular appearances on a local children's television series, The Merry Mailman, hosted by Ray Heatherton. Allen returned to Broadway in a revival of Finian's Rainbow. She was in the cast of the original off-Broadway 1968 production of Hair at Joseph Papp's Public Theater,

Her most notable roles are Grace, the entrepreneurial café owner in the Old West, that she played for seven years on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, as well as the flamboyant and outspoken Doreen Jackson on the NBC soap opera Generations, and Lucinda Cavender, the vampire witch in the horror comedy film The Midnight Hour. Before Generations, she played ambitious salesgirl-turned-boutique-manager Stacey Russell on the short-lived prime-time soap Berrenger's. Allen appeared as legendary Harlem jazz queen Florence Mills in Harlem Renaissance at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

More recently, Allen has headed the New Works/Staged Reading Projects at Saddleback College, and is writing and directing new shows which Allen calls "plays with music", which have been presented at Saddleback, notably an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and The Journey, both with composer David Jayden Anthony. In 2017, Allen appeared in the film The Divorce, released on Amazon, and starred in Hello, Dolly! at Saddlebacks CLO. The same year, she starred in Donald B. Welch's Secret Garden and worked on an updated version of her Florence Mills one-woman show, written with collaborators Stevi Meredith and David Jayden Anthony.

In 2020, Allen appeared as Felicia Richardson in the serial drama Forever and a Day. Originally starting as a recurring character, by season three Allen became a main character in the audio drama.

Personal Allen has been married three times. She was married to John Sharpe on December 19, 1978, divorcing in 1992. Then she was married to Richard Grimmon from January 9, 1998 until 2001. Most recently she was married to Leigh Eaton from 2003 until his death in 2020.

Filmography Year Film Role Notes 1970 Cotton Comes to Harlem Secretary 1970 The Cross and the Switchblade Bishop Deb 1972 Come Back, Charleston Blue Carol 1974 Wide World Mystery Eva Episode: 'Legacy of Blood' 1974 Police Woman Laurette Blake/Maxine Played Laurette in the 1974 episode 'The End Game' & played Maxine in the 1975 episode 'Above & Beyond' 1975 Cage Without a Key Tommy 1975 Foster and Laurie Jacqueline Foster 1975 Barney Miller Officer Turner Episode: 'Hot Dogs' 1975 Police Story Mary Sue/Merrily Goodwin Played Mary Sue in the episode 'The Execution' & played Merrily in the episode 'The Company Man' 1976 The American Woman: Portraits of Courage Rosa Parks 1976 The River Niger Ann Vanderguild 1976 Joe Forrester Episode: 'The Boy Next Door' 1978 What's Happening!! Love-is-Life Episode: 'Rerun Sees the Light" 1978 The Love Boat Andrea Martin Episode: 'Gopher the Rebel/Cabin Fever/Pacific Princess Overture' 1978 All in the Family Marabel Episode: 'Archie's Other Wife' 1979 The White Shadow Shelley Episode: 'Airball' 1979 Vampire Brandy 1980 Brave New World Fanny Crowne 1980 Palmerstown, U.S.A. Bessie Freeman Appeared in 11 episodes, 1980–1981 1982 Victims Maydene Jariott 1982 Trapper John, M.D. Episode: 'Medicine Man' 1983 Cagney & Lacey Elizabeth Carter/Claudia Petrie Played Elizabeth in the 1983 episode 'Open & Shut Case' & played Claudia in the 1984 episode 'A Killer's Dozen' 1984 Hill Street Blues Linda Talbot Episode: 'The Count of Monty Tasco' 1984 The Hotel New Hampshire Sabrina 1985 Berrenger's Stacey Russell 1985 The Midnight Hour Lucinda Cavender 1986 The Penalty Phase Susan Jansen 1987 The Hitchhiker Sunny Episode: 'Made for Each Other' 1987 Werewolf Emily Episode: 'Big Daddy' 1989 Generations Doreen Jackson 1992 The Royal Family Nina Martin Episode: 'The Big Stink'. Episode was never aired. 1992 Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive Madeline Garrick 1993 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman Grace Appeared in 106 episodes, 1993–1998 1997 The Eddie Files Eddie's Music Teacher Episode: 'Patterns: The Big Concert' 1998 Next Time Evelyn 1999 Blues for Red Dora 1999 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Movie Grace 1999 Twice in a Lifetime Dr. Grace Grant-Heistings, M.D./Nurse Daisy Bradford Episode: 'Healing Touch' 2000 ER Debbie Marlin Episodes: 'Foreign Affairs' & 'Rescue Me' 2001 Flossin Viola 2002 Strong Medicine Connie Episode: 'Stages' 2003 Mr. Barrington Mother Anne 2005 As Seen on TV Shauna 2007 Girlfriends Eleanor Episode: 'Operation Does She Yield' 2008 Float Madge 2016 American Crime Story Mom Darden2 Episodes2017ShamelessHelen CardinalEpisode: 'Where's My Meth?'2018BoomersYvetteEpisode: 'The Gig'20219-1-1Ellen SaxtonEpisode: 'Parenthood'2022Bust DownDoloresEpisode: 'Won't He Do It'