Olivia Cole

Olivia Carlena Cole (November 26, 1942 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress, best known for her Emmy Award-winning role in the 1977 miniseries Roots.

Early life and education Cole was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Arvelia Cole (née Cage), a tennis player, instructor, entrepreneur and William Calvin Cole, a worker for Grumman. After returning to the United States, she earned a master's degree in theater arts with minor in Scandinavian studies in 1967 from the University of Minnesota. Cole became the first African American actress to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series for her performance in Roots.

She also was known for her role as Maggie Rogers in the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

She was an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In film, she appeared in Heroes (1977), Coming Home (1978), Some Kind of Hero (1982), Go Tell It on the Mountain (1984), Big Shots (1987), First Sunday (2008) as well as in the television movies Something About Amelia (1984) and The Women of Brewster Place (1989).

Filmography

Awards and nominations 1977 Primetime Emmy award, Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series for Roots - won 1979 Primetime Emmy award, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special for Backstairs at the White House - nominated 2007 TV Land award, Anniversary award (shared with LeVar Burton, Louis Gossett, Jr., Leslie Uggams, John Amos, Ben Vereen, Todd Bridges, Cicely Tyson, Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, Georg Stanford Brown) for Roots