Rosalind Cash (December 31, 1938 – October 31, 1995[1]) was an American actress. Her best-known film role is in the 1971 science-fiction film The Omega Man. Cash also had another notable role as Mary Mae Ward in ABC's General Hospital, a role she portrayed from 1994 until her death in 1995.

Rosalind Cash
Cash in 1970
Born(1938-12-31)December 31, 1938[1]
DiedOctober 31, 1995(1995-10-31) (aged 56)[2][1]
EducationCity College of New York
OccupationActress
Years active1962–1995

Biography edit

Early life and education edit

Cash was the second of four children born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to John O. Cash Sr., a clerk, and Martha Elizabeth Cash. Her siblings were John Jr., Robert, and Helen.[3] Cash graduated with honors from Atlantic City High School in 1956. After high school, Cash attended City College of New York. Her career extended to theater, television, film, and recording.

Career edit

Cash appeared in the 1962 revival of Fiorello! and was an original member of the Negro Ensemble Company, founded in 1968.[4] In 1973, Cash played the role of Goneril in King Lear at the New York Shakespeare Festival alongside James Earl Jones's Lear. Cash appeared on the New York-area television show Callback!, which featured musical director Barry Manilow. The episode on which Cash was featured was filmed on March 31, 1969, at the Village Gate in New York City. The episode aired on Saturday, April 19, 1969 at 3:30 pm on CBS. Cash performed "God Bless the Child" on the show. No recordings of the performance are known to exist. Her other television credits include The Cosby Show, What's Happening!!, A Different World, Good Times, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Frank's Place, Kojak, Barney Miller, Benson, Roc, Police Woman, Family Ties, Head of the Class, The Golden Girls, and L.A. Law.

Cash was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on the Public Broadcasting Service production of Go Tell It on the Mountain. In 1996, she was posthumously nominated for an Emmy Award, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, for her role on General Hospital.[5] Cash's films included Omega Man (1971), Klute (1971), The New Centurions (1972) with George C. Scott, Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier, and Wrong Is Right (1982). In 1995, she appeared in Tales from the Hood, her last film appearance.

Cash supplied the voices of Sesame Street Muppet Roosevelt Franklin's mother and his sister, Mary Frances, on the 1970 record album The Year of Roosevelt Franklin, Gordon's Friend from Sesame Street alongside Matt Robinson's voices for Roosevelt and his brother, Baby Ray, and friend, A.B. Cito.[6]

Personal life and death edit

Cash never married nor had children. She died of cancer on October 31, 1995, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, aged 56.[3][2]

Filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television – Rosalind Cash – By Bob McCann
  2. ^ a b JET Magazine – Actress Rosalind Cash Dies Of Cancer – November 20, 1995
  3. ^ a b Gussow, Mel. "Rosalind Cash, 56, at Home on Stage and Screen", The New York Times, November 3, 1995. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
  4. ^ Contributions to Black Studies – 1987
  5. ^ "Emmy nominations for daytime announced". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Associated Press. April 6, 1996.
  6. ^ Roosevelt Franklin – Keep On Trying – YouTube

External links edit