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Olga James, the singer, actress and nightclub performer who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte’s character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, has died. She was 95.
James died Jan. 25 at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles of complications from a fall in which she broke her pelvis, her niece, actress and acting teacher Janet Adderley, told The Hollywood Reporter.
James also portrayed the fiancée of Sammy Davis Jr.’s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, and she recurred as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby’s high school gym teacher, on the comedian’s eponymous 1969-71 NBC sitcom.
James died Jan. 25 at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles of complications from a fall in which she broke her pelvis, her niece, actress and acting teacher Janet Adderley, told The Hollywood Reporter.
James also portrayed the fiancée of Sammy Davis Jr.’s struggling showbiz entertainer in the 1956-57 Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful, and she recurred as Verna Kincaid, the sister-in-law of Bill Cosby’s high school gym teacher, on the comedian’s eponymous 1969-71 NBC sitcom.