I know the old school family remember’s the actress who played “Mrs. Bookman” on “Good Times!” Her name was Marilyn Coleman and she graced us with characters like Violet Bookman, Grandmama in “Menace II Society“, and Mrs. King in “The Five Heartbeats“. And for my true “old schoolers”, she was Sister Sarah in “Which Way Is Up?” starring alongside Richard Pryor.
Sadly Marilyn Coleman passed away in 2013 at the age of 79. In our research of some of our favorite Old School actresses, we were saddened to find out that she’d passed away. But we’ve also located a video that her grandchild put together for her funeral service, and it was very enlightening! The former “Good Times” actress had a love of music, and the gift of song that had been captured on video in her younger days and it was surely a pleasant surprise! Take a look at the video below.
Marilyn began performing as a singer at a very young age, but by the late 1960’s, Marilyn decided to try her luck in Hollywood, relocating there, and then began getting roles on film and TV, appearing in the popular Rudy Ray “Dolemite” Moore blaxploitation/comedy flick Disco Godfather, (1979) and the Keenan Ivory Wayans blaxploitation spoof comedy I’m Gonna Get You Sucka (1989).
Her TV show appearances include Good Times, Lou Grant, The Love Boat, Family, The White Shadow and Amen. Now we all know her from these popular movies and TV shows, but Marilyn love of music was evident in her personal life. She was married to jazz percussionist Fred Allen, which they later divorced, and then she married jazz singer Fred Coleman. Check out this video celebrating the life of Marilyn Coleman.
