Mary AliceFilmography

Born:: Indianola, MS
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Born in Mississippi, Mary Alice is a prolific actress on stage and television who is underutilized in feature films. She got her start with the Negro Ensemble Company and worked off-Broadway for several years. Her theater credits include The Vagina Monologues, A Raisin in the Sun, and Richard III....Read More

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The Matrix Revolutions

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith

Synopsis: Shot back-to-back with The Matrix Reloaded, the third and final installment of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski's sci-fi action saga picks up where the second film left off. Neo (Keanu Reeves) remains unconscious in the real world, caught in a mysterious subway station that lies between the Read More

11/5/03
Sunshine State

Actors: Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Jane Alexander, Ralph Waite, James McDaniel, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen, Gordon Clapp, Miguel Ferrer

Synopsis: Writer and director John Sayles returns with another multi-layered look at an American community, subtly exploring how race, class, economics, and both national and regional history come together to shape people's lives. Plantation Island is a community on the coast of Florida; the island was once Read More

6/21/02
What I Want My Words to Do to You

Actors: Mary Alice, Glenn Close, Eve Ensler, Hazelle Goodman, Rosie Perez

Synopsis: The documentary What I Want My Words to Do to You offers a look at some actual rehabilitation at a women's maximum security prison. Directors Judith Katz, Madeleine Gavin, and Gary Sunshine used high-definition video cameras to capture an emotional reformation process for several incarcerated Read More

2002
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

Actors: Paul Winfield, Mary Alice, Chi Muoi Lo, Lauren Tom, Kieu Chinh

Synopsis: In Catfish In Black Bean Sauce, Paul Winfield and Mary Alice play an African-American couple who in the 1970's adopted two Vietnamese children, a brother and sister. 20 years on, the two kids have grown to adulthood; Dwayne (Chi Muoi Lo) has absorbed a great deal of black culture from his adopted Read More

6/9/00
The Wishing Tree

Actors: Helen Shaver, Alfre Woodard, Mary Alice, Blair Underwood

Synopsis: In this family drama, Clara Collier (Alfre Woodard) is a lawyer who pays a visit to her hometown in the Georgia farm country when her mother (Mary Alice), a well-regarded local storyteller, dies. Mother's death has brought the family together for the funeral, and when Clara meets with her family Read More

2000
Touched by an Angel: God Bless the Child

Synopsis: Even though her brother died of a drug overdose, a young, angry black girl named Charnelle (Kenya Williams) is on the brink of becoming a hopeless addict herself. Fortunately, Monica (Roma Downey) has shown up to help Charnelle write a school essay about finding "a piece of yourself in history." Read More

2000
The Photographer

Actors: Reg Rogers, Mary Alice, Marisa Berenson, Rob Campbell, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Synopsis: Several stalwarts of the New York independent film scene make appearances in this tale of a creatively frustrated photographer and his search through the streets of Manhattan for ten mysterious snapshots which may hold the key to continued success. The film opens as Max (Reg Rogers), a former Read More

2000
Down in the Delta

Actors: Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman, Jr., Mary Alice, Esther Rolle, Loretta Devine

Synopsis: Poet Maya Angelou made her feature directorial debut with this African-American family drama, shown theatrically but originally produced for the Showtime cable network. Unemployed single mother Loretta (Alfre Woodward) lives with her mother, Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), in a Chicago apartment. Drugs Read More

12/25/98
Bed of Roses

Actors: Christian Slater, Mary Stuart Masterson, Pamela Segall, Josh Brolin, Ally Walker

Synopsis: Two lonely people learn to say it with flowers in this romantic drama. Lisa (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a business executive who has gotten used to being alone but doesn't like it very much; she was abandoned by her birth parents, and then spent most of her childhood being raised by Stanley (S.A. Griffin Read More

1996
Heading Home

Actors: Frankie R. Faison, Margaret Welsh, Mary Alice, Allison Janney, Seth Gilliam

Synopsis: An African-American busdriver befriends a white girl in this sensitive drama set in 1970 during the height of the Vietnam-War protests. Horace Jones, the bus driver, is frustrated that he couldn't keep his son Willie from enlisting in the military. What makes it worse, is that Willie was an Read More

1995
The Mother

1994
The Inkwell

Actors: Larenz Tate, Joe Morton, Suzzanne Douglas, Glynn E. Turman, Duane Martin, Jada Pinkett Smith, Vanessa Bell Calloway

Synopsis: Charming comedy about a 16-year-old boy coming of age on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1976. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide Read More

1994
The Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story

Actors: James Earl Jones, Mary Alice, Tommy Hollis, Cissy Houston, Clifton James

Synopsis: The Vernon Johns Story is the inspirational saga of the man who preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of a Montgomery, Alabama Baptist Church. Described as "one of God's most brilliant preachers," Johns campaigned tirelessly for Civil Rights long before the cudgel was taken up by the Read More

1994
Life with Mikey

Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper, David Krumholtz

Synopsis: James Lapine, whose Broadway credits as a writer/director includes work with Stephen Sondheim, made his Hollywood debut with this comedy. Michael J. Fox plays Michael Chapman, who once upon a time was a wise-cracking child star on a situation comedy called "Life With Mikey." Now in his thirties Read More

1993
Law & Order: Mother Love

Synopsis: When an African-American honors student is found murdered, detectives Logan (Chris Noth) and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) dig up evidence that the dead girl was stealing from her family to support a drug habit. The number-one suspect is the girl's sleazy crack-dealing boyfriend, but for reasons that Read More

1993
A Perfect World

Actors: Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, T.J. Lowther, Keith Szarabajka

Synopsis: Clint Eastwood, hot off of his Academy Award win for Unforgiven, directed this small character study, appearing in the guise of a cops-and-robbers action picture. The film takes place during the fall of 1963. Eight-year old Phillip Perry (T.J. Lowther), the son of a devout Jehovah's Witness Read More

1993
Laurel Avenue

Actors: Mary Alice, Jay Brooks, Juanita Jennings, Scott Lawrence, Rhonda Stubbins White

Synopsis: Director Carl Franklin's follow-up to his indie hit One False Move was this made-for-cable miniseries about an extended African-American family and the weekend that changes their lives irrevocably. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

1993
Awakenings

Actors: Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller

Synopsis: Based on a true story as related by neurologist Oliver Sacks, Awakenings stars Robin Williams as the Sacks counterpart, here named Dr. Malcolm Sayer. Something of a klutz and naif, Dr. Sayer takes a job at a Bronx psychiatric hospital in 1969. Here he's put in charge of several seemingly catatonic Read More

12/20/90
The Bonfire of the Vanities

Actors: Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Kim Cattrall, Saul Rubinek, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis: Brian De Palma's Hollywood sanitization of Tom Wolfe's scabrous satire stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, the "master of the universe," a shallow Wall Street investor who makes millions while enjoying the good life and the sexual favors of Maria Ruskin (Melanie Griffith), a Southern belle Read More

12/19/90
To Sleep with Anger

Actors: Danny Glover, Richard Brooks, Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, Sheryl Lee Ralph

Synopsis: African-American drifter Danny Glover shows up at the LA doorstep of his old pal Paul Butler. In the spirit of auld lang syne, Butler takes Glover in, though his wife (Mary Alice) is not happy with this intrusion. She already has enough on her hands contending with her grown live-in son Richard Brooks Read More

10/12/90
The Women of Brewster Place

Actors: Oprah Winfrey, Jackée, Cicely Tyson, Robin Givens

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place was produced by and stars Oprah Winfrey. The film concerns a variety of women who live in the housing project located on Brewster Place, and tells about their lives as they struggle in the face of racism, poverty, and troublesome Read More

1989
A Different World: Season 02

Actors: Jasmine Guy, Sinbad, Kadeem Hardison, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell

Synopsis: Season two of A Different World finds the overall quality of the series improving immensely, which many insiders attributed to the fact that the multi-talented Debbie Allen had taken over as producer-director. Originally intended as a vehicle for former Cosby Show co-star Lisa Bonet in her Read More

1988
Charlotte Forten's Mission: Experiment in Freedom

Actors: Melba Moore

Synopsis: The full title of this made-for-TV film is Charlotte Forten's Mission: Experiment in Freedom. But don't be put off by this 21-gun cognomen -- the film is a simple, austere tale of a pioneer African-American educator. Melba Moore plays Charlotte Forten, a northern black woman who heads to Port Read More

1985
Beat Street

Actors: Rae Dawn Chong, Guy Davis, John Chardiet, Leon Grant, Robert Taylor

Synopsis: Jon Chardiet plays a Puerto Rican youth who targets subway walls for his graffiti renderings. For a while, it looks as though Chardiet's problems will carry the plotline, but before long the film's true raison d'etre comes to the surface. Rap-music deejay Guy Davis, in tandem with such like-minded Read More

6/8/84
Concealed Enemies

1984
Teachers

Actors: Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams, Judd Hirsch, Ralph Macchio, Lee Grant

Synopsis: Arthur Hiller directed this satiric look at contemporary urban high schools, examining disillusioned teachers who try to regain their idealism. Nick Nolte stars as Alex, a teacher at John Fitzgerald Kennedy High School, who was once an idealistic teacher but whose main concern now is sobering up Read More

1984
The Color of Friendship

Actors: Chris Barnes, James Bond III, Mary Alice, Jill Andre, Terrance Ellis

Synopsis: This ABC Afterschool Special tackles the issue of racial harmony, which was still a "hot potato" on children's teleivision even as late as 1981. Chris Barnes is cast as David Bellinger, a white teenager who, like most of his schoolmates, is none too thrilled when a black student, Joel Garth (James Bond III Read More

1981
This Man Stands Alone

Synopsis: This socially conscious drama is set during the Civil Rights Movement and chronicles the endeavors of a black minister to run for sheriff in a Southern county. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1979
He Who Walks Alone

1978
Lawman Without a Gun

Synopsis: The civil rights movement in the South saw the election of the first black county sheriff as portrayed in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1978
Sparkle

Actors: Philip Michael Thomas, Irene Cara, Lonette McKee, Dwan Smith, Mary Alice

Synopsis: A trio of musically talented Harlem sisters rise to become major stars of the '50s. Unfortunately, their sudden popularity causes much turmoil in their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1976
Just an Old Sweet Song

Synopsis: Originally telecast September 14, 1976, as a CBS "General Electric Theater" special, Just an Old Sweet Song was the first of three pilots for Down Home, a proposed TV series created by filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles. Robert Hooks and Cicely Tyson star as Nate and Priscilla Simmons, the patriarch and Read More

1976
Good Times: The Baby

Synopsis: Florida (Esther Rolle) throws a surprise baby shower for her friend Loretta (Mary Alice). The festivities come to an abrupt and unpleasant halt when Loretta announces that she intends to put the baby up for adoption. Will Florida and the kids be able to dissuade the expectant mother from her Read More

1975
Sanford and Son: My Brother-in-Law's Keeper

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Allan Drake, Mary Alice, Howard Platt

Synopsis: Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) is delighted that his sister Frances (Mary Alice) has finally gotten married. His delight quickly evaporates when he meets his new brother-in-law Rodney Victor (Allan Drake, in his first series appearance). It seems that dear old Rodney is an inveterate gambler and a Read More

1975
Sanford and Son: Brother, Can You Spare an Act?

Actors: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, Allan Drake, Mary Alice, Nancy Kulp

Synopsis: Forced to play host to his unemployed white brother-in-law Rodney Victor (Allan Drake), Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) is fed up with Rodney's obnoxious practical jokes. Finally deciding that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Fred suggests that he and Rodney work up a nightclub routine. The ultimate Read More

1975
The Education of Sonny Carson

Actors: Derrick Champ Ford, Dennis Keir

Synopsis: A surprisingly long and worthwhile film, The Education of Sonny Carson is based on a true story. Rony Clanton stars as Carson, a product of the Brooklyn ghetto. After several years of gang and drug activities, Sonny is sobered by his horrendous experiences in prison. He puts his priorities in Read More

1974
The Sty of the Blind Pig

Actors: Mary Alice, Scatman Crothers, Maide Norman, Richard Ward

Synopsis: An uprooted African-American family is forced to confront their traditional values and ponder the effect that the emerging civil rights movement will have on their lives after relocating from the deep-south to Chicago in the filmed version of Phillip Hayes Dean's insightful and acclaimed stage Read More

1974

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