"Having Our Say" Hischfeld Print Hand Signed By Mary Alice & Gloria Foster COA

Description

Up for auction "Having Our Say" Hischfeld Print Hand Signed By Mary Alice & Gloria Foster.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity
ES-6264
Mary Alice Smith
(born December 3, 1941) known professionally as
Mary Alice
, is a former American film, television, and stage actress. Alice is known for her roles as Leticia "Lettie" Bostic on
NBC
's
A Different World
(1987–1989) and Effie Williams in the 1976
musical drama
Sparkle
. Alice has also performed on the stage, and received a
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
for her appearance in the 1987 production of
August Wilson
's
Fences
.
Born Mary Alice Smith in
Indianola
, Mississippi, Alice is the daughter of Ozelar (née Jurnakin) and Sam Smith. Alice showed an early and natural ability for acting, and began her stage career in her hometown. Her family moved from Mississippi to
Chicago
when she was two years old. Mary Alice graduated from
Chicago Teacher's College
, and taught at an
elementary school
. She returned to acting in the mid-1960s, through community theater, and appeared in three
Douglass Turner Ward
's plays, including
Days of Absence
and
Happy Endings
. Mary Alice also washed the cast's laundry for a salary of 0 a week.
She did some acting in
New York City
during the late 1960s and early 1970s, performing in multiple productions at
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
in
Manhattan's East Village
between 1969 and 1973. Her first production at La MaMa was
Adrienne Kennedy
's
A Rat's Mass
in September 1969. She reprised her role as Sister Rat in the October 1969 production, and again in the January 1971 production
All three productions were directed by Seth Allen. In 1970, Mary Alice performed in
Ed Bullins
'
Street Sounds
, directed by Hugh Gittens. She later performed in Lamar Alford's
Thoughts
in December 1972 and January 1973. Mary Alice made her screen début in the 1974 film
The Education of Sonny Carson
, and later appeared in the television shows
Police Woman
and
Sanford and Son
. She played Ellie Grant Hubbard on the
soap opera
All My Children
during the mid-1980s, and co–starred in
A Different World
as Leticia 'Lettie' Bostic from the series' start in 1987 until the end of the second season in 1989. Mary Alice won an
Emmy Award
for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1993 for
I'll Fly
way
. Her other film credits include
Malcolm X
(1992),
The Inkwell
(1994), and
Down in the Delta
(1998).
In 2000, she was inducted into the
American Theatre Hall of Fame
. Mary Alice replaced
Gloria Foster
as the
Oracle
in the film
The Matrix Revolutions
and the
video game
Enter the Matrix
after Foster, who originated the role, died in 2001. Alice retired from acting in 2005.
Gloria Foster
(November 15, 1933 – September 29, 2001) was an American actress. She had acclaimed roles in plays
In White America
and
Having Our Say
,
winning three
Obie Awards
during her career. She played the
Oracle
in
The Matrix
(1999) and
The Matrix Reloaded
(2003) films, the latter film being her last. She played the role of the mother of Yusef Bell in the mini series
The Atlanta Child Murders
which aired in 1985.
Foster was born on November 15, 1933, in
Chicago, Illinois
. As a young child she was put into the custody of her maternal grandparents. She never knew who her father was and she moved to
Janesville, Wisconsin
after her mother was hospitalized for a mental illness. She attended the
University of Illinois
at Chicago, where she participated in plays, but did not focus on acting. She decided to be a professional actor when her godmother introduced her to the
Goodman Theatre
in
Chicago
. She became one of the few African Americans at the
Goodman School of Drama
at the
Art Institute of Chicago
(now at
DePaul University
). During her studying at the Goodman School she also, "learned professional acting skills in the Court Theater at the University of Chicago". One of her most influential instructors was Bella Itkin, who cast Gloria in many classical roles. Gloria Foster began acting on Broadway in 1963. Her first role was Ruth in the show of
A Raisin in the Sun
. Her first professional performance was
In White America
. Foster, "play[s] a 13-year-old Arkansas girl who tries to enter her Little Rock school". She won an
Obie Award
or Off-Broadway Theater Award. Instead having to audition for roles, people started to make parts for her to be in. She was known for her work with
Joe Papp
, and appeared in his productions of
Long Day's Journey into Night
, Chekhov's
Cherry Orchard
, Brecht's
Mother Courage
(adapted by
Ntozake Shange
), and Shakespeare's
Coriolanus
. Foster searched for roles in which she could perform to the best of her ability. She once said, "Young people today, I think, are thinking in terms of stepping stones.…I don't know that I ever thought that way. It sounds ridiculous, but I was always thinking in terms of a more difficult role".