[Deathwatch] Virginia Capers, actress, 78

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Another from a reader - Ed.

Tony award winner Capers dies at age 78
May. 11, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Virginia Capers, who won a 1974 Tony award for her
performance in the original version of the musical "Raisin," has died.
She was 78.

Capers, who played Lena Younger in the musical, died Thursday after
being hospitalized for pneumonia, said her son, Glenn S. Capers.

Capers also appeared in Broadway productions of "Jamaica" in 1957 and
"Saratoga" in 1959. On film, she played Mama Holiday in "Lady Sings the
Blues," about blues singer Billie Holiday, and Nurse Florence Sparrow
in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," among other roles.

She was a regular on the television show "Frank's Place" in the late
1980s. She also made guest appearances on "Daniel Boone" and "Marcus
Welby, M.D." in the 1960s, "Murder, She Wrote" in the 1980s and "Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air" in the early 1990s.

She was nominated for an Emmy award in 1973 for her performance in an
episode of "Mannix."

Born in Sumter, S.C., Capers attended Howard University in Washington,
D.C., and studied voice at the Juilliard School in Manhattan.

Capers is survived by her son and her brother, James H. Capers.