Rosetta LeNoire

Rosetta LeNoire (1911-2002) was an actor and stage producer, often on Broadway, who later became best known as lively grandmother Mother Winslow on Family Matters. She guest starred on Sesame Street Episode 2092 as crossing guard Mrs. Robinson. 
LeNoire began her Broadway career in the all-black versions of The Hot Mikado (1939) and Anna Lucasta (playing Stella in the 1944 original, 1947 revival, and 1958 film version). Other Broadway shows included the 1955 version of Finian's Rainbow, Destry Rides Again, and The Great Indoors. She appeared in New York-shot television in the fifties and sixties, including the Studio One two-part courtroom drama "The Defender" (with William Shatner), a production of The Green Pastures (as Noah's wife), and an episode of The Nurses. In 1968, she founded and served as artistic director of AMAS Repertory Theatre (later AMAS Musical Theatre), an interracial theater company whose productions included the 1976 musical revue Bubbling Brown Sugar.
In 1972, LeNoire lent her voice to the X-rated animated feature Fritz the Cat (as Big Bertha, with Skip Hinnant) and was back on Broadway the following year with a small role in the revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. She was a replacement as Willie Clark's nurse in The Sunshine Boys and reprised it for the film version opposite George Burns. More TV and movies followed, from assorted soap opera stints and a sitcom pilot of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? to a guest role on Fantasy Island. She acted on Broadway again in the 1983 revival of You Can't Take It With You (with Bill McCutcheon) but apart from her theater company, she worked primarily on camera from then on, with a string of supporting movie roles in Daniel (with Will Lee), Moscow on the Hudson and Brewster's Millions (both as judges), Lily in Love (with Elke Sommer), and The Brother from Another Planet. In 1985, she guest starred on Gimme a Break! as Nell's judgmental mother Mama Harper, which became a recurring and then regular role until the series' end in 1987. She moved on to Amen, appearing semi-regularly from 1987 to 1989 as church elder Rolly's new wife, Leola. While the show was still running, she left for Family Matters. Her final role was playing a nurse on an episode of Cosby.
==External links==
*IMDb
*Internet Broadway Database
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Category:Celebrities
Category:Sesame Street Guest Stars