Actress LeNoire Dies at 90
Tue Mar 19, 8:50 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actress-producer Rosetta Lenoire, who was directed by
Orson Welles in a
landmark, all-black version of "Macbeth" in the 1930s and who played
Grandma Winslow on the
television comedy "Family Matters," died on Sunday in Teaneck, N.J., after
a long illness. She was 90.

Known to TV audiences for her long-running role as Grandma Winslow, LeNoire
founded the Amas
Repertory Theatre in New York in 1968. The nonprofit organization,
dedicated to developing musicals
and new talent, produced such popular shows as "Bojangles" and Tony nominee
"Bubbling Brown Sugar."

She also received the National Medal of Arts in 1999.

Born in New York City, LeNoire took music lessons from legendary jazzman
Eubie Blake. By age 15,
she was a chorus girl working with her godfather, dancing great Bill
"Bojangles" Robinson.

She made her Broadway debut in "The Hot Mikado" in 1939, going on to appear
in such shows as "A
Streetcar Named Desire," "The Sunshine Boys" and "Lost In The Stars."

LeNoire also co-starred in the film version of "Anna Lucasta" with Sammy
Davis Jr. and Eartha Kitt and appeared in such TV series as "Search for
Tomorrow," "The Guiding Light" and "Gimme a Break."

She played Grandma Winslow on "Family Matters' from 1989 to 1997.