Biography
Mary Alice was born on December 3, 1936 in Indianola, Mississippi, USA to parents Ozelar Jurnakin (Smith) and Sam Smith. She was an actress, known for The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Awakenings (1990) and Malcolm X (1992). She taught in Elementary School before her acting career took off. When she was still a struggling actress doing stage plays, she made a living doing her castmate's laundry for a salary of $200 a week. She was a lifelong liberal Democrat, feminist, and civil rights activist. ...
Known For
Complete Filmography
The Burly Man Chronicles
2004
This mammoth documentary takes us through the making of both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. On top of seeing many pre-production and ...
The Matrix Recalibrated
2004
as Self
The making of Matrix Revolutions, The (2003) is briefly touched on here in this documentary. Interviews with various cast and crew members inform us h...
What I Want My Words to Do to You
2003
as Self
An inside look at a writing workshop led by playwright and activist Eve Ensler, consisting of 15 women, most of whom were convicted of murder. Through...
The Matrix Revolutions
2003
as The Oracle
The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing t...
Sunshine State
2002
as Eunice Stokes
A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estat...
The Last Brickmaker in America
2001
as Dorothy Cobb
A man must cope with the loss of his wife and the obsolescence of his job before finding redemption by becoming a role model to an equally lost 13-yea...
The Photographer
2000
as Violet
A year after becoming the toast of New York City's art scene, photographer Max Martin has lost his ability to take a decent picture. On the night befo...
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
1999
as Dolores Williams
An African American couple (Winfield and Alice) adopt two orphans from a Vietnamese refugee camp. After 22 years, the children are reunited with their...
The Wishing Tree
1999
as Mattie
When her storyteller mother (Mary Alice) dies, attorney Clara Collier (Alfre Woodard) returns to her Georgia hometown and is soon captivated by a loca...
Down in the Delta
1998
as Rosa Lynn Sinclair
A single mother plagued by alcohol and drug addictions is sent with her children from Chicago to her ancestral home in the Mississippi Delta, to live ...
Bed of Roses
1996
as Alice
The seeds of love are planted when Lisa, a high-powered investment banker, receives flowers from a secret admirer. But when his fairy-tale fantasies c...
Heading Home
1995
as Mary Jones
A Vietnam War–era drama chronicling the emotional journey of two unlikely friends who form a bond en route to Washington, D.C.
Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder
1995
Ray investigates the murder of a judge.
The Mother
1994
as Black Lady
Paddy Chayefsky's 1954 play set in the Bronx tells the story of a recently widowed 66-year-old woman who seeks a job after 40 years of being a homemak...
The Inkwell
1994
as Evelyn
The Inkwell is about a 16-year-old boy coming of age on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1976.
The Vernon Johns Story
1994
as Altona
In 1948, Johns served as the outspoken spiritual leader of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Incensed at the racial injustice t...
A Perfect World
1993
as Lottie
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
Life with Mikey
1993
as Mrs. Gordon
Michael Chapman, a former child TV star, runs a struggling talent agency specilizing in child acts. When a young girl off the street puts on a real pe...
Malcolm X
1992
as School Teacher
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he b...
The Bonfire of the Vanities
1990
as Annie Lamb
After his mistress runs over a black teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight; A down-and-out reporter breaks the story and ...
Awakenings
1990
as Nurse Margaret
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patie...
To Sleep with Anger
1990
as Suzie
An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.
The Women of Brewster Place
1989
as Fannie Michael
A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home.
A Different World
1987
as Leticia Bostic
A Different World is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of The Cosby Show. It aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987, t...
Charlotte Forten's Mission: Experiment in Freedom
1985
as Blind Lily
At the beginning of the Civil War, Union gunboats sailed into Port Royal Sound, on the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia. White plantation owners f...
Teachers
1984
as Linda Ganz
A teacher reconnects with an old student who is now an attorney representing a family who is suing the school for graduating their son who still canno...
Beat Street
1984
as Cora
An aspiring DJ, from the South Bronx, and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and culture.
The Killing Floor
1984
as Lilah Dean
During World War I, a poor black Southerner travels north to Chicago to get work in the city's slaughterhouses, where he becomes embroiled in the orga...
The Brass Ring
1983
as Mrs. Hauser
A mother afflicted with depression comes into conflict with own mother and children when she refuses to seek professional health care.
A House Divided: Denmark Vessey's Rebellion
1982
as Beck
Story of Denmark Vesey, who was raised as a slave but bought his freedom. He organized a plot to seize the city and free the black slaves, but this fa...
Joshua's World
1980
as Housekeeper
The pilot story, set in the small town of Strawee, Arkansas in the '30s, follows the experiences of Joshua Torrance, a doctor whose practice is jeopar...
Lawman Without a Gun
1979
as Minnie Hayward
During the 1960s' civil rights movement, a black civil rights worker returns to his small Southern town and runs for sheriff against the incumbent, a ...
Just an Old Sweet Song
1976
as Helen Mayfield
Upon learning that their grandmother is not long for this world, Nate and Priscilla Simmons pack up their kids and leave Detroit to head down South. E...
Sparkle
1976
as Effie
Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.
The Education of Sonny Carson
1974
as Moms
A 1974 film based on the best-selling autobiography of Sonny Carson who joined a gang and committed petty crime before being sent to prison. After his...
Sty of the Blind Pig
1974
as Alberta Warren
After moving to Chicago from the South just as the civil rights movement takes hold, the members of an African American family led by steely matriarch...