Emmy- and Tony-award winning actress Mary Alice died in New York City on Wednesday, the NYPD confirmed to Variety. Her precise birth year is unknown, having been reported as both 1936 and 1941, Variety reported. A star of the stage and screen, Alice was best known for playing Leticia “Lettie” Bostic on the television show A Different World and Effie Williams in the dramatic musical Sparkle. Born Mary Alice Smith from Indianola, Mississippi, she began acting on her hometown stage before briefly becoming an elementary school teacher. Alice returned to the theater in the 1960s and transitioned to film in the 1970s, making her a titan of various industries. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2000. “A shoulder we all stood on,” actor Colman Domingo wrote of her passing. “Thank you legend. The NYPD did not provide further details on her death.
