Television and film actress Judy Pace has died.
The influential actress, known for her roles in Blaxploitation films in the ’70s, died Wednesday, her daughters Shawn and Julia Pace Mitchell announced, per Deadline.
Pace “died peacefully in her sleep” while visiting family in Marina Del Rey, Calif., according to her family
She was 83 years old.
Pace’s most famous roles include playing Vickie Fletcher on the soap opera “Peyton Place,” and playing Linda Sayers — the wife of real-life NFL player Gale Sayers — in the 1971 TV movie “Brian’s Song.”
The movie told the story of Chicago Bears football player Brian Piccolo, who was stricken with terminal cancer, and his friendship with Sayers, who was his teammate.
“Brian’s Song” was a critical success, earning multiple Emmys as well as a Grammy.
Her extensive acting credits include “13 Frightened Girls” (1963), “Batman” (1966), “Bewitched” (1966), “Days of Our Lives” (1967), “I Dream of Jeannie” (1967), “The Mod Squad” (1968), “The Young Lawyers” (1970-1971), “Shaft” (1973), and more.
She won an NAACP Image Award in 1970 for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role in ABC’s “The Young Lawyers,” in which she played a law student working in Boston.
She also made history in 1965, when she was the first Black “bachelorette” contestant to appear on “The Dating Game.”
Prior to her success as an actress, Pace was a model.
She was previously married to actor Don Mitchell, whom she shared her two daughters with, but they divorced in 1984 after 12 years of marriage.
She later married baseball great Curt Flood, and they were together until he died in 1997.
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