Bebe Drake
Birthday: Born in 1944-05-31 in Sacramento, California, USA
Deathday: Alive
Bebe Drake (born Beatrice Drake) is an American actress. Drake is one of four children born to Beatrice Lillian Hayes, a teacher, social worker and community activist, and Carl Everett Drake, a postal worker who later became the first African American practicing psychiatrist in Sacramento. She attended C. K. McClatchy High School, Sacramento City College, and California State University, Sacramento. Drake made her Broadway debut in the 1975 Leslie Lee's play The First Breeze of Summer and the following year appeared in Great Performances production. She later was regular cast member on the two short-lived sitcoms: Snip (1976) and Sanford Arms (1977). During her career, Drake appeared in more than 70 films and television series. She made her big screen debut in 1975 appearing in films Report to the Commissioner and Friday Foster, and in 1977 had supporting role opposite Richard Pryor in the comedy film Which Way Is Up?. In 1979 she co-starred in the miniseries Backstairs at the White House and the made-for-television movie The Cracker Factory. She made guest-starring appearances on television series such as Good Times, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Love Boat, The Jeffersons, Highway to Heaven, Thirtysomething, L.A. Law, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Steve Harvey Show, The Parent 'Hood and The Bernie Mac Show. Drake appeared in films such as The Last Married Couple in America (1980), Xanadu (1980), Oh, God! Book II (1980), First Monday in October (1981), Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986), Alien Nation (1988), House Party (1990), Across the Tracks (1991), Boomerang (1992), Jason's Lyric (1994), Space Jam (1996), How to Be a Player (1997), Anywhere But Here (1999), Leprechaun in the Hood (2000), Friday After Next (2002), Wild Hogs (2007) and Influence (2020). Drake appeared in the 1980 made-for-television drama Scared Straight! Another Story, the 1987 thriller Billionaire Boys Club, and the 1989 miniseries The Women of Brewster Place. She was regular cast member in the 1990 short-lived sitcom New Attitude. From 1989 to 1993 she had recurring role on A Different World playing Velma Gaines and later had recurring roles on Martin and Another Period playing Harriet Tubman.
TV Credits
Good Times
Character:
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, which is itself a spin-off of All in the Family along with The Jeffersons. The series is set in Chicago. The first two seasons were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. In the fall of 1975, the show moved to Metr...
Martin
Character:
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole....
thirtysomething
Character:
Thirtysomething is an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties. It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick for MGM/UA Television Group and The Bedford Falls Company, and aired on ABC. It premiered in the U.S. on September 29, 1987. It lasted four seasons, with the last of its 85 episodes airing on May 28, 1991. The title of the show was designed as thirtysomething by Kathie Broyles, who combined the words of the original title, Thirty Something....
L.A. Law
Character: Maureen Wilson
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay right...
The Bernie Mac Show
Character: Mama Lena
The Bernie Mac Show is an American sitcom that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001 to April 14, 2006. The series featured comic actor Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Bryana, and Vanessa....
The Wayans Bros.
Character: Ms. James
The Wayans Bros. is a situation comedy that aired from January 1995 to May 1999 on The WB. The series starred real-life brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans. Both brothers were already well-known from the sketch comedy show In Living Color that aired from 1990 to 1994 on Fox. The series also starred John Witherspoon and Anna Maria Horsford....
The Jamie Foxx Show
Character:
Texas native Jamie King is an aspiring actor who heads to Hollywood in hopes to find fame and fortune in the entertainment industry. To support himself, he works at his Aunt Helen and Uncle Junior's Los Angeles hotel, the King's Towers....
The Jeffersons
Character:
Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family....
Highway to Heaven
Character:
A probationary angel is sent back to Earth to team up with an ex-cop and help people....
Sanford Arms
Character: Jeannie
Sanford Arms is an American sitcom that aired from September to October 1977 on NBC. The series is an attempted continuation of the sitcom Sanford and Son. After six seasons, Redd Foxx left Sanford and Son to star in a variety show for ABC. The producers planned to continue the series with Demond Wilson as Lamont, but Wilson left the project in a dispute over his expected salary as the star of the series. The producers decided to continue the project with a new character. Norman Lear stepped do...
The Parent 'Hood
Character:
The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas. Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing, the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network....
The Steve Harvey Show
Character: Betty
Down on his luck and out of money, former R&B star Steve Hightower lands a music teacher gig at an inner-city Chicago school. Showing who's in charge with his unorthodox approach, Steve discovers a new groove at Washington High School....
Eight Is Enough
Character:
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name....
Hunter
Character: Emily Corbin
Hunter is an American police drama television series created by Frank Lupo, and starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. However, Kramer left after the sixth season to pursue other acting and musical opportunities. In the seventh season, Hunter partnered with two different women officers. The titular character, Sgt. Rick Hunter, was a wily, physically imposing, and often rule-breaking homicide detective with the Los ...
New Attitude
Character: Bebe
New Attitude is an American sitcom that aired on ABC in from August to September 1990. Based on the play Beauty Shop by Shelly Garrett, the series aired for six episodes during ABC's TGIF lineup on Fridays....
Thea
Character:
Thea is an American sitcom that premiered September 3, 1993 on ABC, and last aired on February 14, 1994, for a total of 19 episodes. Starring comedienne Thea Vidale, the series marked the first time an African American female comedienne was the star of a series named after her....
The Bronx Zoo
Character:
The Bronx Zoo is a 1987 NBC drama series directed by Allan Arkush and Paul Lynch. It lasted two seasons before cancellation....
Another Period
Character: Harriet Tubman
Set at the turn of the century, “Another Period” follows the misadventures of the Bellacourts, Newport, RI’s first family, who have absolutely nothing to offer to the world, but who have so much money it doesn’t matter. The series focuses on sisters “Lillian” and “Beatrice”, who care only about how they look, what parties they attend and becoming famous, which is a lot harder in 1902....
A Different World
Character: Velma Gaines
A Different World is a spin-off series from The Cosby Show and originally centered on Denise Huxtable and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional mixed but historically black college in the state of Virginia. After Bonet's departure in the first season, the remainder of the series primarily focused more on Southern belle Whitley Gilbert and mathematics whiz Dwayne Wayne. The series frequently depicted members of the major historically black fraternities and sororities....
The Proud Family
Character: Mary Darnell (voice)
Follow the adventures and misadventures of Penny, a 14-year-old African American girl who's doing her best to navigate through the early years of teen-dom. Penny's every encounter inevitably spirals into bigger than life situations filled with hi-jinks, hilarity and heart. Her quest to balance her home, school and social lives are further complicated by friends like the sassy Dijonay, Penny's nemesis LaCienega Boulevardez, her loving, if not over-protective parents and her hip-to-the-groove-gran...
The Love Boat
Character: Mrs. Cory
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins....
Great Performances
Character: Gloria Townes
The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries....
Movie Credits
The Women of Brewster Place
Character: Cleo
A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home....
Body Bags
Character: Nurse
A woman working the late shift at a gas station while a killer is on the loose; a man who can't stand the thought of losing his hair; a baseball player that submits to an eye transplant. An anthology of terror....
Moving Target
Character: Postal Clerk (as Bebe Drake-Massey)
A teenage musician goes on the run from killers and the police when he returns home to find his home empty and his family gone....
Oh, God! Book II
Character: Dr. Young, School Psychologist
God appears before 11-year-old Tracy Richards to ask for her help to spread his word and influence over the world which she suggests the slogan 'Think God.' Naturaly, Tracy's divorced parents think Tracy's crazy, and plot to halt her 'heaven-sent' mission to spread God's word....
Leprechaun in the Hood
Character: Post's Mother
When Butch, Postmaster P, and Stray Bullet loot the local hip-hop mogul's studio to fund their demo album, the threesome unwittingly ends up with the secret of Mack Daddy's success: a magical flute. Their gigs instantly turn golden but a blood-thristy Leprechaun and an angry Mack Daddy are hot on their trail, leaving a wake of destruction tainted by politically incorrect limericks....
Influence
Character: Cathy Kirby
Carl Weber introduces us to the Hudsons, a family of African-American lawyers lead by famed attorney Bradley Hudson. They are handed the task to defend Grammy Award Winning singer Savannah who has been charged with the murder of her husband Kyle Kirby....
O'Hara's Wife
Character: Female Jail Guard
Workaholic attorney Bob O'Hara is devastated when his wife dies suddenly. However, she returns to haunt him in order to persuade him to slow down, watch his own health, and renew relationships with his two grown children....
David E. Talbert's What Goes Around Comes Around
Character: Ms. Rudolf
Celebrated ladies' man, Tyree Jackson, thinks his only job is to sneak women in and out of his apartment while his live-in girlfriend, Desirae Baxter, is at work. Tired of his philandering ways, Desirae and her girlfriends devise a plan that will give Tyree a taste of his own medicine. Written by David E. Talbert...
Friday Foster
Character: Neighbor
Friday Foster, a magazine photographer, goes to Los Angeles International airport to photograph the arrival of Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America. Three men attempt to assassinate Tarr. Foster photographs the melee and is plunged into a web of conspiracy involving the murder of her childhood friend, a US senator, and a shadowy plan called "Black Widow"....
Suddenly Single
Character:
Samantha Stone, a smart and beautiful wife and mother, has been happily married to her high school sweetheart Sylvester Stone for seventeen years. On the day they're set to move into their dream home, Sylvester confesses that he is leaving her for another woman. What do you do when the only man you've ever loved falls in love with another woman and leaves you suddenly single?...
Which Way Is Up?
Character: Thelma
Orange picker Leroy Jones inadvertently becomes a union leader and is forced out of town, leaving behind his sex-obsessed father, Rufus, and timid spouse, Annie Mae. He heads for Los Angeles, where he falls for union organizer Vanetta. Annie Mae seeks solace from local preacher Lenox Thomas, who eventually impregnates her. When Leroy catches wind, he heads home for a showdown with Lenox....
First Monday in October
Character: Nurse
For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate....
Xanadu
Character: Female Guard
A beautiful muse inspires an artist and his older friend to convert a dilapidated auditorium into a lavish rollerskating club....
Scared Straight! Another Story
Character: Jean Lewis
A group of young delinquents well on the road to careers in crime, are given a shock course in prison life. Brought face to face with hardened criminals many serving life sentences for rape and murder, they are suddenly confronted with the harsh realities of a top-security U.S. Penitentiary....
Friday After Next
Character: Mrs. Pearly
Craig and his cousin Day Day have finally moved out of their parents' houses and into their own crib, working nights at a local mall as security guards. When their house is robbed on Christmas Eve they set out to track down the culprit....
Heat Wave
Character: Winnie (as Bebe Drake-Massey)
A rookie black journalist investigates the tensions of the Watts section of Los Angeles in the bloody summer of 1965....
Bebe's Kids
Character: Barfly (voice)
When Robin meets the lovely Jamika he thinks he's in heaven. But when he meets her friend Bebe's children, whom she is looking after, he knows he's in hell....
The Last Married Couple in America
Character: Policewoman
Jeff and Mari Thompson are contently married, but they are stunned to see many of their friends and neighbors going through separations and divorces. Seemingly surrounded by people with domestic problems, Jeff and Mari begin to question their own relationship....
The Cracker Factory
Character: Gloria
Drama depicting the problems of a suburban housewife suffering from fits of depression and alcoholism, and her stay in a psychiatric center after a feeble suicide attempt....
Jason's Lyric
Character: Ms. Murphy
The story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends....
How to Be a Player
Character: Mama Jackson
Dray is a young playboy whose only objective in life seems to be to have sex with as many girls as he can without getting caught by his girlfriend Lisa. Dray's sister Jenny and her friend Katrina plan to show him that the way he lives is wrong and organize a party in Malibu, inviting all of his girlfriends....
The First Breeze of Summer
Character: Gloria Townes
A portrait of an African American working-class family, this stage production depicts an elderly grandmother's flashbacks to the affairs she had as a young woman and a hard-working father's current conflict with his two unhappy sons....
Crossroads
Character: Ettu
The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen....
Boomerang
Character: Mrs. Jackson
Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill....
Space Jam
Character: Jordan Housekeeper
With their freedom on the line, the Looney Tunes seek the help of NBA superstar Michael Jordan to win a basketball game against a team of moronic aliens....
Wild Hogs
Character: Mother-in-Law
Restless and ready for an adventure, four suburban bikers leave the safety of their subdivision and head out on the open road. But complications ensue when they cross paths with an intimidating band of New Mexico bikers known as the Del Fuegos....
Never and Again
Character: Ms. Addis
Kevin and Jasmine, teenagers with equal passion for each other's dreams, fall head over heels in love with each other, but tragedy and one horrible lapse in judgment tear them apart. Many years later, Kevin and Jasmine have to trust one another after their paths cross again. They find out whether or not their first love is strong enough to save them now....
House Party
Character: Mrs. Strickland
Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior....