Mary Alice, Emmy and Tony winning entertainer, dead at 85

Tony and Emmy winning entertainer Mary Alice, known for her jobs

in the Broadway creation of August Wilson's "Walls" and the "Cosby

Show" side project "A Different World," has kicked the bucket at age 85.

The New York Police Department said she passed on from regular

causes Wednesday at her home in Manhattan.

Brought into the world as Mary Alice Smith in Mississippi, she

experienced childhood in Chicago, and moved on from the Chicago

Teachers College, which later became Chicago State University.

She likewise educated at a primary school in Chicago prior to turning

into a phase and screen entertainer, under the expert name Mary Alice.

She won a Tony Award for her depiction of Rose Maxson in the

Broadway creation of "Walls" in 1987 preceding acquiring

significantly more cross country distinction playing residence

mother Lettie Bostic on the initial two times of "A Different World."

She won an Emmy grant in 1993 for her supporting job in the TV series "I'll Fly Away."

She likewise played a part in "The Matrix Revolutions," supplanting

Gloria Foster as The Oracle in the "Lattice" series after Foster's passing.