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Beverly Todd

Beverly Todd has built a wide-ranging career across stage, film and television, bringing natural warmth and grounded authority to roles in dramas, comedies and daytime serials. Born in Chicago on July 11, 1946, Todd wanted to act from childhood and performed in school plays before beginning her professional career Off-Broadway in Deep Are the Roots. She later appeared in London productions of No Strings and Blues for Mr. Charlie, then took the lead in the Broadway comedy Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights, directed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier became an important figure in Todd’s screen career and someone she considered an acting mentor. Her film debut came in The Lost Man in 1969, playing beautician Sally, who assumes the name Dorothy Starr. She went on to appear opposite Poitier in They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, Brother John and A Piece of the Action. As Louisa, a schoolteacher in Brother John, Todd displayed what one reviewer called her “natural charm.” Television gave Todd an equally broad canvas. She was a regular on Love of Life from 1968 to 1970 and received NAACP Image Award nominations for Six Characters in Search of an Author and the miniseries Roots. Her later television work ranged from Lou Grant, St. Elsewhere and Cagney & Lacey to recurring roles on Six Feet Under, Days of Our Lives and 9-1-1. On film, Todd played the wife of Richard Pryor’s character in Moving and high school vice principal Joan Levias opposite Morgan Freeman in Lean on Me, earning NAACP Image Award nominations for both performances. She later appeared as Don Cheadle’s character’s mother in Crash and reunited with Freeman in The Bucket List, playing his wife, Virginia, after Freeman recommended her to director Rob Reiner. Supporting turns in The Lena Baker Story and I Will Follow further showed her ability to give emotional weight to a character without overstating the moment. In I Will Follow, her performance as Amanda earned favorable notice from Roger Ebert.