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Missone color

Miss one discovers Evamene is dead

Hesthewiz

Miss One, Dorothy and a Munchkin youngster watch the others dance.

Thelma Carpenter (January 15, 1922 – May 14, 1997) was a jazz singer and actress who is best know for her portrayal as Miss One in the 1978 film version of The Wiz.

Biography[]

As a child entertainer she had her own radio show on WNYC in New York and won an amateur night at the Apollo Theatre in 1938, where she would be honored and perform nearly 60 years later on the 1993 all-star NBC-TV special "Apollo Theater Hall of Fame", hosted by Bill Cosby.

She subsequently made her debut as a band vocalist with Teddy Wilson's short-lived orchestra in 1939, recording "Love Grows on the White Oak Tree" and "This Is the Moment" for Brunswick Records. She joined Coleman Hawkins' orchestra in 1940, with whom she made the RCA Bluebird Records classic "He's Funny That Way". She followed Helen Humes as Count Basie's vocalist in 1943, remaining with the band for two years, recording the Columbia Records hit "I Didn't Know About You" as well as many popular V-disc sides including "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me", "More Than You Know", "I Dream of You", "Tess's Torch Song" and "My Ideal".

Broadway appearances include Memphis Bound with Bill Robinson, Inside USA with Beatrice Lillie, the 1952 revival of Shuffle Along with Avon Long, Ankles Aweigh with Betty and Jane Kean and the title role in Hello, Dolly! in which she replaced Pearl Bailey more than 100 times and became the fully billed matinee star, with her name in all of the ads. It was in Dolly that she was seen by a producer from Paramount who signed her to co-star as the mother in the TV version of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. She created the role of Irene Paige in Bubbling Brown Sugar, starring in the Philadelphia and Washington engagements, but left prior to the Broadway opening, and was featured in the original workshop production of Taking My Turn.

Carpenter died of a heart attack in her New York apartment on May 14, 1997. Several days later her body was discovered in the apartment, a fate that had previously befallen her mother and something she always feared. So she had to be cremated.

Filmography[]

  • Crazy House (1943) – Thelma (uncredited) (unbilled appearance with Count Basie)
  • Call Her Mom (1972) – Ida
  • The Devil's Daughter (1973) – Margaret Poole
  • The Wiz (1978) – Miss One
  • The Cotton Club (1984) – Norma Williams
  • New York Stories (1989) – Maid (segment "Life without Zoe") (scenes cut prior to release)

Notable television appearances[]

  • Kreisler Bandstand (with Duke Ellington and Avon Long)
  • Eddie Condon Floor Show
  • Ed Sullivan Show
  • Merv Griffin Show
  • Salute to Eddie Condon (with Johnny Mercer, Bob Crosby and Sammy Davis, Jr.)
  • Cavalcade of Stars (1949–1952) – 3 episodes (with Jackie Gleason, Jack Carter and Victor Borge)
  • Barefoot in the Park (1970) – 12 episodes – "Mabel Bates"
  • The Paul Lynde Show (1972) – "An Affair to Forget" – Herself
  • The Love Boat (1981) – "Lady from Sunshine Gardens", "Eye of the Beholder", "Bugged" – Dora
  • Apollo Theater Hall of Fame (1993) – Herself
  • Cosby (1996) – "No Nudes Is Good Nudes" – (final television appearance)
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