Judy Pace, a pioneering model and actress known for her roles in numerous films such as “Peyton Places”, “Brian’s Song” and “Young Lawyers”, has died. She was 83 years old.
Pace died in his sleep on March 11 while visiting family in Marina del Rey, his family announced.
Pace was the first black female actress to sign a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures in the early 1960s, when she began to emerge as a model. She made her film debut in the film “13 Frightened Girls” by famous B-movie producer William Castle. A few years later, Pace joined the cast of ABC’s “Peyton Place,” the most popular prime-time soap opera on television at the time. The roles she played in 1968 and 1969 made her one of the most prominent black actors on television at the time.
Pace also rose to stardom with a supporting role in the 1971 Emmy Award-winning ABC TV movie “Brian’s Song.” She played Linda Sayers, wife of NFL player Gale Sayers, in the film, which tells the true story of the friendship between two young NFL players, Sayers and Brian Piccolo, when Piccolo faced terminal cancer. Billy Dee Williams played Gale Sayers, and this role also increased his status in Hollywood.
Around the same time, Pace also appeared on the ABC drama series Young Lawyers, which aired for one season from September 1970 to May 1971. She played one of three law students who helped for free on a difficult case on the mean streets of Boston. She played the initiative’s wise leader opposite Lee J. Cobb, and Zalman King and Philip Clarke starred as fellow law students.
Born in Los Angeles in 1942, Pace grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from Dorsey High School and Los Angeles Community College. Her sister Betty taught her the art of modeling. Pace became the youngest model selected for Ebony Magazine’s Fashion Fair national tour in 1961-1962. She became the first television and print “spokesmodel” for Fashion Fair Cosmetics, marking the entrance of black models into advertising and fashion.
In 1965, Pace broke another barrier by becoming the first black Bachelorette contestant to appear on “The Dating Game.”
Pace’s extensive filmography includes “The Fortune Cookie” (1966), “Three Men in the Attic” (1968), “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968), “Cotton Comes to Harlem” (1970), “Frogs” (1972), and “Cool Breeze” (1972). She scored guest star shots on some of the most popular television series of the 1960s and ’70s. “Enchanted,” “I Spy,” “I Dream of a Genie,” “Mod Squad,” “Sanford and Son,” “That’s My Mama,” “Good Times,” and “What’s Happening.”
Pace was also active in philanthropy. In 1971, she co-founded the Kwanzaa Foundation with “Star Trek” star Nichelle Nichols. The organization focuses on supporting Black women in the film industry and providing scholarships to minority students pursuing careers in the arts.
Pace was married for 12 years to actor Don Mitchell, who starred in the long-running NBC drama series “Ironside.” In 1986 she married baseball superstar Curt Flood and remained with him until his death in 1997.
Mr. Pace is survived by two daughters, lawyer Sean Pace Mitchell and actress Julia Pace Mitchell, and a grandson.
