Brenda Sykes (born June 25, 1949) is an American actress who made a number of films and appeared in television series in the 1970s.[1] She was discovered on The Dating Game.[2]
Sykes was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the daughter of a postal worker. She graduated from Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles in 1967.
Sykes played Jim Brown's love interest in Black Gunn. According to Brown, he was responsible for her being cast in the role, an effort he made because he was attracted to her in real life.[3] From 1973-74, she co-starred on Ozzie's Girls as a college student boarding with Ozzie and Harriet Nelson.
She played the character Mandy, one of Jimmie Walker's girlfriends on the 1970s sitcom Good Times, made a starring role appearance on the first season of The Streets of San Francisco, and as Summer Johnson on the CBS series Executive Suite. Sykes was married to musician Gil Scott-Heron[4] from 1978 to 1987 and is the mother of poet Gia Scott-Heron. "She was exquisitely beautiful, soft and refined. He was so full of fire, and she was the opposite. She was the water in his life", said the filmmaker Esther Anderson.[5]
Sykes has been married to Paul C. Hudson since May 19, 1995.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1970 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones | Jelly | |
1970 | Getting Straight | Luan | |
1970 | The Baby Maker | Francis | Uncredited |
1971 | Pretty Maids All in a Row | Pamela | |
1971 | The Sheriff | Janet Wilder | ABC Movie of the Week |
1971 | Skin Game | Naomi | |
1971 | Honky | Sheila Smith | |
1972 | Black Gunn | Judith | |
1973 | Cleopatra Jones | Tiffany | |
1975 | Mandingo | Ellen | |
1976 | Drum | Calinda |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | One Life to Live | Judy Tate | |
1969 | Mayberry R.F.D. | Dorothy June | episode "Driver Education" |
1969 | The New People | Barbara | episode #1.0 |
1969 | Room 222 | Elaine Harris | episode "Triple Date" |
1969 | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | Janet | episode "Crisis" (uncredited) |
1971 | The Doris Day Show | Dulcie | episode "Young Love" (unsold TV pilot) |
1972 | Love, American Style | Sally Wilson | episode "Love and the Perfect Wedding" |
1973 | The Streets of San Francisco | Jenaea Dancy | episode "A Trout in the Milk" |
1973 | Ozzie's Girls | Brenda MacKenzie | 24 episodes |
1974 | Police Woman | Linda Daniels | episode "Smack" |
1975 | Harry O | Ruthie Daniels | episode "Sound of Trumpets" |
1975 | Mobile One | Wilma | episode "Roadblock" |
1976-1977 | Executive Suite | Summer Johnson | 18 episodes |
1978 | Good Times | Mandy | episode "Where There's Smoke" |
1977 | The Love Boat | Ginny O'Brien | episode "Captain & the Lady" |
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