Madge Sinclair

{{Infobox person | name = Madge Sinclair | honorific_suffix = CD | image = Madge Sinclair in Boesman and Lena.jpg | caption = Sinclair on stage in 1986 | birth_name = Madge Dorita Walters | birth_date = | birth_place = Kingston, Colony of Jamaica | death_date = | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | years_active = 1972–1995 | occupation = Actress | spouse = | children = 2 | known_for = Leona Hamilton – Cornbread, Earl and Me Belle Reynolds – RootsQueen Aoleon – Coming to AmericaVoice of Sarabi – The Lion King Widow Woman – Convoy }} Madge Dorita Sinclair CD (née Walters; April 28, 1938 – December 20, 1995) was a Jamaican actress best known for her roles in Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), Convoy (1978), Coming to America (1988), Trapper John, M.D. (1980–1986), and the ABC TV miniseries Roots (1977). Sinclair also voiced the character of Sarabi, Mufasa's mate and Simba's mother, in the Disney animated feature film The Lion King (1994). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Sinclair won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series for her role as "Empress" Josephine in Gabriel's Fire in 1991. Early life and education Born Madge Dorita Walters in Kingston, Jamaica, to Jamaican parents Herbert and Jemima Walters, Sinclair studied at Shortwood College for Women. After completing her studies, she worked as a teacher in Jamaica until 1966, when she left for New York to pursue her career in acting. Sinclair began acting with Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In 1971 she portrayed Clytemnestra in the New York Shakespearean Festival production of The Wedding of Iphigenia. Career Sinclair made her film debut as Mrs. Scott in Conrack (1974) opposite Jon Voight; a role which earned her a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. Her next major critical success was as Bell Reynolds in the 1977 ABC mini-series Roots for which she received her first nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. Following Roots, she starred in the 1978 film Convoy as the Widow Woman, and she played Leona Hamilton in Cornbread, Earl and Me. Also in 1978, she co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Grandpa Goes to Washington. Sinclair went on to a long-running stint in the 1980s as nurse Ernestine Shoop on the series Trapper John, M.D. opposite Pernell Roberts.