Biography for
Ellen Holly More at IMDbPro »

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Ellen Holly was a beautiful, talented expressive Black actress. She is best known for her part as Carla in "One Life to Live" which she played for over 20 years but she proved she was more then a soap opera actress. On the Broadway stage, Holly showed her versatile acting talent in the various roles she played in "A Hand Is on the Gate", "Tiger Tiger Burning Bright", "Face of a Hero", "Taming of the Shrew", "Henry V", "Too Late the Phalarope", "MacBeth", "Funnyhouse of a Negro", "Camino Real", "Cherry Orchard" and others.

She appeared in a handful of films. "Take a Giant Step" was her first film role, she didn't have the leading part but in her role she had a presence and naturalness in her role that stayed with you, she played Carol - a good bad girl, who you felt sorry for because you knew deep down she was a good girl.

Her autobiography, where she talk about her struggles on being a talented, beautiful Black woman, received great reviews. Her book is called "One Life The Autobiography of an African American actress."

Trivia

On July 25, 1968, Ellen became the first black actress to become a recurring cast member on daytime TV. On ABC's "One Life To Live", she was cast as Carla Benari, a black woman passing for white. Holly was on the soap-opera until 1985.

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