This movie is the only thing she did! She should have been a STAR!!!!
shareShe was definitely model material if nothing else. Most of the actors except the principals seemed to have fallen by the wayside after Cooley.
shareYep. She was FINE! Her and that other girl Sharon Murff (Loretta), the girl Damon and Cochise were fighting over, she was hot too.
Some have been critical of their acting in the film, but I thought they did okay.
Either they couldn't get any more parts or they just wanted to do something else. I also read that when Cooley High had came out and became a success, for some the actors and actresses, the attention on the streets became overwhelming.
Oh well. At least we have the one film they did.
I would LOVE to see how they look and what they're up to now.
click their names to get their profile preach played in a wide array projects
shareI know about the links to the actor/actresses names on this site.
But I wanted *more* info on Cynthia Davis specifically. When you click on her name, you just get info you know already - that she played in the movie Cooley High.
I wanted to see a recent photo of her. And hear how she's doing now.
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According to IMDB, her only acting role was this particular role in "Cooley High." She was pretty, but she was in a very difficult position, being that she was very light-skinned.
Although being very light-skinned was to her advantage for this specific role in "Cooley High," in her day it was very hard for extremely fair-skinned actors/actresses and models like her to attain work. At that time, most black actors/models were used only as tokens, and producers and model agencies only hired dark-skinned blacks because their ethnicity would never be in question. I suspect this is the reason why we never saw her in any other roles before and after this movie.
That is so not true. Lonette McKee was really fair skinned and she got the role in Sparkle. Irene Cara too. I just think she wasn't particularly good. She was decent but nothing to write home about. She was very pretty though.
"What happens to a dream deferred?"
Well, I'm not saying that light-skinned actors/actresses didn't receive roles at all. Lonette McKee was one of the very few light-skinned actresses who got roles in the 70s, but the movies she appeared in, like "Cooley High," were considered "black movies." But a lot of her roles--such as the one she played in "Cotton Club" and as Malcolm X's mother in the movie of the same name--she played a biracial woman. As for Irene Cara, I don't think she would even be considered light-skinned, even though she always contended that she's not black.
Ron O'Neal, best known for his role as "Priest" in "Super Fly," was strongly considered for the lead role in "Shaft," But because the movie producer had reservations about his light complexion, they went with Richard Roundtree instead.
I don't think that being light skinned was a reason Cynthia Davis didn't get more roles. I think it was her acting. Lonette McKee, Vonetta McGhee, Denise Nicholas, etc.
True about Cara. I just mentioned her because she played black roles.
"What happens to a dream deferred?"
I've never seen quote from Irene Cara claiming she wasn't black,even from back in their heyday----that would have been pretty strange,considering she only played in films primarily made for a black audience. She wasn't even what you would call "light-skinned" to begin with. Plus she could act,which is why it was such a shame she disappeared off the screen about 1990.
share@Sparky48
What are you talking about? COOLEY HIGH was made practically in the middle of the whole 1970s "blaxploitation" craze. Black people of all hues and colors got cast in virtually all of these films---that was more true in the 1960's, what you said about the token parts, but in the '70's it was a whole new ball game. Not only were black people starring in films made exclusively for them, they were also directing them (COOLEY HIGH was written by a black screenwriter, Eric Monte,ad directed by a black director, the underrated Michael Schultz, who would go to direct such classic as CAR WASH,WHICH WAY IS UP, and THE LAST DRAGON. He's still directing to this day his most recent box office hit was WOMAN,THOU ART LOOSED,in 2004.)
"...who would go to direct such classic as CAR WASH,WHICH WAY IS UP, and THE LAST DRAGON."
Sir, these films are NOT considered to be classic movies. "The Last Dragon" was ludicrous.
I wont say you're confused but you are definitely misleading... how about Denise Nicholas, Diana Sands, Rosalind Cash, Debbie Allen, Carol Speed, Vonetta McGee...I'll bet that the light skin African Americans are a much smaller group than dark skin African Americans.
shareYou call Diana Sands, Rosalind Cash, and Carol Speed--and Carol Speed mind you--fair-skinned, and then say that I'm "misleading"? LOL. You're either delusional or "cmoore" is a handle name for one of the Five Blind Boys of Alabama.
shareShe could easily have passed for white. There's no reason, as far as race is concerned, that she couldn't have got more work in films and tv.
share She acted and sung a HELLA version of "Harlem Blues" in Spike Lee's "Mo Better Blues"
"She acted and sung a HELLA version of "Harlem Blues" in Spike Lee's "Mo Better Blues".
If you are talking about Cynthia Davis a.k.a. "Brenda" from "Cooley High", to my knowledge she didn't act in the film Mo' Better Blues (1990).
You might be talking about the actress Cynda Williams (who played Clarke Bentancourt), regarding that movie (Mo' Better Blues).
She didn't. As confirmed by IMDB, "Cooley High" is the only Hollywood movie in which Cynthia Davis ever appeared.
She probably wasn't even a professional actress. I assume that she was just tapped for this role solely because she was so fair-skinned and could ideally fit the character she portrayed, in terms of looks.
Almost 30 years later and no new info or pics? She must be in her 50s by now. I hope they do another Reunion special Blu-ray or something (HD stream?) while a few are still alive.
shareCooley High was featured on Unsung on the TVOne network. Cynthia slipped into obscurity after the film and it seems that she didn't keep in contact with the rest of the cast.
Michael Schultz (the director) said that sadly, he heard that Cynthia passed away nearly ten years ago. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he said that "she was no longer with us."
And Cynthia's complexion was nearly a detractor from her getting cast. Schultz said that she was initially cast because AIP (the financial backer of the movie) wanted a gorgeous love interest for Preach, but they balked when they saw that Cynthia had such light skin. Luckily, they convinced AIP to cast her, and the rest is history.
It's was reported that she passed away a few years ago, causes unknown but she left showbiz and hadn't done anything else after Cooley High.
shareHer sister was recently on here stating that she's still alive (yep, the Unsung Hollywood Producers failed at their research) and that a youtube video of her current life will be uploaded.
shareCookie:
This is GREAT news! I was very, very sad when Unsung Hollywood said that she had passed away!! Please message me, or email me and let me know about the video:
[email protected]
Madlad!