Vonetta McGee

Attractive, talented actress Vonetta McGee spent the bulk of her career in the world of blaxploitation films. Born Lawrence Vonetta McGee (named after her father), she began her film career in Italy, first in the comedy "Faustina," as the movie's lead and the only non-Italian. After a few more credits, she became a central figure in blaxploitation films of the mid-1970s. McGee played love interests to a vampire African prince in "Blacula" and a prizefighter in "Hammer." With "Shaft in Africa," an entry in the popular private-eye series featuring Richard Roundtree, she played an emir's daughter. Additionally, McGee starred in "Thomasine & Bushrod," an African-American retelling of the Bonnie and Clyde story, and "The Eiger Sanction," playing opposite and under the direction of Clint Eastwood. The actress showed up in guest spots on various television shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s before landing a brief regular role on "Hell Town," opposite Robert Blake. Another short-lived series that featured McGee was "Bustin' Loose," the television adaptation of the Richard Pryor film, also starring Jimmie Walker of "Good Times" fame. After a recurring role on the popular legal drama "L.A. Law," McGee worked less often, largely in television movies.