S. Epatha Merkerson

S. Epatha Merkerson

Born: November 28, 1952
in Saginaw, Michigan, USA
S. Epatha Merkerson (born Sharon Epatha Merkerson) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has won a Golden Globe, Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, Obie Award, 4 NAACP Image Awards, and 2 Tony Award nominations.

She is best known for her role as NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (1993–2010) on the long-running NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, as well as the Law & Order TV movie Exiled. She appeared in 390 episodes of the series, more than any other cast member.

She has a starring role as Sharon Goodwin on NBC's Chicago Med. She also had a recurring role as Reba (the mail carrier) on Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Ms. St. Marth on the TV series Here and Now.

She has appeared in feature films including She's Gotta Have It, Loose Cannons, Jacob's Ladder, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Random Hearts, Radio, Black Snake Moan, Lincoln (2012), and Peeples. She has also appeared in TV movies including A Place for Annie, A Mother's Prayer, Breaking Through, Lackawanna Blues, and The Gabby Douglas Story.

Movies for S. Epatha Merkerson...

We Grown Now
Title: We Grown Now
Character: Anita
Released: April 19, 2024
Type: Movie
Two young boys, best friends Malik and Eric, discover the joys and hardships of growing up in the sprawling Cabrini-Green public housing complex in 1992 Chicago.
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Title: Poker Face
Character: Joyce Carter
Released: January 26, 2023
Type: TV
This mystery-of-the-week series follows Charlie Cale, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.
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Barbecue
Title: Barbecue
Character: Lillie Anne
Released: December 10, 2020
Type: Movie
The O’Mallerys have gathered in their local park to share some barbecue and rousing straight talk while they await their youngest sister’s arrival. What appears to be a festive occasion is actually something quite different.
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The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
Title: The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
Character: Belize
Released: October 8, 2020
Type: Movie
An all-star livestream benefit performance of scenes from Angels in America in support of amfAR’s Fund to Fight COVID-19.
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Blood Sugar Rising
Title: Blood Sugar Rising
Character: narrator
Released: April 15, 2020
Type: Movie
Blood Sugar Rising follows the diabetes epidemic in the U.S. Diabetes and pre-diabetes affect over 100 million people in the US, costing more than $325 billion each year. Blood Sugar Rising puts human faces to these statistics, exploring the history and science of the illness through portraits of Americans whose stories shape the film.
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You Can Go
Title: You Can Go
Character: Mrs. Bryant
Released: September 29, 2016
Type: Movie
A school administrator talks down a troubled student.
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Year by the Sea
Title: Year by the Sea
Character: Liz
Released: April 16, 2016
Type: Movie
Hoping to reclaim who she was before marriage and children, an empty nester retreats to Cape Cod where she embarks upon a quest to set herself free.
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Title: Chicago Med
Character: Sharon Goodwin
Released: November 17, 2015
Type: TV
An emotional thrill ride through the day-to-day chaos of the city's most explosive hospital and the courageous team of doctors who hold it together. They will tackle unique new cases inspired by topical events, forging fiery relationships in the pulse-pounding pandemonium of the emergency room.
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The Challenger
Title: The Challenger
Character: Jada
Released: September 11, 2015
Type: Movie
A legendary trainer comes out of retirement to help an underdog boxer fight his way to a better life.
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Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Title: Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
Character: Self
Released: June 22, 2014
Type: Movie
In this open-letter style documentary, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis' rich lives guide their grandson on his personal quest to master lasting love, conscious art, and undying activism.
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The Gabby Douglas Story
Title: The Gabby Douglas Story
Character: Miss Caroline
Released: February 1, 2014
Type: Movie
The true story of Gabby Douglas who becomes the first African American to be named Individual All-Around Champion in artistic gymnastics at the Olympic Games.
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Title: Chicago P.D.
Character: Sharon Goodwin
Released: January 8, 2014
Type: TV
A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department's District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city's street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond.
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Peeples
Title: Peeples
Character: Daphne Peeples
Released: May 9, 2013
Type: Movie
The story follows what happens when a child psychologist surprises his girlfriend by showing up at her political family's annual get-together at their Sag Harbor vacation home only to find them desperately in need of therapy.
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Lincoln
Title: Lincoln
Character: Lydia Smith
Released: November 9, 2012
Type: Movie
The revealing story of the 16th US President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
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Title: Chicago Fire
Character: Sharon Goodwin
Released: October 10, 2012
Type: TV
An edge-of-your-seat view into the lives of everyday heroes committed to one of America's noblest professions. For the firefighters, rescue squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51, no occupation is more stressful or dangerous, yet so rewarding and exhilarating. These courageous men and women are among the elite who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death.
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Title: Finding Your Roots
Character: Self
Released: March 24, 2012
Type: TV
Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.
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We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918
Title: We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: January 15, 2010
Type: Movie
We meet individuals from marginalized communities who describe what it was like to live through the 1918 flu pandemic. Their experiences raise questions about the pandemic: why did it kill so many people? Why were so many of the dead young adults? Where did this lethal flu come from? How can we keep a pandemic like that from occurring again? The film follows the search for answers from an expedition to Alaska in 1951 to collect tissue from bodies buried in the permafrost, to the scientists and epidemiologists working on the same questions today. It explains the relevance of research into the 1918 pandemic to the threat of current and future flu pandemics.
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Mother and Child
Title: Mother and Child
Character: Ada
Released: November 7, 2009
Type: Movie
The lives of three women have a commonality: adoption. Karen is a physical therapist who regrets that, as a teenager, she gave up her daughter for adoption. Elizabeth was an adopted child and is now a successful lawyer, but her personal life lacks warmth. Lucy and her husband have failed to conceive and now hope to adopt a baby to make their family complete.
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Title: The Good Wife
Character: Judge Melanie Ellis
Released: September 22, 2009
Type: TV
Alicia Florrick boldly assumes full responsibility for her family and re-enters the workforce after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail.
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The Six Wives of Henry Lefay
Title: The Six Wives of Henry Lefay
Character: Effa
Released: June 18, 2009
Type: Movie
A presumed-dead man's current wife and former wives squabble over his funeral arrangements.
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Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Title: Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Character: Narrator
Released: August 16, 2008
Type: Movie
Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.
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Girl, Positive
Title: Girl, Positive
Character: Ariel Winters
Released: June 25, 2007
Type: Movie
A popular high school girl finds out that a boy she slept with is HIV positive.
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Slipstream
Title: Slipstream
Character: Bonnie
Released: February 10, 2007
Type: Movie
Aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer has lived his life in two states of existence: in reality and his own interior world. While working on a murder mystery script, and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion, Felix is baffled when his characters start to appear in his life, and vice versa.
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Black Snake Moan
Title: Black Snake Moan
Character: Angela
Released: December 31, 2006
Type: Movie
A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, is looking everywhere for love, but never quite finding it.
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Title: Rachael Ray
Character: Herself
Released: September 18, 2006
Type: TV
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is an American talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006. It is filmed at Chelsea Television Studios in New York City. The show's 8th season premiered on September 9, 2013, and became the last Harpo show in syndication to switch to HD with a revamped studio. In January 2012, CBS Television Distribution announced a two-year renewal for the show, taking it through the 2013–14 season.
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The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Title: The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
Character: Berniece (segment "The Piano Lesson")
Released: May 2, 2006
Type: Movie
The Great White Way comes into your living room via this disc of rare performances from some of Broadway's brightest luminaries. Culled from clips from the Tony Awards shows, this unique collection features acting powerhouses James Earl Jones, Annette Bening, Joan Allen, Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise and Maggie Smith, among others, performing works by such playwrights as August Wilson, David Mamet, Wendy Wasserstein and more.
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Title: The Closer
Character: Dr. Rebecca Dioli
Released: June 13, 2005
Type: TV
Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
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Title: Law & Order: Trial by Jury
Character: Anita Van Buren
Released: March 3, 2005
Type: TV
The inner workings of the judicial system, beginning with the arraignment, and continuing through the prosecutors' complicated process of building a case, investigating leads and preparing witnesses for trial.
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Lackawanna Blues
Title: Lackawanna Blues
Character: Rachel "Nanny" Crosby
Released: February 12, 2005
Type: Movie
In a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.
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Jersey Girl
Title: Jersey Girl
Character: Doctor #1
Released: March 25, 2004
Type: Movie
Ollie Trinke is a young, suave music publicist who seems to have it all, with a new wife and a baby on the way. But life deals him a bum hand when he's suddenly faced with single fatherhood, a defunct career and having to move in with his father. To bounce back, it takes a new love and the courage instilled in him by his daughter.
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Radio
Title: Radio
Character: Maggie
Released: October 24, 2003
Type: Movie
High school football coach, Harold Jones befriends Radio, a mentally-challenged man who becomes a student at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina. Their friendship extends over several decades, where Radio transforms from a shy, tormented man into an inspiration to his community.
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Title: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Character: Self
Released: September 8, 2003
Type: TV
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to just Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres.
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Title: Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Character: Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
Released: September 30, 2001
Type: TV
The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.
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The Rising Place
Title: The Rising Place
Character: Lessie Watson
Released: February 1, 2001
Type: Movie
The close friendship of two young women, each of a different race, and their struggle to find purpose in their lives during this time of social injustice and world war.
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Random Hearts
Title: Random Hearts
Character: Nea
Released: October 8, 1999
Type: Movie
After losing their spouses in a plane crash, an internal affairs cop and a congresswoman find each other's keys in each other's loved ones' possessions and discover that the two were having an affair.
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Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Title: Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Character: Eslanda Robeson (voice)
Released: February 24, 1999
Type: Movie
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disfranchised and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century, spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological controversy.
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Exiled
Title: Exiled
Character: Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
Released: November 8, 1998
Type: Movie
NYPD Detective Mike Logan, who was reassigned to Staten Island after punching a corrupt politician, takes on a grisly murder case. When the investigation leads him back to the 27th Precinct, Logan sees a chance to resurrect his flailing career and be reinstated as a homicide detective.
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An Unexpected Life
Title: An Unexpected Life
Character: Beverly Hawkins
Released: June 24, 1998
Type: Movie
Sequel to "An Unexpected Family."
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Title: The View
Character: Self
Released: August 11, 1997
Type: TV
ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Meghan McCain, and Abby Huntsman, discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View.
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After the Silence
Title: After the Silence
Character: Barbara
Released: December 30, 1996
Type: Movie
Laura is a 20 year old deaf girl who has never been taught sign language. She is rescued from neglect and physical abuse by Pam, a social worker. Pam teaches her how to communicate and uncovers Laura's true personality.
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A Mother's Prayer
Title: A Mother's Prayer
Character: Ruby
Released: May 25, 1995
Type: Movie
Rosemary Holmstrom is struggling to bring up her son following the death of her husband. When she is diagnosed with AIDS, at first she refuses to believe it, but soon turns her attentions to the problem of what will happen to her son when she dies.
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A Place for Annie
Title: A Place for Annie
Character: Alice
Released: May 1, 1994
Type: Movie
Baby Annie is HIV positive and has been left in the clinic by her drug addicted mother. To prevent that she's deported to a home where they'd just wait for her to die, nurse Susan takes charge of Annie at her home. Two years later she plans too adopt her -- but suddenly Annie's mother reappears and demands her back. And under the law, Susan, as foster-mother, has no claim to the child.
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Title: Frasier
Character: Dr. McCaskill
Released: September 16, 1993
Type: TV
After many years spent at the “Cheers” bar, Frasier moves back home to Seattle to work as a radio psychiatrist after his policeman father gets shot in the hip on duty.
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It's Nothing Personal
Title: It's Nothing Personal
Character: Louise Waters
Released: February 1, 1993
Type: Movie
An embittered ex-cop, on a quest for justice, teams up with a hard-boiled bounty hunter to go after the suspected killer of her brother in a robbery.
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Title: Here and Now
Character: Claudia St. Marth
Released: September 19, 1992
Type: TV
Here and Now is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 19, 1992 to January 2, 1993. The series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the lead role, who prior to this series co-starred in The Cosby Show which ended its run in Spring 1992. Bill Cosby served as one on the show's executive producers along with Warner serving as executive consultant credited as M.J. Warner. The song "Tennessee" by Arrested Development was used as the show's theme song.
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Title: Mann & Machine
Character: Capt. Margaret Claghorn
Released: April 5, 1992
Type: TV
Mann & Machine is an American science fiction/police drama series that aired for nine episodes on NBC from April 5, 1992 to July 14, 1992.
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Title: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Character: Tarissa Dyson
Released: July 3, 1991
Type: Movie
Set ten years after the events of the original, James Cameron’s classic sci-fi action flick tells the story of a second attempt to get the rid of rebellion leader John Connor, this time targeting the boy himself. However, the rebellion has sent a reprogrammed terminator to protect Connor.
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Jacob's Ladder
Title: Jacob's Ladder
Character: Elsa
Released: November 2, 1990
Type: Movie
After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie, and ex-wife, Sarah, try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer's chiropractor friend, Louis, fails to reach him as he descends into madness.
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Title: Law & Order
Character: Denise Winters
Released: September 13, 1990
Type: TV
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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Title: Law & Order
Character: Anita Van Buren
Released: September 13, 1990
Type: TV
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.
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Navy Seals
Title: Navy Seals
Character: Jolena
Released: July 20, 1990
Type: Movie
During a rescue mission, a team of Navy Seals discover that a terrorist group have access to deadly US built Stinger missiles, and must set out to locate and destroy them before they can be used.
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Moe's World
Title: Moe's World
Released: July 14, 1990
Type: Movie
The spirit of a deceased 11-year-old boy acts as the guardian of his family and friends in the working-class neighborhood he left behind.
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Loose Cannons
Title: Loose Cannons
Character: Rachel
Released: February 9, 1990
Type: Movie
Mac, the two-fisted, savvy cop finds that he's being saddled with a new partner, a known burnout, to work with him on a new and difficult case. The new partner is Ellis, an amazing detective, one who puts Sherlock Holmes to shame with his lightning-fast deductions. But he keeps assuming the personalities of entire casts of Television shows. This can be a problem when people begin shooting at them.
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Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special
Title: Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special
Character: Reba
Released: December 21, 1988
Type: Movie
Pee-wee Herman and pals are celebrating Christmas in the Playhouse in their own creative ways: Pee-wee makes a list for Santa Claus 1 1/2 miles long, teaches Little Richard how to ice skate, goes for a sleigh ride with Magic Johnson, commands Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello to make Christmas cards, receives a long phone call from Dinah Shore, even has more musical fun with k.d. lang, the Del Rubio Triplettes and Charo! Finally, Big Red arrives and announces that Pee-wee's Christmas list was so big, he didn't have enough presents for all the children of the world. Will Pee-wee follow his own advice and help others?
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Title: LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Character: Herself
Released: September 5, 1988
Type: TV
A morning talk show with A-list celebrity guests, top-notch performances and one-of-a-kind segments that are unrivaled on daytime television, plus spontaneous, hilarious and unpredictable talk.
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Title: Pee-wee's Playhouse
Character: Reba
Released: September 13, 1986
Type: TV
Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American children's television program starring Paul Reubens as the childlike Pee-wee Herman.
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She's Gotta Have It
Title: She's Gotta Have It
Character: Doctor Jamison
Released: August 8, 1986
Type: Movie
The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.
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Title: The Cosby Show
Character: Book Club Member #5
Released: September 20, 1984
Type: TV
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.
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Title: Tony Awards
Character: Self - Nominee
Released: April 1, 1956
Type: TV
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
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Title: Today
Character: Self
Released: January 14, 1952
Type: TV
Today is a daily American morning television show that airs on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television and in the world, and is the fifth-longest running American television series. Originally a two-hour program on weekdays, it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and to four hours in 2007. Today's dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC's Good Morning America. Today retook the Nielsen ratings lead the week of December 11, 1995, and held onto that position for 852 consecutive weeks until the week of April 9, 2012, when it was beaten by Good Morning America yet again. In 2002, Today was ranked #17 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest Television Shows of All Time.
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Desmond's Not Here Anymore
Title: Desmond's Not Here Anymore
Character: Selma
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Abigail battles moving her elderly mother with dementia out from the family home. When her mother unconsciously haunts her by continually questioning Desmond's whereabouts it forces her to finally face the question.
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Sexual Healing
Title: Sexual Healing
Character: Alberta Gay
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
A look at the last years of Marvin Gaye's life, from his parting ways with Motown and self-imposed exile to Europe, to his relationship with Freddy Cousaert, the promoter who guided the singer through the recording of his biggest-selling album, Midnight Love.
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Somewhere in Dreamland
Title: Somewhere in Dreamland
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Anna grieves the death of her parents as she moves from New York to Florida to stay with her grandmother. She falls in with some other teens, but when she sees a grisly act of violence, she finds trapped.