Broadway star and film actress Mildred Joanne Smith died at the age of 94. She passed on July 19, according to her family.
Smith starred in a number of Broadway and film productions including, No Way Out, Quite Contrary, Men to the Sea, Mamba's Daughters, Beggar's Holiday, Forward to the Heart, and A Long Way From Home. She was an actress whose roles were short-lived, but highly revered, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Her biggest on-screen role was as Sidney Poitier's wife in No Way Out, but her career came to an unanticipated halt two years later in 1952 when she was injured in a deadly plane crash, according to People Magazine.
Smith was an influential actress who paved the way for future generations of African-American women in the film industry, according to her family.
She was described a month after the crash in Jet magazine as, "The Magnificent Failure: She Won Fame but Never Quite Could Attain Stardom," according to the Hollywood Reporter. After recovering, she left acting to pursue journalism and teaching. She worked as an editor for Our World magazine before becoming a middle-school teacher in White Plains, New York, according to People Magazine.
Smith later married David A. Hepburn, a journalist and the vice president of WNEW-TV. He predeceased her in 1985.
As she requested, a scholarship in her name and honor will be created to support youths in the arts, according to her family.
