What happened to Theresa Merritt? Her Age, Spouse, Children, Bio
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Theresa Merritt was a 75-year-old American actress, probably best known for starring in “That’s My Mama” television series, and movies such as “The Wiz” and “Billy Madison.”
Early life
Theresa Merritt Hines (née Merritt) was born on 24 September 1922, in Emporia, Virginia, USA. According to the New York Times, she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, as an infant, where her uncle and aunt raised her after her mother passed away. In her 1985 interview with Rian Keating, Theresa said that she regrets not having a mother, but that her aunt was a fantastic influence, to the point that she sometimes wished that her aunt was stricter.
Early education, source of career
As a child, Theresa guest starred in the radio show “Parisian Tailor’s Colored Kiddie Hour,” which catered to a black audience. She wanted to become an opera singer afterwards, and studied at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, then enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia, and studied at New York University in New York City.
In 1977, Theresa was awarded an honorary membership in the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, founded by women attending Howard University in Washington DC, and focused on supporting the African American community members.
In her interview with Rian, Theresa said that segregation was present during her early career, which made filming and touring difficult; she occasionally had to sleep in cars or motels rather than hotels with white co-stars. Moreover, she initially didn’t mind that people took advantage of her, as she was starry-eyed. However, Theresa gradually built toughness, and often had to pretend that she was much stronger mentally to advance in show business.
Career
Theresa started her career as a stage actress in 1943, when she landed a role in the “Carmen Jones” musical, which she reprised in 1945 and 1947.
In the 1950s, she was a Helen Way Singers music group member, known for session singing and performing the “Early In the Morning” hit by Buddy Holly in 1958. Moreover, singer and actor Harry Belafonte once hired her as his backup singer.
Theresa appeared in Broadway productions of “Tambourines to Glory” in 1964, “Golden Boy” the following year, and “Trumpets of the Lord” in 1969. In the 1950s and 1960s, she toured with companies performing musicals such as “Funny Girl,” “South Pacific,” and “Show Boat.” In 1974, Theresa landed her best-known stage role, playing Evillene in “The Wiz,” a musical based on the 1900 children’s novel by L. Frank Baum entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Another of her memorable roles was in the 1982 play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and was nominated for a Tony Award three years later in the category Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Television
Theresa made her television debut in the made-for-TV movie “J.T.” in 1969, in which she played Mama Meley. Probably because the audience remembered her likeness under that name, the characters in two projects that followed, the TV movie “The Furst Family of Washington,” released in 1973, and the “That’s My Mama” series, which ran from 1974 to 1975, were named Eloise “Mama” Furst and Eloise “Mama” Curtis, respectively.
Theresa admitted to Rian Keating that the naming didn’t make much sense, but that she did her best to make characters distinctive, to avoid being typecast. Moreover, she was annoyed that some critics called her performance ‘stereotypical’, and wanted them to define what they meant. She felt that her performance outshone the anti-black racial caricature of an African American woman, known as ‘mammy,’ which they likely referred to.
While Theresa never recaptured that popularity on TV, she made notable single-episode appearances in television series such as “The Love Boat” in 1983, “American Playhouse” in 1984, “Law & Order” in 1997, and “NYPD Blue” in 1998.
Movies
Theresa made her film debut in 1971 by playing Peggy in the “They Might Be Giants” movie, then paused until 1977, when she appeared as Maria in “Proof of the Man”, and in “The Goodbye Girl” as Mrs Crosby. Her skillful representation of Evillene, a role in which she replaced actress and singer Mabel King, led her to be cast as Aunt Em in the 1978 film version of “The Wiz” with an eponymous name.
Theresa then played Arrabella Smalls in “The Great Santini” in 1979, Jewel in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” in 1982, Simone in “The Serpent and the Rainbow” in 1988, and Juanita in “Billy Madison” in 1995. Patrick Swayze revealed that the producers of the romance-thriller movie “Ghost” wanted Theresa to play Oda Mae Brown in 1990, but he insisted on asking Whoopi Goldberg to audition, and she won the role. Theresa received an Emmy Award nomination for the “Concealed Enemies” TV docudrama premiered in 1984.
In 1998, she appeared in two movies, “Dangerous Proposition” and “Home Fries”, the latter in which she played Mrs. Vaughan, released posthumously.
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Death
On 12 June 1998, Theresa died from skin cancer in the Calvary Hospital in The Bronx borough of New York City with her family by her bedside. She received the diagnosis about six years earlier, and battled it while living in the Hollis section of Queens, New York City. Theresa never revealed the cancer type, only that she underwent a surgical operation and chemotherapy.
According to Find a Grave, the funeral was held five days later at Hollis Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York City. Theresa was buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, Queens, and her grave has an inscription, ‘Beloved of the Lord.’
Husband Benjamin Hines
Theresa married Benjamin Hines in 1945, and they remained married until her death. She told Rian that ‘she married an understanding husband who believed in women having a career, so the relationship lacked conflict in that regard.’ According to her, Benjamin was a year older and had a dissimilar personality, but was interested in everything that she did.
According to the New York Times report, the couple had four children: three sons, Benjamin Jr., Norman, and Dennis, and daughter Denise. She also had grandchildren, Justin Bullock-Hines and Patti Hines, and one great-grandson, Lucas Bullock-Hines, Justin’s son from his marriage to Halley. Benjamin likely did not remarry before his death in 2014, considering that he was buried next to her; the couple reserved a companion plot upon her death.
Physical characteristics
Theresa had black hair and dark brown eyes. She was 5ft 6ins (1.65m) tall [Clifton is 6ft] and weighed about 187lbs (85kgs). She had a distinctive front tooth gap, and a dimpled smile.
