Sheila Guyse obit

Actress and singer Sheila Guyse has died

 

 She was not on the list.

Beautiful multi-talented Sheila Guyse was a popular, well-loved figure on the stage and screen of the Dorothy Dandridge era. Some critics even felt she was a better actress than Dandridge, some said if Sheila ever decided to go to Hollywood, she would give her a run for her money. She appeared in three independent black films, "Boy, What A Girl", "Sepia Cinderella" and "Miracle In Harlem" giving magnificent performances in all of them.

Guyse wasn't an experienced or trained actress but you never know it. She appeared in many stage productions such as "Lost in the Stars" and "Finian's Rainbow" which were both long-running. Her singing voice was as beautiful as she was, divine, sweet, easy on the ears whether singing jazz, pop, or gospel.

Very popular in the 1940s and 1950s, Sheila graced many covers of magazines like Jet, Ebony, Our World and many others, reviews were always flattering.

Sheila Guyse was born on July 14, 1925, in Forest, Mississippi. She moved with her parents in 1945 to Manhattan, New York City, where she worked at a dime store on 125th Street, across from the Apollo Theater.

Guyse first got her start in show business by performing in amateur shows, as was common among African-American performers of the time. She made nightclub debut in 1945 at Club Zombie in Detroit.

Guyse had a sultry "girl-next-door" appeal which she showcased in three independent all-Black films (so-called "race films") of the late 1940s: Boy! What a Girl! (1947), Sepia Cinderella (1947, co-starring with Billy Daniels), and Miracle in Harlem (1948) giving impressive performances in all of them. She also appeared in the "Harlem Follies of 1949" and in a 1957 television adaptation of the play The Green Pastures.

Guyse was not an experienced or trained actress but she was a natural talent. She made her Broadway debut in the stage production Memphis Bound, which opened in 1945. She was selected to play the female lead opposite Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The show closed after 36 performances. She also appeared in the Broadway stage productions Lost in the Stars and Finian's Rainbow, which were both long-running. Lost in the Stars won an Outer Circle Critics Award. Guyse contributed to cast recordings for these productions.

Sheila Guyse was popular in the 1940s and 1950s, and graced many covers of publications such as Jet, Ebony, and Our World. She also was known to grace the cover of a magazine called Hue.

Sheila Guyse was married three times. She married and divorced Shelby Irving Miller, and their union produced one daughter, Sheila Crystal Miller. Guyse's most publicized marriage, however, was to her second husband, Kenneth Davis. The couple was featured in the article "Negro Women with White Husbands" in the February 1952 issue of Jet. Guyse and Davis met on the set of Finian's Rainbow, where Davis was a dancer. They married in Philadelphia, but spent the majority of their marriage in the Bronx, NY.In 1954 Ken Davis and Sheila Guyse announced that they would end their marriage. In 1958 Guyse married Joseph Jackson, a sanitation worker in New York, and they had two children: Deidre Jean Jackson and Michael Jackson. Guyse later became a Jehovah's Witness due to her marriage to Jackson. The couple remained married until his death in 2012.

Actress (6 credits)

 1959 The Green Pastures (TV Movie)

Zeba

 1957 The Green Pastures (TV Movie)

Zeba

 1950 Harlem Follies of 1949

 1948 Miracle in Harlem

Julie Weston

 1947 Sepia Cinderella

Barbara

 1947 Boy! What a Girl!

Francine Cummings

 

Soundtrack (2 credits)

 1948 Miracle in Harlem (performer: "Look Down That Lonesome Road" - uncredited)

 1947 Sepia Cinderella (performer: "Cinderella")

 

Self (1 credit)

 1958 The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (TV Series)

Self

- Episode #2.76 (1958) ... Self