Mel Stewart to 1978. In the 1980s, Stewart starred on "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" as section chief Billy Melrose during the show's four-year run from 1983 through 1987, and continued guest starring in both television and films. His last on screen appearance came in the 1993 film "Made in America", starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson. In addition to acting and directing, Stewart was an accomplished jazz saxophonist. A longtime resident of San Francisco, he also taught acting at San Francisco State University. His students included actor Danny Glover. He established the theater group Black Actors Now Through Unity (BANTU) and directed
Whoopi Goldberg January 1990, Goldberg starred with Jean Stapleton in the situation comedy "Bagdad Cafe". The sitcom ran for two seasons on CBS. Simultaneously, Goldberg starred in "The Long Walk Home", portraying a woman in the civil rights movement. She played a psychic in the film "Ghost" (1990) and became the first black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in nearly 50 years, and the second black woman to win an Academy Award for acting (the first being Hattie McDaniel, for "Gone with the Wind" in 1940). "Premiere" named her character Oda Mae Brown in its list of