Douglas also cut several jingles for TV commercials – " used to do voiceovers for Ideal Toys and General Mills with Bernadette Peters" – but recalls: "I never thought I would be a singer," and for most of the 1960s Douglas pursued an acting career, appearing in an episode of "The Patty Duke Show" but mostly acting in theatrical productions beginning with "One Tuesday Morning" starring Clarice Taylor. Later Douglas understudied Jonelle Allen in the off-Broadway production of "The Life of Mary McLeod Bethune" and co-starred with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson in the play "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl".