Julia

Long before she became Dominique Deveraux on "Dynasty",she set ground here as being the first African-American woman to star in her own weekly TV series which was a milestone when it premiered in the fall of 1968. Julia was just that: a single parent and nurse who raised her son and working for Dr. Chegley,who was in charge of the hospital where she was employed. The show was brilliant in depicting the role model of the family and the single parent which had some good moral values which you don't find that in some shows today. Marc Copage was absolutely adorable as her son Corey,and I really like Micheal Link as Corey's playmate Earl J. Waggedorn. To this day,the show is rarely seen on some stations,but Diahann Carroll was one of the most beautiful women in the world when this show made its mark on the NBC network. I had very good memories of this show,and I wish they would do a TV movie on "Julia",bringing back the original cast for a reunion. Note: Lloyd Nolan who played the Doctor on the show recently passed away,but his status will live on with this landmark series.

I was born white in 1963 in a WASP neighborhood in Indiana. But I remembered this show when they came out recently with the new "Nurse" shows--Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe. I looked it up b/c I couldn't remember the star's name and I was telling a friend about it at work. But I remembered this show that I watched when I was all of 5 years old. Because it mattered. And even then, it pulled me toward where I am now. I have been an RN since 1984, and now work as a nurse practitioner. I am proud to be a nurse. I cried when Obama won the election, because I felt like it was a win for MY side. A huge win--and this show was part of that, the beginnings. I am proud that I have been a part of the "I'd like to teach the world to sing..." generations. That what we have all worked toward is the equality, not just of black and white but of everyone. That we all have value that deserves to be heard and witnessed equally. And I think the fact that this rather brave for the time show (and actress) was able to influence the 5 year old white child of an Alabama bigot to spend a lifetime in the same line of service to others says a hell of a lot about its "epochal" effects on the minds and people of that time. Even today, I think I'd rather be "Julia" than "Jackie". I would feel more respectable. Thank you Ms Carroll and company. You made a difference. I hope today's shows can stand up to the same test. We need nurses, and we need people who cross the lines.

Diahann Carroll (Dynasty "Dominique Deveraux Lloyd") played "Julia Baker" a single parent and a nurse who had one son "Corey Baker" Marc Copage (The Wave). "Corey Baker" was an adorable little boy. Lloyd Nolan (Peyton Place, Hannah and Her Sisters) "Dr. Morton Chegley" was Julia's boss in the hospital where she worked. This show portraits a role model family of a single parent. Diahann was and is a beautiful woman. I watched the show when I was growing up, dubbed and black and white. I used to look forward to finding the show. I don't think that they dubbed that many episodes, and soon I found myself watching the reruns. But it was ok, because is the show had good values. I have very good memories of the series.

As we come upon the golden 40th anniversary of classic sitcom that needs to be released on DVD or for that manner brought back to television. The reason? Before this series,actress/singer and Broadway sensation Diahann Carroll starred in several theatrical features,most notably opposite starred opposite Dorothy Dandridge,and Harry Belefonte in Otto Preminger's brilliant 1954 musical "Carmen Jones". She was also in the film version of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess"(also directed by Preminger)and starring opposite Sidney Poitier,Pearl Bailey,and Sammy Davis,Jr.,and opposite Paul Newman in "Paris Blues",which reunited her with leading man Sidney Poitier. She also made her mark in action films as well starring opposite former NFL-great Jim Brown in "The Split". She won the Tony Award in 1962(the first African-American actress to do so),and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1974 landmark classic "Claudine",which she starred opposite James Earl Jones.

So,why after 40 years is this landmark series "Julia" not even mention or not even rated as one of television's greats? Diahann Carroll is best remembered as being one of the first and foremost television series to featured an black actress to star in her own weekly series where she did not play a domestic worker(Before "Julia",television shows featuring lead characters were usually servants like Louise Beavers in "Beulah",and Amanda Randolph in "Make Room For Daddy"). And the first to star in a non-stereotypical role. The classic series "Julia" was groundbreaking for its time in 1968,some three years earlier before Bill Cosby broke color barriers for his work(and won the Emmy for Best Actor) on the series "I Spy". During the 1960's the color barriers in Hollywood were broken and it opened the floodgates for other African-American actors to make their stride...After the success of "I Spy", you had other black actors that did the same,and it launch a new era for minorities too. Actors like Rockne Tarkington("Tarzan"), Hari Rhodes("Daktari"),Robert Hooks("N.Y.P.D"), Nichelle Nichols("Star Trek"), Gail Fisher("Mannix"), Greg Morris("Mission:Impossible"), Don Mitchell("Ironside"), Clarence Williams,III("The Mod Squad"), Ivan Dixon("Hogan's Heroes"), Rafer Johnson("Felony Squad"), and Don Marshall("The Land of the Giants"). Earlier actors included Cicely Tyson("East Side/West Side"). Even the variety show concept also featured African-American actors as well and during the success of Diahann Carroll's sitcom,two black oriented shows were launched featuring black women in their own weekly variety shows..one of them was Broadway sensation and actress Leslie Uggams whose variety show was on CBS,and the other was Barbara McNair whose variety series lasted one season for NBC.

"Julia" was the first to featured a black actress in a positive light during the height of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. The series was produced by Hal Kanter for Twentieth Century-Fox Television. It produced 86 episodes during the three seasons that it ran on NBC-TV from September 17,1968 until May 25,1971. The series did very well in its timeslot when it premiered in 1968,opposite the espionage series "It Takes A Thief"(which was on ABC),and the long-running variety series "The Red Skelton Show"(which was on CBS). Diahann Carroll won the 1968 Golden Globe for Best Actress,and was nominated for an Emmy in 1969 for Best Actress during this series' run. However,the show was the first to tackle issues head on for its day and it was handled with style and grace..something that was unheard of and especially when this show premiered in 1968. This was a series that was groundbreaking while it was on the air and for one was devided by a significiant segment of the black community as not being political or angry enough,owing largely to its status as an lighthearted sitcom.

Carroll played a widowed single mother Julia Baker(her fighter pilot husband had been shot down in Vietnam),who also worked as a nurse for a large hospital. She had a son Corey Baker(Marc Copage)who lived with her in a upscale apartment complex. Her boss was Dr. Morton Chegley was played by Lloyd Nolan,while her co-worker Nurse Hannah Yarby was played by Lurene Tuttle. The Baker's downstairs neighbors were the Waggedorns. Julia's best friend Marie Waggedorn(played by Betty Beaird)was close friends with her son Earl J. Waggedorn(played by Michael Link),who was Corey's best friend and playmate,along with Marie's husband Len(Hank Brandt),and their infant daughter. Other characters included The Baker's housekeeper Roberta(Janear Hines),and not to mention Julia's cousin Sara(played by Broadway sensation and Actress Diana Sands). The guest star roster included Cesar Romero,Bob Hope, Sugar Ray Robinson, Mary Wickes, Stu Gilliam, Jack Soo,and a special guest appearance by Jimmy Stewart in one episode. Her romantic interests were Fred Williamson(Steve Bruce),Paul Winfield(Paul Cameron),and Don Marshall(Ted Neumann). The theme music came from Oscar winning composer Elmer Bernstein. When the show "Julia" left the airwaves in 1971,the show that NBC replaced it with was the short-lived police drama "Sarge" starring George Kennedy that ran from 9-21-1971 until 1-11-1972.

I understand all the 'ground breaking' that this show accomplished. For me it is a warm memory of a different albeit somewhat ironic nature. It is the first TV show I ever watched on our new first time ever colour TV set. This show was in colour and it blew us away. We were pretty much 'the first on our block' to get a colour TV. Man, life was a lot simpler then. I remember Julia and Lloyd Nolan but, have forgotten pretty much everything else about this show. But, at the time we loved it. Of course we also loved the smarties commercials too.

At the time we couldn't care less if the characters were black or white. As I think about it now though. That simple fact that a black woman was portrayed as a person. Not black not white. Was probably a very notable thing to do. Whenever I see Lloyd Nolan in an old TCB movie I always remember him as the doctor on the TV Show Julia.