Helen Martin

Helen Dorothy Martin (July 23, 1909 – March 25, 2000) was an American actress whose career in stage, film, and television extended across more than six decades. Born in St. Louis and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, she was an only child in a family of musicians. Her parents encouraged her toward a career as a concert pianist, and she enrolled at Fisk University, though she left after two years to pursue acting. During the Great Depression, she supported herself through domestic work while building toward a life in the theater.

After departing college, Martin relocated first to Chicago and then to New York City, where she studied acting with the WPA Theater and the Rose McClendon Players. She became a founding member of the American Negro Theater in Harlem, an institution that shaped her early professional development. Her Broadway debut came in 1937 with Orchids Preferred, in which she played Evy. She went on to appear in Orson Welles's 1941 production of Native Son, portraying Vera Thomas, and continued accumulating stage credits over the following decades. Among her Broadway appearances were Deep Are the Roots (1945), Take a Giant Step (1953), The Long Dream (1960), Tennessee Williams's Period of Adjustment (1960), Jean Genet's The Blacks (1960), Ossie Davis's Purlie Victorious (1961), My Mother, My Father and Me (1963), The Amen Corner (1965), Something Different (1967), and the musical Purlie (1970). She also appeared in the musical Raisin from 1973 to 1975, playing Mrs. Johnson. Her verified Broadway credits additionally include The Cocoanuts, in which she appeared in 1925.

Martin became widely recognized by television audiences through two long-running sitcoms. She played Wanda Williams, known as "Weeping Wanda," on the CBS series Good Times from 1974 to 1979, and later took on the role of neighbor Pearl Shay on the NBC sitcom 227, a part she held from 1985 to 1990. She also appeared in recurring roles on the sitcoms Baby, I'm Back, in which she played mother-in-law Luzelle, and That's My Mama.

Her film work included roles in Hollywood Shuffle (1987), House Party 2 (1991), Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), I Got the Hook Up (1998), and Bulworth (1998), in which she played a character named Mama Doll. During a Late Night with Conan O'Brien appearance to promote Don't Be a Menace, Martin drew a strong reaction from the host and studio audience when she declared, "I love reefer!" in response to a question about playing a marijuana-smoking grandmother in the film. She also stated she would have become a stripper had she not pursued acting, and accompanied the remark with a suggestive dance.

Martin died of a heart attack on March 25, 2000, in Monterey, California. She was 90 years old.