Lillian Hayman

Lillian Irene Hayman (July 17, 1922 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress and singer born in Baltimore, Maryland. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilberforce University, she pursued a career in the Broadway theatre that spanned from 1957 to 1975.

Hayman originated roles in several new Broadway musicals over the course of her stage career, with credits including Kwamina, Doctor Jazz, Tough to Get Help, Jule's Friends at the Palace, and Hallelujah, Baby! Her performance in Hallelujah, Baby!, in which she portrayed the mother of Leslie Uggams's character, earned her the 1968 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also appeared in the 1971 Kander and Ebb musical 70, Girls, 70.

That Tony-winning performance brought Hayman to the attention of casting agents for the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live, who cast her as Sadie Gray, a role she held from 1968 to 1986. During that run she briefly departed the series to appear in The Leslie Uggams Show, a primetime musical comedy. Her tenure on One Life to Live ended in 1986 when executive producer Paul Rauch chose not to renew her option. As recounted in co-star Ellen Holly's 1998 memoir One Life: The Autobiography of an African American Actress, Hayman learned of her dismissal when Rauch's assistant approached her in a parking garage and informed her that she had just worked her last day.

Beyond the stage and daytime television, Hayman appeared in the 1975 film Mandingo, in which she portrayed Lucrezia Borgia, and made her final feature film appearance in that film's 1976 sequel, Drum.

Hayman never married and had no children. She died of a heart attack at her home in Hollis, Queens, New York, on October 25, 1994, at the age of 72.