Ja'net Dubois

Background

Jeannette Theresa Dubois was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on August 5, 1932. She was raised in Amityville, Long Island, as the daughter of Lillian Gouedy and Gordon Adelbert Dubois. DuBois began her acting career on stage in the early 1960s, with a modest role in the Broadway production “The Long Dream,” which ran for four days in February 1960. She became an understudy for Gertrude Jeannette’s housekeeping character in the comedy “Nobody Loves an Albatross,” which ran from October 1963 to June 1964, after starring in the play “The Blacks.” Following that, DuBois starred alongside Sammy Davis Jr., Billy Daniels, Lola Falana, and Johnny Brown in the Broadway musical “Golden Boy.”

Her early television acting credits include “J.T.” (1969) and “Love of Life,” a long-running television soap opera. In 1970, DuBois starred in her first film, “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” in which she played Vera. DuBois won the role of Stormy Monday in the 1973 comedy “Five on the Black Hand Side” after appearing in her debut film. Norman Lear, a television producer, saw her perform at the Mark Taper Forum during her time in the play. After seeing DuBois’ performance, Lear cast her as Wilona Woods in his CBS sitcom “Good Times.” She appeared in the series from February 1974 until July 1979, when it ended.

Following the completion of “Good Times” in 1979, she released “Again, Ja’Net DuBois” in 1983 on her Peanuts and Caviar label. During the 1980s, DuBois ran the Ja’net DuBois Academy of Theater Arts and Sciences on Long Island, New York, which was a performing arts school for youths. The Pan African Film & Arts Festival was co-founded by DuBois, Danny Glover, and Ayuko Babu in Los Angeles in 1992. In Amityville, New York, she served as Grand Marshal for the North Amityville Community Parade and Festival Day in 2000. DuBois was also a member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority as an honorary member.

In 1950, DuBois married Sajit Gupta. DuBois was divorced from Gupta by April 1959, according to her Brazilian consulate paperwork, while another source claims she was still married in 1964. Provat Gupta, Rani Gupta, Kesha Gupta-Fields, and Raj Kristo Gupta, who died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 36, were the couple’s four children. DuBois had a romantic relationship with actor Brock Peters in 1959. She died of cardiac arrest on February 17, 2020, at her home in Glendale, California.