Leslie Uggams

thumb Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943)[2] is an American actress and singer. Quotes I mean, that's how I've always been. And then I realize when I run into so many different people and they - you know, they go, oh, you're such an icon, and I go, oh, I guess I am. I've been doing this a long time. But I always think in terms of, I'm working, baby. I'm happy. Well, the funniest thing about it is that I happened to be in Florida doing "Mame," and my agent called me and said, I have an audition for you for a movie. So I got the script, and I read it, and I didn't understand what the heck was going on. Had no idea. I mean, when you do these kind of superhero kind of things, everything's encrypted because it's all so hush-hush that you don't know until the last minute yourself what the heck is going on. And so I had to figure it all out myself. Luckily, I figured it right because when I finished filming the first one, Ryan came to me. He said, oh, I just love you. He said, and, oh, you had such energy when you did the audition. And I thought to myself, I had no idea what I was doing. So, I mean, it's the character. And of course, she has a lot to cuss about because she can't see anything (laughter), you know? And she's kind of ticked off about the whole thing. But I think what really got me the part is my interview with the director, the first director, Tim Miller, who - we sat down, and we talked and everything, and he was asking me about my background. And in talking to him, I said a word, and he looked at me - said, (gasping) I love the way you say that word. And the next thing I know, I was doing a screen test. And the next thing I know, I was in the movie. Well, I know from my grandmother on - you know, on my mother's side, her mother, there were 10 children. They were all fathered by the plantation owner. The plantation owner built a house on his property for the 10 children, which my grandmother was one of them, and they were highly educated. They were - they looked like white people, and they all were doctors, dentists, teachers, principals. And when my grandmother used to visit me and my mother and father, nobody in my neighborhood realized that I was walking with my grandmother because she looked like a white woman. The family, yeah. But they never talked about those situations of being raped or anything like that because they were educated on the plantation. They - you know, they had teachers and stuff to teach them there, so they didn't have that. But I could relate to what was going on in that story very much because you don't have any say-so in anything. And first, to be torn away from your family is quite something, you know? I find it hard today when I see what's going on here in our beautiful America, and all of a sudden, you've got people being torn away from their family. Yeah, she's looking out the window and just watching the whole thing. It was tough. Thank God I didn't have to shoot anymore for the rest of the day, 'cause I wouldn't have been able to. I came home, and my husband looked at me and said, OK, you've had a rough day. And I had a glass of wine and got in the bathtub and just tried to get my thoughts together. And then later on, I called my mother and said, how could this happen? You - and, you know, I had a deep conversation with her, and she said, that's the way things were back in Grandma's day. And we talked about it, but it was rough. Leslie Uggams looks back on decades in show business;By Terry Gross on July 22, 2025 External links Category:Women singers from the United States Category:Actresses from New York City Category:Living people Category:1943 births Category:Women born in the 1940s Category:African Americans