Madge Sinclair's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Trapper John, M.D. Ernestine S… Gabriel's Fire Empress Jos… Joe Forrester Sheila Gates

Main Movie Roles 1994 - The Lion King 1988 - Coming to America 1986 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 1978 - Convoy 1974 - Conrack

BIOGRAPHY:

Madge Sinclair married young, and had two sons. She worked as a teacher in Jamaica until she was 30. Madge left her two boys with their father and went to New York to be an actress. She began modelling and later acted with the New York Shakespearean Festival and at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In 1974 Madge made her film debut in 1974, playing Mrs. Scott in Conrack (1974). Madge was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance as Belle in the miniseries _"Roots" (1977)_. In the early 1980s, shortly after joining the cast of "Trapper John, M.D." (1979) she was diagnosed with leukaemia. She continued to work outliving the doctors' predictions by several years. On December 20, 1995, at the age of 57, Madge Sinclair died in Los Angeles.


TRIVIA:

• Played 'Ben Vereen' (qv)'s and 'LeVar Burton' (qv)'s relatives in two different productions: _"Roots" (1977)_ (qv), where she played Bell, Vereen's (Chicken George's) grandmother and Burton's (Kunta Kinte's) wife and _"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) {Interface (#7.3)}_ (qv), where she played Capt. Silvia LaForge, Burton's (Geordi LaForge's) mother and Vereen's (Commander Edward M. LaForge, M.D.'s) wife.
• Twice played Queen to 'James Earl Jones' (qv)' King, first in _Coming to America (1988)_ (qv), then in _The Lion King (1994)_ (qv).
• Her character Queen Sarabi in The Lion King didn't appear in the sequel the Lion King 2 as she died in 1995 and the directors thought that replacing her voice would be a lack of respect.
• Co-starred with 'James Earl Jones' (qv) five times.
• Is one of only 32 actors and actresses to have starred in both the original _"Star Trek" (1966)_ (qv) (up to and including _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)_ (qv)) and then in one of the spin offs.
• Her appearance as the unnamed captain of the U.S.S. Saratoga in _Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)_ (qv) marked the first appearance, in any Star Trek show or movie, of a female starship captain.