‘Peyton Place’ and ‘Brian’s Song’ Actress Dead at 83: RIP to Judy Pace

Actress Judy Pace has died at 83.

Known for her role in the ‘60s soap opera Peyton Place, Pace “died peacefully in her sleep” on Wednesday in Marina del Rey, California, while visiting family, her daughters, Shawn and Julia Pace Mitchell, announced via Deadline.

Pace was born on June 15, 1942, in Los Angeles and trained as a model. She was Ebony Fashion Fair’s youngest in 1961. Per IMDb, she majored in sociology at Los Angeles City College and later pursued modeling after being taught by her sister. She modeled for many publications, which led director William Castle to cast her in his 1963 Cold War spy film 13 Frightened Girls. Pace became the first Black woman to be contracted by Columbia Studios, appearing in countless television shows and films.

Credits throughout the ‘60s include Bewitched, The Fortune Cookie, I Spy, Days of Our Lives, I Dream of Jeannie, Tarzan, Mod Squad, Three in the Attic, and My Friend Tony. In 1968, Pace landed a recurring role as Vickie Fletcher in the half-hour soap opera Peyton Place, appearing in 15 episodes throughout its fifth season. The following year, she was cast as Pat Walters/Ann Walters in the short-lived ABC legal drama The Young Lawyers, which ran for just one season from 1969 to 1971 and also starred Lee J. Cobb, Zalman King, and Philip Clark. She won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress for her role in the series.

In 1971, Pace starred as Linda Sayers in the ABC Movie of the Week film Brian’s Song, which recounts the life of Chicago Bears player Brian Piccolo, who had terminal cancer and focuses on his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers. The made-for-TV movie is based on Sayers’ account of his friendship with Piccolo and coping with his illness in Sayers’ 1970 autobiography, I Am Third.

Pace can also be seen in Frogs, Cool Breeze, The Slams, Kung Fu, Sanford and Son, Ironside, Caribe, Good Times, What’s Happening!!, Beyond Westworld, The New Odd Couple, and What’s Happening Now! After appearing on an episode of What’s Happening Now! in 1985, Pace took a break from acting and didn’t return until 2004 with the movie Sucker Free City. She appeared in an episode of Players at the Poker Palace in 2008 and the film The Divorce in 2014. Her final acting credit was in four episodes of Beauty and the Baller in 2017 as Delores.

Aside from acting, Judy Pace founded the Kwanza Foundation in 1971 with Nichelle Nichols, which supports Black women working in film and provides scholarships to minority students pursuing careers in the arts. Pae is survived by her daughters, Shawn Pace Mitchell and Julia Pace Mitchell, her grandson Stephen Lamar Hightower III, her son-in-law Otto Strong, and many family members and friends.