Overview
- Pace died in her sleep on March 11 while visiting family in Marina del Rey, according to a statement from her daughters.
- She became the first Black woman under a long-term contract at Columbia Pictures, the first TV and print spokesmodel for Fashion Fair, and the first Black bachelorette on The Dating Game.
- Her screen career spanned Peyton Place and The Young Lawyers—earning an NAACP Image Award—along with Brian’s Song and films including Cotton Comes to Harlem and The Slams.
- In 1971 she co-founded the Kwanza Foundation with Nichelle Nichols to support Black women working in film and to provide scholarships for minority arts students.
- She is survived by daughters Shawn and Julia Pace Mitchell, grandson Stephen Lamar Hightower III, and son-in-law Otto Strong, with the family requesting donations to the NAACP in lieu of flowers.