Marilyn Coleman

Acting

Marilyn Coleman

Born 1934-03-23 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Marilyn B. Coleman was a writer, a singer, and an award-winning actress on Broadway, on television, and in film. She was born to the late Estella and Fred Bonaparte in Philadelphia. She moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and began a career that spanned more than 45 years on stage, film and television. Coleman started her acting career landing roles in films, such as the drama "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" (1977) with Diane Keaton, the comedic adaptation "Which Way Is Up?" (1977) with Richard Pryor and the crime flick "Remember My Name" (1978) with Geraldine Chaplin. She also appeared in the TV movie "Nowhere to Run" (NBC, 1977-78). She also was featured in the miniseries "A Woman Called Moses" (1978-79). She worked in television in her early acting career as well, including a part on "Good Times" (CBS, 1973-79). Her career progressed to film, including a role in the Season Hubley drama "Vice Squad" (1982). She also starred in the TV movies "Aunt Mary" (1979-1980), "The Best Little Girl in the World" (ABC, 1980-81) and "Something So Right" (CBS, 1982-83). Coleman focused on film in more recent years, appearing in the dramatic comedy "The Five Heartbeats" (1991) with Robert Townsend and "Menace II Society" (1993) with Tyrin Turner. She also was featured in the TV movie "Heat Wave" (TNT, 1989-1990). She also worked in television during these years, including a part on "Designing Women" (CBS, 1986-1993). Coleman more recently acted in the Robert Townsend adventurous drama "The Meteor Man" (1993). Marilyn was formerly married to jazz percussionist George Allen. They have a daughter, Marci Allen-Koutsialis. After their divorce, she married jazz singer Earl Coleman. They had two children, Kevin Coleman and Dana Coleman-Baylor.

Acting credits

Menace II Society poster
7.5

A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.

Menace II Society

1993

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka poster
6.4

Jack Spade returns from the army in his old ghetto neighbourhood when his brother, June Bug, dies. Jack declares war on Mr. Big, powerful local crimelord. His army is led by John Slade, his childhood idol who used to fight bad guys in the 70s.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

1988

No Other Love poster
8.0

A young marginally intellectually-disabled girl and boy meet, plan to marry, and convince the world that they are entitled to a life of their own -- despite attempts by the girl's parents to separate them.

No Other Love

1979

The Meteor Man poster
5.8

One night Jefferson Reed gets hit in the chest by a souped-up chunk of meteor. So he can fly, but he's scared of heights. He can master the information in any book ... for about thirty seconds. Now his friends and family want him to protect their community from the dreaded Golden Lords.

The Meteor Man

1993

Aunt Mary poster
7.3

The true-life drama about a handicapped Baltimore woman living on welfare who organized a sandlot baseball team and ended up coaching more than 50,000 boys and girls over nearly 40 years.

Aunt Mary

1979

Looking for Mr. Goodbar poster
6.3

A short, unhappy affair with a married man leads a dedicated schoolteacher into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles’ bars, where she begins to engage in a pattern of dangerous sexual activity.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

1977

Don't Go to Sleep poster
6.5

One year after a young girl dies in a car accident, her sister begins seeing visions of her, while the family home is plagued by strange happenings.

Don't Go to Sleep

1982

Up the Sandbox poster
5.9

Bored with day-to-day life in New York City and neglected by her husband, a young wife and mother slips into increasingly outrageous fantasies: her mother breaking into the apartment, an explorer's demonstration of tribal fertility music at a party causing strange transformations, and joining terrorists to plant explosives in the Statue of Liberty.

Up the Sandbox

1972

Vice Squad poster
6.2

An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.

Vice Squad

1982

Remember My Name poster
6.1

Just released from prison, a young woman arrives in town to "start a new life," but soon begins stalking a married construction worker for no apparent reason, turning his life inside out and eventually terrorizing him and his wife.

Remember My Name

1978

Willie Dynamite poster
6.4

Willie Dynamite is a pimp who operates in New York City. Willie was a big success as a pimp, but now, just as fast as he rose to the top, he has hit bottom. A former prostitute who has become a social worker tries to get Willie to clean up his life while it is still possible.

Willie Dynamite

1974

Which Way Is Up? poster
5.8

Orange picker Leroy Jones inadvertently becomes a union leader and is forced out of town, leaving behind his sex-obsessed father, Rufus, and timid spouse, Annie Mae. He heads for Los Angeles, where he falls for union organizer Vanetta. Annie Mae seeks solace from local preacher Lenox Thomas, who eventually impregnates her. When Leroy catches wind, he heads home for a showdown with Lenox.

Which Way Is Up?

1977

Heat Wave poster
6.8

A rookie black journalist investigates the tensions of the Watts section of Los Angeles in the bloody summer of 1965.

Heat Wave

1990

Something So Right poster
5.9

Joey lives with his mother. His father isn't around, he doesn't like school, he is bored and doesn't take orders from anyone. In other words he is a real little scamp. Being at one's wit's end, his mother decides to look for a "big brother" (sort of surrogate father) for Joey. At first this clumsy Arnie doesn't know how to handle Joey but after a while everything changes and not only for Joey ...

Something So Right

1982

Nowhere to Run poster
7.0

Harry's married to Marian and things are not going all that well, so he wants out but somehow feels that a divorce is not the answer. After developing a winning blackjack system, he hatches a plan that takes years of preparation: to fake his death, assume a new identity and win $500,000 at blackjack.

Nowhere to Run

1978

The Best Little Girl in the World poster
5.6

Casey Powell is a teenage girl who is secretly suffering from anorexia nervosa, a mental and physical illness of deliberately starving herself or self-inducing vomiting, because of her inability to cope with family stress and because of social pressures.

The Best Little Girl in the World

1981

Better Off Dead. poster
4.8

A lawyer fights a losing battle against the courts to overturn the death sentence for a convicted female robber/murderer despite demands from the woman that her death sentence be carried out.

Better Off Dead.

1993

Road to Nowhere poster
3.7

A psychotic convict escapes from jail, kidnaps his sister, and takes an American couple hostage in their seaside vacation home while planning his escape from the police.

Road to Nowhere

1993

Invasion of the Love Drones poster
5.0

A spaceship from another universe comes to the earth to conquer it. The alien's ship runs on sexual energy, so to power it and take over the world, they make sex slaves out of part of the population, then instigate a worldwide orgy.

Invasion of the Love Drones

1977