Bebe Drake

Acting

Bebe Drake

Born 1944-05-31 · Sacramento, California, USA

Bebe Drake (born Beatrice Drake) is an American actress. Drake is one of four children born to Beatrice Lillian Hayes, a teacher, social worker and community activist, and Carl Everett Drake, a postal worker who later became the first African American practicing psychiatrist in Sacramento. She attended C. K. McClatchy High School, Sacramento City College, and California State University, Sacramento. Drake made her Broadway debut in the 1975 Leslie Lee's play The First Breeze of Summer and the following year appeared in Great Performances production. She later was regular cast member on the two short-lived sitcoms: Snip (1976) and Sanford Arms (1977). During her career, Drake appeared in more than 70 films and television series. She made her big screen debut in 1975 appearing in films Report to the Commissioner and Friday Foster, and in 1977 had supporting role opposite Richard Pryor in the comedy film Which Way Is Up?. In 1979 she co-starred in the miniseries Backstairs at the White House and the made-for-television movie The Cracker Factory. She made guest-starring appearances on television series such as Good Times, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Love Boat, The Jeffersons, Highway to Heaven, Thirtysomething, L.A. Law, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Steve Harvey Show, The Parent 'Hood and The Bernie Mac Show. Drake appeared in films such as The Last Married Couple in America (1980), Xanadu (1980), Oh, God! Book II (1980), First Monday in October (1981), Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986), Alien Nation (1988), House Party (1990), Across the Tracks (1991), Boomerang (1992), Jason's Lyric (1994), Space Jam (1996), How to Be a Player (1997), Anywhere But Here (1999), Leprechaun in the Hood (2000), Friday After Next (2002), Wild Hogs (2007) and Influence (2020). Drake appeared in the 1980 made-for-television drama Scared Straight! Another Story, the 1987 thriller Billionaire Boys Club, and the 1989 miniseries The Women of Brewster Place. She was regular cast member in the 1990 short-lived sitcom New Attitude. From 1989 to 1993 she had recurring role on A Different World playing Velma Gaines and later had recurring roles on Martin and Another Period playing Harriet Tubman.

Acting credits

Space Jam poster
6.8

With their freedom on the line, the Looney Tunes seek the help of NBA superstar Michael Jordan to win a basketball game against a team of moronic aliens.

Space Jam

1996

Wild Hogs poster
6.0

Restless and ready for an adventure, four suburban bikers leave the safety of their subdivision and head out on the open road. But complications ensue when they cross paths with an intimidating band of New Mexico bikers known as the Del Fuegos.

Wild Hogs

2007

House Party poster
6.4

Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.

House Party

1990

Boomerang poster
5.7

Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill.

Boomerang

1992

Friday After Next poster
6.4

Craig and his cousin Day-Day have finally moved out of their parents' houses and into their own crib, working nights at a local mall as security guards. When their house is robbed on Christmas Eve they set out to track down the culprit.

Friday After Next

2002

Body Bags poster
6.2

A horror anthology containing three stories: a female college student working a graveyard shift is terrorized by a serial killer; a hair transplant goes horribly wrong; and a baseball player loses an eye and gets a new one from a recently executed murderer.

Body Bags

1993

Xanadu poster
5.7

Kira, a Greek muse incarnated on Earth to inspire people, helps Dan McGuire and an artist named Sonny Malone to meet. She inspires them to build a huge disco roller rink called Xanadu.

Xanadu

1980

Leprechaun in the Hood poster
4.9

When Butch, Postmaster P, and Stray Bullet loot the local hip-hop mogul's studio to fund their demo album, the threesome unwittingly ends up with the secret of Mack Daddy's success: a magical flute. Their gigs instantly turn golden but a blood-thristy Leprechaun and an angry Mack Daddy are hot on their trail, leaving a wake of destruction tainted by politically incorrect limericks.

Leprechaun in the Hood

2000

How to Be a Player poster
5.6

Dray is a young playboy whose only objective in life seems to be to have sex with as many girls as he can without getting caught by his girlfriend Lisa. Dray's sister Jenny and her friend Katrina plan to show him that the way he lives is wrong and organize a party in Malibu, inviting all of his girlfriends.

How to Be a Player

1997

Jason's Lyric poster
6.7

The story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends.

Jason's Lyric

1994

Across the Tracks poster
5.9

When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him and his buddy Louie tries to make him go astray again. His brother Joe, quite the opposite of Billy, is a good runner and determined to win a track scholarship. He suggests Billy to join his school's track team, which pits the two brothers against each other.

Across the Tracks

1991

Bebe's Kids poster
6.1

When Robin meets the lovely Jamika he thinks he's in heaven. But when he meets her friend Bebe's children, whom she is looking after, he knows he's in hell.

Bebe's Kids

1992

The Cracker Factory poster
9.3

Drama depicting the problems of a suburban housewife suffering from fits of depression and alcoholism, and her stay in a psychiatric center after a feeble suicide attempt.

The Cracker Factory

1979

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling poster
6.5

Although Jo Jo Dancer has achieved success as a stand-up comedian, he hasn't found happiness. After receiving severe burns in a narcotics-related incident, Jo Jo remains in a coma, and, while in this state, he looks back on his life. Drifting off into memories of his troubled childhood, Jo Jo revisits his youth, recalling his eventual rise to fame and the decadence that followed. As he considers his existence, he must decide if he wants to go on living or not.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

1986

The First Breeze of Summer poster
7.0

A portrait of an African American working-class family, this stage production depicts an elderly grandmother's flashbacks to the affairs she had as a young woman and a hard-working father's current conflict with his two unhappy sons.

The First Breeze of Summer

1976

The Last Married Couple in America poster
4.4

Jeff and Mari Thompson are contently married, but they are stunned to see many of their friends and neighbors going through separations and divorces. Seemingly surrounded by people with domestic problems, Jeff and Mari begin to question their own relationship.

The Last Married Couple in America

1980

Friday Foster poster
6.1

Friday Foster, a magazine photographer, goes to Los Angeles International airport to photograph the arrival of Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America. Three men attempt to assassinate Tarr. Foster photographs the melee and is plunged into a web of conspiracy involving the murder of her childhood friend, a US senator, and a shadowy plan called "Black Widow".

Friday Foster

1975

O'Hara's Wife poster
5.7

Workaholic attorney Bob O'Hara is devastated when his wife dies suddenly. However, she returns to haunt him in order to persuade him to slow down, watch his own health, and renew relationships with his two grown children.

O'Hara's Wife

1982

Oh, God! Book II poster
5.4

God appears before 11-year-old Tracy Richards to ask for her help to spread his word and influence over the world which she suggests the slogan 'Think God.' Naturaly, Tracy's divorced parents think Tracy's crazy, and plot to halt her 'heaven-sent' mission to spread God's word.

Oh, God! Book II

1980

The Women of Brewster Place poster
6.8

A multigenerational story of the lives of several black women who call an inner-city tenement home.

The Women of Brewster Place

1989

Suddenly Single poster
7.0

Samantha Stone, a smart and beautiful wife and mother, has been happily married to her high school sweetheart Sylvester Stone for seventeen years. On the day they're set to move into their dream home, Sylvester confesses that he is leaving her for another woman. What do you do when the only man you've ever loved falls in love with another woman and leaves you suddenly single?

Suddenly Single

2012

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

Crossroads poster
5.7

The life of a young Jesuit seminarian is turned upside down when he falls in love with a young woman while working as a volunteer at a soup kitchen.

Crossroads

2006