Hall, famed for ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘227,’ dies

Singer-actress Alaina Reed Hall has died at the age of 63.

By WIRE SERVICES

Story Created: Dec 23, 2009 at 7:46 PM PST

Story Updated: Dec 23, 2009 at 7:46 PM PST

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Singer-actress Alaina Reed Hall, who played Olivia Robinson on “Sesame Street” for a dozen years beginning in the mid-1970s and later played Rose Holloway on the situation comedy “227,” has died. She was 63.

Reed Hall, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, died Dec. 17 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, her husband, Tamim Amini, told the Los Angeles Times.

One of the original cast members of the 1974 off-Broadway production of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road,” Reed Hall joined “Sesame Street” in 1976 and played Olivia — a professional photographer and sister to the character Gordon — until 1988, The Times reported.

In a 2004 interview with the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, Reed Hall described “Sesame Street” as “the best job I ever had,” according to The Times.

Born Bernice Reed in Springfield, Ohio, on Nov. 10, 1946, she appeared in stage productions of “Hair,” “Chicago” and “Eubie,” The Times reported.

She also made guest appearances on TV series such as including “ER,” “NYPD Blue,” “Friends” and “Ally McBeal,” and appeared in a number of films, including “Death Becomes Her,” “Cruel Intentions” and “I’m Through With White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks),” according to The Times.

No funeral service will be held, but a celebration of Reed Hall’s life is being planned for early next year.

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