Actress Mary Alice, who starred in shows like A Different World and All My Children, has died, Variety reports.

Alice was an iconic performer on both the screen and stage. She won a Tony Award in the category best featured actress in a play for her role in the 1987 production of Fences. The actress also won an Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for I’ll Fly Away. The actor was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2000. She retired from acting five years later in 2005.

She joined the A Different World cast for two seasons as Leticia “Lettie” Bostic, the dorm director for Gilbert Hall. Her quiet strength and power on screen grounded the show and helped the principal characters soar.

 

On the big screen, she appeared in movies like Malcolm X, The Inkwell, Down in the Delta, Beat Street, To Sleep With Anger and many more. She also was in The Matrix Revolutions.

Actors have since taken to social media to honor Alice and express what a massive loss this is for Hollywood.

 

“A shoulder we all stood on. A round of applause for Mary Alice. Thank you legend. Rest Easy,” Colman Domingo tweeted.

“RIP Mary Alice…the original Rose Maxson. You were one of the greatest actresses of all time!! Thank you for the work, inspiration and thank you for Rose. Godspeed Queen,” Viola Davis tweeted.

 

“Mary Alice…” S. Epatha Merkerson tweeted, along with broken heart emojis.

Alice was from Indianola, Mississippi, and in the mid-1960s was a teacher in Chicago when she decided to pursue acting, Deadline reports.

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