Actress Vonetta McGee died 9 July 2010 of a heart attack. Born Lawrence Vonetta McGee (named for her father) on 14 January 1945 in San Francisco, California, she’ll probably be best remembered for her “blaxploitation” film roles in Blacula (1972), Hammer (1972), and Shaft in Africa (1973), though she deplored the term blaxploitation, according to The New York Times. “It wasn’t the ‘black’ that troubled her—that was a source of pride. It was the ‘exploitation’.” A family spokesman who announced her death said “She was constantly a person who preferred roles where women got to make choices. Where women got to be strong.”
McGee was studying pre-law at at San Francisco State College when she became involved in community theater. She left college before graduating to pursue an acting career. Her first film roles were in Italy in the late 1960s. After Sidney Poitier saw her Italian film work, he arranged for her to be cast in her first American film, The Lost Man (1969), in which he starred.
In later years, she had recurring roles on several television series, including Cagney & Lacey, on which she played Detective Mark Petrie’s wife. Petrie was played by Carl Lumbly, whom she married in 1986.
Her genre roles include Brother Future (1991), Repo Man (1984), The Norliss Tapes (1973), and Blacula (1972).
She is survived by her husband, their son, her mother, three brothers, and a sister.