Judy Pace, a pioneering actress who opened doors for Black women in Hollywood with memorable roles in “Peyton Place” and the influential TV movie “Brian’s Song,” died in her sleep on March 11, 2026, while visiting relatives in Marina del Rey, California. She was 83.
Family spokesman Joseph Babineaux verified Pace’s death to The Hollywood Reporter. Her daughters, Shawn Pace Mitchell and Julia Pace Mitchell, said their mother “died peacefully in her sleep.” A fashionable native of Los Angeles, Pace leaves a legacy as one of the most striking performers of a time when roles for Black actresses were severely restricted.
Born June 15, 1942, Pace achieved several firsts during her career. She was the first Black woman to sign a contract with Columbia Pictures in the early 1960s, became the first Black bachelorette on “The Dating Game” in 1965, and served as the first television and print spokeswoman for Fashion Fair Cosmetics — helping to increase visibility for Black women in advertising and fashion when that was uncommon.
After graduating from Dorsey High School and studying sociology at Los Angeles City College, Pace trained as a model with support from her sister Betty. In 1961 she became the youngest model selected for the prestigious Ebony Fashion Fair, launching a career that spanned film, television, and advocacy.
She made her screen debut in 1963’s “13 Frightened Girls,” directed by William Castle, playing the daughter of a Liberian diplomat. That role led to regular television work on popular shows including “Bewitched,” “Batman,” “I Spy,” “Tarzan,” and “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Pace became widely known for her recurring role as Vickie Fletcher in 15 episodes during the fifth and final season of ABC’s primetime soap “Peyton Place” (1968–69). Portraying a morally complex antagonist, she became the first Black actress to play a villain on network television, breaking away from the limited, respectable parts typically offered to Black performers.
“All the Black women in the movies seem to be nurses, school teachers, social workers,” Pace told critic Roger Ebert in a 1969 interview. “Black women lead real lives, baby. They’re not all doctors’ wives.”
She earned an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress for her groundbreaking portrayal of attorney Pat Walters on ABC’s “The Young Lawyers,” which aired from September 1970 to March 1971 opposite Lee J. Cobb and Zalman King. The role presented Pace as a sharp, unapologetic professional at a time when such images of Black women were uncommon on U.S. television.
In 1971, Pace appeared in the landmark ABC telefilm “Brian’s Song” as Linda Sayers, the wife of Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers, played by Billy Dee Williams. The Emmy-winning telefilm, also starring James Caan as Brian Piccolo, drew about 55 million viewers when it aired on Nov. 30, 1971 — roughly half of U.S. TV households at the time. The movie remains one of the most celebrated television films and was later ranked among the top “guy-cry” films in a 2005 Entertainment Weekly readers’ poll.
Pace’s film work included major roles in “Cotton Comes to Harlem” (1970), directed by Ossie Davis, where she played the sharp-tongued schemer Iris opposite Calvin Lockhart. She also appeared in “Three in the Attic” (1968) with Christopher Jones — a performance Roger Ebert praised as that of “a quick, funny actress who can put an edge on a line.” Other credits include the ecological horror film “Frogs” (1972) with Ray Milland and “The Slams” (1973) with Jim Brown.
Beyond her acting, Pace worked to create opportunities for other Black artists. In 1971 she co-founded the Kwanza Foundation with “Star Trek” actor Nichelle Nichols. The philanthropic nonprofit aimed to honor Black women in film both on-screen and behind the camera, supporting Black women in the industry and providing scholarships to minority students pursuing arts careers.
Her television work continued through the 1970s with guest appearances on “The Mod Squad,” “Shaft,” “Medical Center,” “Kung Fu,” “Sanford and Son,” “That’s My Mama,” “What’s Happening!!” and “Good Times.” Though she largely stepped away from show business after the 1970s, she returned occasionally, including a small part in Spike Lee’s 2004 TV movie “Sucker Free City.” Her final acting credit was a four-episode arc on “Beauty and the Baller” in 2017.
Author Bob McCann, in his Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television, named Pace among the “last generation of truly pioneering Black actresses,” alongside Brenda Sykes, Pam Grier, and Rosalind Cash.
Accepting an award in 2019, Pace reflected on her extraordinary life. “This is my 77th year — I am having a ball,” she told the audience. “I’m a native Californian. I have to thank my mom and my dad for getting the hell out of Jackson, Mississippi, and making their way to the Pacific Ocean, where you can be anything you want to be.”
Pace was married to actor Don Mitchell, known for his role on NBC’s “Ironside,” from 1972 to 1984; they had two daughters. She married baseball great Curt Flood in 1986 and became an outspoken advocate for his legacy after his death in 1997, campaigning for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite broad support — including a 2020 letter from 102 members of Congress urging his enshrinement — Flood has not yet been inducted.
She is survived by her daughters, attorney Shawn Pace Mitchell and actress Julia Pace Mitchell, who played Sofia Dupre on “The Young and the Restless”; her grandson, Stephen Lamar Hightower III; and her son-in-law, Otto Strong.
The family has requested that donations in Pace’s memory be made to the NAACP.
