African-American Beverly Hope Atkinson began her career on the New York stage with Cafe LaMama and toured in such productions as "The Skin of Our Teeth," "Lysistrata" and "The Blacks". She eventually made her way to Hollywood in the early 70s where she impressed in her very first film role, that of a streetwise hooker in The New Centurions (1972) with George C. Scott. She found steadier work, however, on TV. Her character career continued in the same flashy vein, playing angry women down-on-their-luck or caught up in drug addiction, notably as a recurring role on "Hill Street Blues" from 1984-1986. Beverly died of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 66.