Carol Speed

Carol Speed, born Carolyn Ann Stewart, worked as an actress, singer-songwriter and author, and was known for her parts in blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. She grew up in San Jose, California, and began acting at 12 with the San Jose Light Opera in The King and I. She started out in music, singing backup for Bobbie Gentry, and moved into television in 1970 with a minor role on Julia. After her film debut in The New Centurions (1972), she appeared in The Big Bird Cage (1972) and The Mack (1973), playing Lulu opposite Max Julien. She was best known for Abby (1974), in which she played Abby Williams, a minister's wife taken over by a demon, and she wrote and sang My Soul Is A Witness for it. Later she appeared in Disco Godfather (1979) and wrote Inside Black Hollywood, published in 1980. She died in 2022.