Page 6 - Robeson Living Spring 2022

Film Stars Called
Robeson County Home
Film Stars Called

Robeson County Home

By Blake Tyner

Over the past 235 years since its creation, Robeson County has
been home to any number of talented actors. They have per-
formed in venues all around the county. Many will remember
the great performances by the Robeson Little Theater during
their over 40 years of gracing the stage. Lots of people will
recognize the name of Lumberton native and award-winning
actress Penny Fuller known for her stage, movie, and televi-
sion appearances. Many may not be aware that two African
American Robeson County natives James McEachin and Fred
Toones made a name for themselves on a national level.

Penny Fuller

Fuller was born July 21, 1940, in Durham, North Carolina and
graduated from Lumberton High School in 1955. While in high
school she played basketball and wrote for The Robesonian.
The summer after graduation while attending summer school
at UNC she was in the Playmakers production of Deadwood
Dick She later attended Northwestern University before mov-
ing to New York.

She first appeared on Broadway in 1964 as a replacement in
Neil Simon’s stage play, Barefoot in the Park, playing Corie
Bratter opposite Robert Redford. Her first singing role was as
Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 1966.

Penny Fuller
In 1970 Fuller starred in the role of Eve Harrington in Ap-
plause, the musical adaptation of the film All About Eve. In Judging Amy.
Richard Rodgers and Sheldon Harnick’s ill-fated Rex (1976),
a musical based on the life of Henry VIII, she played both Ann Penny Fuller was back on Broadway in the original production
Boleyn and Princess Elizabeth. This performance brought her of Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter (1997), and in
a Tony nomination. 1998 she performed the role of Mimi Schwinn in the original
off-Broadway production of William Finn and James Lapine’s
The 1980s found her working extensively in television. Most musical, A New Brain,, winning a Drama Desk Award. She ap-
memorable was her Emmy-winning performance as Mrs. Ken- peared in the revival of Rodgers and Sondheim’s Do I Hear a
dal in Bernard Pomerance’s play The Elephant Man (1982) and Waltz? at New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse in 1999, and
in the 1985 TV version of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot in 2000 she was nominated for a Tony for her performance in
Tin Roof, in which she played Mae (a.k.a. “Sister Woman”) Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party.
opposite Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones.
She appeared on the big screen work has included All the Presi-
She guest-starred in dozens of TV series, including The Edge dent’s Men (1976) and The Beverly Hillbillies (1993).
of Night, Love American Style, The Bob Newhart Show, Trap-
per John, M.D. and The Love Boat (1983, 1985). Her TV ca- She was twice-nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award: in 1970
reer has continued with L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote , China as best supporting or featured actress (musical) for Applause
Beach, Quantum Leap, NYPD Blue, Mad About You, and
Page 6 Robeson Living ~ Spring 2022