Madeleine Sherwood Biography

Fast Facts

• Receiving a grant from the American Film Institute, she wrote, directed and acted in her film, "Good Night Sweet Prince," which received excellent reviews
• In the 1970s, after meeting with activists at the First Women's Sexual Conference, she started consciousness-raising groups and counseling workshops for Women and Incest
• Was a member of Congress on Racial Equality during the Civil Rights Movement
• Was an avid supporter of civil rights and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr
• Perhaps best known for her role as Reverend Mother Placido in "The Flying Nun" and Mae Pollitt in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof․"
• During the McCarthy era, she was put on the Hollywood blacklist because of her alleged sympathy with the American Communist Party
• One of the first women to direct a short film for the American Film Institute
• Was jailed and sentenced to hard labor after participating in a Freedom Walk, and her lawyer, Fred Grey, was the first African American to represent a Caucasian woman south of the Mason-Dixon Line