Daphne Maxwell Reid Movies

Actor-turned-director Tim Reid follows up the success of his 1996 opus Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored with this tense psychological thriller. The film opens with two upwardly mobile couples having a ball at a fairground. Chance (Blair Underwood) and his very pregnant wife Roberta happily board a Ferris wheel with their best friends Michael (Michael Beach) and his fashion designer wife Lauren (Debbi Morgan) when a freak accident strikes, and Roberta and the baby are killed. Michael and Lauren let Chance grieve at their luxurious abode. Soon Lauren reveals that she recently had a secret abortion because she did not know if the child was Michael's or Chance's. Grief-stricken and jealous, Chance starts stalking Lauren and doing everything in his power to wreck her marriage. This film was screened at the 1999 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Still a bachelor after breaking up with his fiancée a scant few moments before his wedding, Philadelphia émigré Will Smith (played, of course, by Will Smith) returns to the bosom of his wealthy California relations as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air enters its sixth and final season. Even though the basic "culture clash" premise was still intact, at this point, nothing Will could do can shock his prosperous and mildly pompous uncle Philip (James Avery) nor his serenely sensible aunt Vivian (Daphne Maxwell Reid). Similarly, Will no longer pokes fun at his relatives occasional haughty airs -- in fact he rather enjoys their pretensions and sometimes embraces them himself. As for the rest of the Bankses, college student Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) is well on his way to full-time political conservatism, Hilary (Karyn Parsons) is not as much of a spoiled brat as in earlier seasons, Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali) continues pursuing a singing career, and youngest child Nicholas (Ross Bagley) is -- well, youngest child Nicholas. The series' final two-part episode found Philip Banks deciding to put the mansion up for sale. Among the prospective buyers are several blasts from sitcoms past including Diff'rent Strokes' Conrad Bain and Gary Coleman, and Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, and Marla Gibbs from The Jeffersons. But does this finale mean that Will himself will pull up stakes and return to West Philly? Tune in and see! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The big news during The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's fourth season is the arrival of new cast member Daphne Maxwell Reid, replacing Janet Hubert-Whitten in the role of Vivian Banks, the wealthy but down-to-earth aunt of wise-guy West Philly transplant Will Smith (Will Smith). Otherwise, the rest of the main cast is pretty much the same, with Will continuing to enrich and sometimes complicate the lives of his rich Bel-Air relatives, including Vivian's lawyer husband Philip (James Avery), their mild-mannered son Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), their trend-conscious daughters, Hilary (Karyn Parsons) and Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali), and their new baby son Nicholas (who would grow up real fast within the next year or so). Also on hand, as ever, is the Banks family's devastatingly sardonic butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell). It is during this season that Will and Carlton graduate from high school and begin attending the University of Los Angeles. To celebrate their "independence," the boys move into their new pad -- which turns out to be the pool house on the Banks family's Bel-Air estate. In another development, Will is reunited with his ex-girlfriend from West Philadelphia, Jackie Ames (Tyra Banks). An unusually high number of guest stars grace this season. Among them are Hugh Hefner in the episode "Fresh Prince After Dark," Branford Marsalis in "Sleepless in Bel-Air" and "Stop Will in the Name of Love," Robert Guillaume in "You'd Better Shop Around," Pam Grier in "M Is for the Many Things She Gave Me," Ben Vereen (as Will's long-missing father) in "Papa's Got a Brand-New Excuse," Donald Trump in "For Sale By Owner," and Dick Clark in "The Philadelphia Story." Though the last-named episode was originally intended as the series finale with Will leaving Bel-Air and returning home to Philadelphia, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was renewed for a fifth season at the very last moment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

African American entertainer Will Smith graduated from rap-music stardom to TV sitcom superstardom in the long-running NBC series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Co-produced by Quincy Jones, the series starred the twentysomething Smith as streetwise West Philadelphia teenager Will Smith (they must have stayed up nights thinking of that character name!), whose mother sends him to the West Coast to live with rich relatives in the cloistered California community of Bel-Air (mom felt that things were getting too dangerous for Will in his own neighborhood). The breezy, jive-talking Will proved to be quite a contrast to his upper-class relations, but despite obvious cultural and attitudinal difference, everyone got along quite well. Among Will's fellow occupants in the Bel-Air mansion were his uncle Philip Banks (James Avery), a prosperous attorney; Philip's wife Vivian (played first by Janet Hubert-Whitten, then by Daphne Maxwell Reid), a likeable lady who could simultaneously puncture Philip's pompousness and curb Will's ghetto-bred capriciousness; the couple's prissy, preppy son Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), whose attempts to emulate Will's freewheeling behavior always landed him in hot water; Carlton's sisters, the spoiled and somewhat airheaded Hilary (Karyn Parsons) and the lovably sardonic Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali); and the Banks' haughty butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell), who generally got all the best "put-down" punchlines. During the series' third season, Aunt Vivian gave birth to another child named Nicky (who, through the miracle of TV sitcom scriptwriting, became five years old within two years [played by Ross Bagley]). And in season four, Will and Carlton matriculated from high school to the University of Los Angeles, moving out of the mansion and into the pool house (all of a few yards away!). Making recurring appearances were Will Smith's musical partner Jeff Townes (aka "Jazzy Jeff") as Will's onscreen pal Jazz; Tyra Banks as Will's girlfriend Jackie Ames, who also hailed from West Philly; and Will's later sweetheart Lisa (Nia Long). Debuting September 10, 1990, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air lasted six seasons, becoming the nation's 16th most popular series during season three. The series ended on September 9, 1996. In the final episode, the Banks moved out of the mansion, though Will fully intended to remain a permanent Bel-Air resident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the final episode of Murder She Wrote's fourth season, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) volunteers as a speech writer for her old friend Kathleen Lane (Shirley Jones), whose wealthy husband Jackson (Eddie Albert) is bankrolling her political campaign. Not surprisingly, politics and scandal go hand in hand on this occasion, with rumors flying that Kathleen is carrying on a romance with her handsome campaign manager. When the manager is murdered, the tabloids have a field day--and Jessica has a not-so-high old time trying to prove that Kathleen was not the killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hiding out in the small Lobster Bay hospital where B.A. (Mr. T) is recovering from a leg injury, the A-Team befriends Shana Mayer (Tracy Scoggins), whose father Cal ($Len Wayland) is among the local fishermen being victimized by a nasty extortionist named Garber (John Quade). Naturally, the Team agrees to help Shana and her friends and family wrest themselves free from Garber's villainous grasp. And just as naturally, this operation requires a variety of clever disguises--the best of which finds Face (Dirk Benedict) posing as a magician doing a daring underwater-escape act! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide