Dora Mae in “Dallas” was 77

Pat Colbert

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Pat Colbert, who played the stylish host and manager of the Oil Baron’s Club, Dora Mae, in the last eight seasons of the CBS primetime soap Dallashas died. She was 77.

Colbert died on June 23 at her home in Compton, her sister Tami Colbert said The Hollywood ReporterShe had suffered three strokes in the last decade.

Colbert also played the wife of Bill Cosby’s character in the regrettable 1987 spy parody Leonard Part 6 (1987) and appeared in episodes of Benson, A Colt for all occasions, Sisters And True colors.

In 1980-81, Colbert was one of the “prostitutes” in the roadhouse of Stella Stevens’ Lute-Mae Sanders in the NBC primetime soap Flamingo Roadwhich like Dallas came from Lorimar Productions.

She appeared in the two-hour pilot episode and recurred throughout the first season, but her character was eliminated in the second season when the network – under pressure from Reverend Donald Wildmon, who served as chairman of the Coalition for Better Television Flamingo Road “the worst show on television” – turned the brothel into a respectable supper club.

Lorimar, however, would bring Colbert back to work, and she would appear in 67 episodes of Dallas from 1983 to 1991 – beginning with an uncredited role in Season 6 – as host of the Oil Baron’s Club, an upscale high-rise restaurant that was a popular hangout for the Ewing family and their business associates. (The venue was inspired by the real-life, members-only Dallas Petroleum Club.)

“As the only recurring African-American character in the series, Dora Mae never had a storyline because Dallas “She never tried to be more than the Ewing family saga, but she played the role with elegance and intelligence,” said Shaun Chang of the film and television blog Hill Place. THR.

“The main characters and the show itself treated them with respect and without any condescension. Dallas had many recurring supporting characters that helped create a sense of community for a show set in a big city, and Dora Mae was an integral part of the series.”

Sandra Patricia Colbert was born in Los Angeles on January 16, 1947. Her father, LeRoy, was a construction worker—he built the house the family would live in—and her mother, Eula, was a homemaker and also worked in nursing.

Colbert attended Centennial High School in Compton and then junior college and worked as a model for department store print campaigns and as a fashion consultant before becoming an actress.

Her resume also included a role as a nurse in Blake Edwards’ SOB (1981) and work on CapitolThe Dallas spin off Knots Landing, Thom & Dusty travel to Mexico: The Lost Treasure (2014) and If not for His grace (2015).

In addition to her sister, she leaves behind her other siblings Aaron and Johnetta and her son Michael.