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Dorothy Steel, an actress in Black Panther, has died. She was 95.
Steel’s agent Cindy Butler announced the news on Facebook, writing that Steel died Friday morning at her home in Detroit.
“Thank you Ms. Dorothy for giving me the opportunity to ride this wave with you,” wrote Butler. “Thank you for all the Casting Directors who hired Ms. Dorothy. Thank you to the world for loving on her from afar. I received calls from all over the world wanting to interview or do a Bio pic of her life. She was very selective.”
Steel was born in 1926 and did not begin to pursue acting until she was 88. Her early credits included an episode of the TV series The Trouble With Going Somewhere, the TV movie Merry Christmas, Baby, and the film Daisy Winters.
In 2018, Steel played a merchant tribe elder in Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther. During an interview with Steve Harvey, Steel talked of her initial hesitation about the movie. “There is no way I’m going to be in no comic strip at my age,” Steel recalled telling her agent. “She was very persistent. I really have to give her credit, because she said, ‘Ms. Dorothy, you can do this.'”
Steel followed up Black Panther with a recurring role as Mother Harris on the series Saints & Sinners, and she later appeared in the comedy Poms, the TV movie Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses and on BET’s The Oval.
Her final role was as a village elder in Jumanji: The Next Level. Steel was signed with iSubmit Talent Agency for six years.
“Per Ms. Dorothy, she told me to tell everyone that arrangements and flowers where to send will be posted via facebook,” wrote Butler in the Facebook post. “She was still telling me what to do. That was my Ms.Dorothy………….WAKANDAFOREVER.”
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