Diane Sommerfield
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Diane Sommerfield
| image = Diane_Sommerfield_1982.jpg
| image_size = 150px
| caption = Sommerfield {{circa |1982}}
| birth_name = Diane Yvonne Young
| other_names = Diane Y. Sommerfield
Diane Summerfield
| birth_date = {{birth date|1949|10|24}}
| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2001|03|09|1949|10|24}}
| death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| education = California State University
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 1968–1990
}}
Diane Sommerfield (born Diane Yvonne Young; October 24, 1949 – March 9, 2001) was an American actress who made appearances in theater, film and television from the early 1970s until the mid 1980s.{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/330706/Diane-Sommerfield|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717190119/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/330706/Diane-Sommerfield|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-17|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|title=Diane Sommerfield|accessdate=2012-02-08}} Sommerfield was best known for her role as Valerie Grant on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives (1981–82).[https://books.google.com/books?id=29gDAAAAMBAJ&dq=diane+sommerfield&pg=PA123 Blacks On The Soaps - EBONY Magazine - November 1982]
Biography
Born Diane Yvonne Young in Washington, D.C., Sommerfield began her acting career as a child performing in plays in her hometown. Sommerfield attended Calvin Coolidge High School where she appeared in lead roles of school productions. During her early college years at Howard University, Sommerfield appeared in lead role of "Satyricon" at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. In her junior year of college, Sommerfield moved to Los Angeles and transferred to the California State University, Los Angeles, where she graduated with a B.A. in Theater in 1971.
From 1971 until 1986, Sommerfield appeared in multiple films and television shows. Sommerfield was better known for films such as The Black Godfather (1974),{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9902E1D61E3CEF34BC4C53DFBF66838F669EDE|title=Drug Traffickers Vie in 'Black Godfather'|author=Sayre, Nora|date=1974-09-04|accessdate=2012-02-08|work=The New York Times}} Roll, Freddy, Roll! (1974), Blackjack (1978), Love in a Taxi (1980),{{cite web|title=Love in a Taxi|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/100360/Love-in-a-Taxi/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206010609/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/100360/Love-in-a-Taxi/overview|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Eleanor Mannikka|date=2016|archive-date=2016-02-06}} Back Roads (1981), and The Night Stalker (1987) Sommerfield returned to her hometown in 1986 to study film at University of the District of Columbia. Sommerfield was a volunteer acting teacher at her high school alma mater from 1997 until 1999. Sommerfield died on March 9, 2001, at age 51.[http://www.jason47.com/days/memorialtribute5.html Jason 47 - Memorial Tributes]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0814032}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sommerfield, Diane}}
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:Actresses from Washington, D.C.
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:20th-century African-American actresses
Category:21st-century African-American actresses
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