Mae Mercer
Encyclopedia
Mae Mercer was an American
blues
singer
and actress who appeared in many film
s, including Dirty Harry
(1971), The Beguiled
(1971), Frogs
(1972), Cindy (1978), and Pretty Baby (1978). She was also executive producer of the documentary film
Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1972).
Mercer spent eight years in the 1960s singing in a blues bar in Paris
, the Blues Club, owned by publisher Maurice Girodias
and touring Europe. She returned to the United States in the early 1970s to begin a career as an actress in films and television.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
and actress who appeared in many film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, including Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
(1971), The Beguiled
The Beguiled
The Beguiled is a 1971 drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil...
(1971), Frogs
Frogs (film)
Frogs is a 1972 horror film directed by George McCowan. The film falls into the "eco-horror" category since it tells the story of an upper-class U.S. Southern family who are victimized by several different animal species, including snakes, birds, and lizards, as well as the occasional butterfly...
(1972), Cindy (1978), and Pretty Baby (1978). She was also executive producer of the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1972).
Mercer spent eight years in the 1960s singing in a blues bar in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the Blues Club, owned by publisher Maurice Girodias
Maurice Girodias
Maurice Girodias was the founder of the Olympia Press. At one time he was the owner of his father's Obelisk Press, and spent most of his productive years in Paris.-Early life:...
and touring Europe. She returned to the United States in the early 1970s to begin a career as an actress in films and television.