Joan Pringle facts for kids

Joan Pringle (born June 2, 1945) is an American actress. She is well-known for playing Sybil Buchanan in the TV show The White Shadow. In this show, she started as a vice principal and later became the principal. She won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role.

Joan Pringle also starred in the soap opera Generations. Later, she had important recurring roles in other popular shows like One on One and Girlfriends.

Early Life and Education

Joan Pringle was born in New York City, New York. She grew up in the Harlem area of New York City. She and her sister were raised in Brooklyn.

Joan went to a private Episcopalian school. She was the only black student in her class. As a teenager, she was a talented track athlete.

After high school, Joan studied at the City College of New York. She focused on English literature and drama. She then started a master's degree in drama at Hunter College. However, she decided to leave college to begin her acting career. She learned acting from a famous teacher named Uta Hagen. In 1972, she moved to California to pursue acting.

Acting Career Highlights

Joan Pringle began her acting journey on the stage. Her first big role on Broadway was in 1970. She played Rosita in a play called Camino Real. In the same year, she acted as Edith in the musical Operation Sidewinder.

Early TV and Film Roles

In 1973, Joan Pringle signed a contract with Universal Studios. This helped her start her screen career. She first appeared on TV in the show Emergency!. She played a pregnant woman in that episode.

She had a recurring role as Diana on the crime drama Ironside. Diana was a lawyer and the wife of Mark Sanger. Joan also appeared in The Waltons. She played Esther, a friend who faced unfair treatment because of her race.

Busy Years in the 1970s

The 1970s were a very busy time for Joan Pringle. She made guest appearances on many popular TV shows. These included Sanford and Son (1974) and Kojak (1974). She also appeared in The Bionic Woman (1977) and Starsky & Hutch (1978).

In 1975, she joined the show That's My Mama. She took over the role of Tracy Curtis Taylor for the second season. Joan also played nurse Beryl Keynes in Rafferty (1977). She was in an episode of Barnaby Jones called “The Deadly Valentine” in 1977. In film, she played Christella in the movie J.D.'s Revenge (1976). She acted alongside Glynn Turman and Louis Gossett, Jr in this film.

The White Shadow and Beyond

Starting in 1978, Joan Pringle became widely known for her role in The White Shadow. She played Sybil Buchanan, a high school vice principal. When another actor left the show, her character became the new principal. While on The White Shadow, she also played Polly Dawson on Soap. She continued as Sybil until The White Shadow ended in 1981.

After The White Shadow finished, Joan found it hard to find new big roles. However, she still made guest appearances in the 1980s. She was in L.A. Law (1987), Simon & Simon (1988), and Moonlighting (1989).

Soap Operas and Recent Work

From 1989 to 1991, Joan Pringle starred as Ruth Marshall in the daytime drama Generations for NBC. She also had roles in other soap operas like General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful.

In the 1990s, Joan appeared in TV movies. She played Gwen Singleton, the boss of Barbara Eden's character, in Visions of Murder (1993). She returned for the sequel, Eyes of Terror (1994). Fans of Friends might remember her as Dr. Oberman in an early episode called "The One with the Sonogram at the End."

In movies, Joan Pringle played a housekeeper named Sara in Original Sin (2001). She also appeared as a judge in Tyler Perry's movie Daddy's Little Girls (2006). On the TV show Girlfriends, she had a recurring role as Carol Hart. Carol was the mother of Joan Clayton, played by Tracee Ellis Ross. Joan Pringle also played Eunice, the mother of Flex Alexander's character, on the sitcom One on One. More recently, she appeared in the TV series Being Mary Jane (2014) and the movie The Lost City (2022).

Personal Life

Joan Pringle was married to actor Theodore "Teddy" Wilson. They were married from 1980 until his death in 1991. They had worked together on the TV show That's My Mama in 1974. Joan and Teddy had two children, twins named Robert and Nicole, born in 1980. In 1998, Joan Pringle married Vernon L. Bolling, who is a producer.