Jayne Kennedy
 |
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012) |
| Jayne Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jane Harrison October 27, 1951 Washington, D.C., United States |
| Other names | Jayne Kennedy Overton |
| Spouse | Leon Isaac Kennedy (1970 - 1982) Bill Overton (1985 - present) |
| Children | 3 |
Jayne Kennedy (born October 27, 1951 in Washington, D.C.) is an American actress, beauty pageant titleholder, and sportscaster. She won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture award for 1981's Body and Soul.
Contents |
[edit] Miss Ohio USA
Born as Jayne Harrison, she was crowned Miss Ohio USA in 1970 (she was the first African American woman to win the title), and was one of the 15 semi-finalists in the 1970 Miss USA pageant. It was rare for an African American woman at that time to be in the contest.
[edit] Career
They moved to California to pursue careers in acting. In 1978, she was one of the first women to infiltrate the male-dominated world of sports announcing with a role on The NFL Today. She has been on the cover of Ebony and Jet magazines numerous times. In July 1981 she became the first African American actress to grace the cover of Playboy magazine. She and Leon Isaac posed together for a pictorial in the same issue, but none of the pictures showed her nude. The cover and pictorial was photographed by Ken Marcus.
Since the 1990s, Kennedy has remained busy away from the limelight, spending more time with her family. For many years, she worked for the Children's Miracle Network, where she raised millions of dollars for hospitals. She occasionally appears on various Christian Television Network shows.
In the early 1980s she produced exercise videos, at the same time, she also had a contract with both Coca-Cola's Tab and Diet Coke.
[edit] Personal life
While starting her pageantry career, she met Leon Isaac Kennedy, who was a DJ and a struggling actor/writer. They married in 1970. Motown's Smokey Robinson served as best man at the wedding. She and Kennedy divorced in 1982. In 1985 she married actor Bill Overton. They have three daughters, Savannah Re (b. November 20, 1985), Kopper Joi (b. May 17, 1989) and Zaire Ollyea (b. September 15, 1995).
According to a report in the Village Voice, a home movie featuring Kennedy with then-husband Leon engaging in intercourse was one of the earliest known example of a "celebrity sex tape". The tape was apparently released to the public by Leon after the two had divorced.[1]
[edit] Filmography
- Body and Soul - Julie Winters
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
