Leslie Uggams has had a fascinating career as an actress on the big screen and on the stage.

Probably best known for her role in the Deadpool series the Harlem-born singer and actress has had a successful career spanning seven decades.

But behind the scenes, her personal life could be the subject of a movie after she tied the knot with White Australian man Grahame Pratt in 1965 as their love affair throughout the ages has defied all the odds of interracial love…

Leslie was a talented singer and in 1953 when she was just 10 years old she made a record for MGM. Encouraged by her aunt singer Eloise Uggams she attended the Professional Children’s School of New York and prestigious New York music school Julliard.

But her musical career was only the start of her journey and by 1969 she had her own TV variety show “The Leslie Uggams Show”, the first network variety show to be hosted by a black person since “The Nat King Cole Show.”

But behind the scenes she had met and fallen in love with actor Grahame Pratt. After first meeting him at Professional Children’s School of New York, where they were both students, the couple then ran into each other while she was performing in Sydney during one of Leslie’s celebrity tours in Australia.

Leslie knew what the repercussions would be of dating a white man as she’d done so in her teens and her aunt had told her not to entertain the idea of a future with him.

“I remember the shock I got once when I was dating a white boy,” Leslie said in a 1967 interview with Ebony.

“He sent me a color picture of himself. I showed it to my aunt. He was a good looking boy with beautiful hair. I thought he was gorgeous. But my aunt took one look and started in to lecture me. ‘Well he’s alright, I suppose,’ she told me, ‘but only for dates, huh, honey? When you’re thinking of settling down for keeps you’ll make sure you marry a nice [Black] fella, won’t you?’”

After her chance meeting with Grahame Leslie said she kept seeing him.

“I found myself really falling for him, which was quite a thing for me to realize as I was only 21.”

and they’re not pleasant to read.”

Grahame became Leslie’s manager and the couple had two children Danielle, born in 1970, and son Justice, born in 1976.

Leslie Uggams and husband Graham Pratt during Broadway’s Plymouth and Royale Renamed as The Schoenfeld Theater and The Jacobs Theater at 45th Street – The Theater District in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)

By 1977, one year after their second child was born, Leslie had landed the lead role in the miniseries “Roots”, a part she received an Emmy nomination for her role as Kizzy.

Two years later she starred as Lillian Rogers Parks in “Backstairs at the White House”, a miniseries for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actress.

In 1996, she played the role of Rose Keefer on “All My Children” and in 1983 she received a Daytime Emmy Award as a host of the NBC game show “Fantasy.”

She also made guest appearances television programs such as “Family Guy” (as herself), “I Spy”, “Hollywood Squares”, “The Muppet Show”, “The Love Boat” and “Magnum, P.I..”

Leslie and Grahame are still together and very much in love 55 years later and as well as having two children they also have granddaughter Cassidy.

And the secret to their happy union – Leslie said, “We laugh all the time — but it ain’t always roses. We have fun together.”

The love these two have for each other has defied all odds and has stood the test of time. They are clearly devoted to each other and have supported each other throughout the years, they are an inspiration.

Please share with your friends and family so they too can read this beautiful love story.