Mae Mercer (June 12, 1932 – October 29, 2008) was an American blues singer and actress who appeared in many films, 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.
Twice married, she is survived by her children, Jessie Mae Frazier and Fernando Harper.
2
The daughter of tobacco sharecroppers and one of nine children, she began singing in church as a teenager.
3
Was singing in Paris in 1960 when she met Maurice Girodias (1919-1990), the French publisher of such banned books as "Lolita" and "The Ginger Man," who hired her to sing at, and later run, the Blues Bar in Paris.
Ran away from home at fifteen to go to New York City and start a singing career. She sang the blues in bars and other venues in Paris before returning to the States and starting an acting career.
$900,000
