Early life

Donaldson was born Norma C. Donaldson in the Harlem section of New York City. Her parents were Laura, a housekeeper, and Fredrick Donaldson (b. 1906; d. 1955). The first of two children, Donaldson attended Boys and Girls High School (known at the time as Girls' High School), studying there until her junior year.

Career

In 1949, Donaldson, then aged 21, launched her career as a nightclub singer, booking gigs throughout New York City. During her nightclub stint, Donaldson began touring with Harry Belafonte and later Lena Horne. Donaldson started her acting career in the late–1960s, first appearing in an episode of Callback! which aired on March 8, 1969, in which Barry Manilow was the music director of this show. In the 1970s, Donaldson began appearing in some Blaxploitation films. Most notably of the genre, Donaldson portrayed Gloria Roberts in 1972's Across 110th Street and Honey in 1973's Willie Dynamite.

In 1975, Donaldson began her acting career on Broadway and was most famous for portraying the loveless chorine Miss Adelaide, opposite Robert Guillaume, in an all–black revival of Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls which premiered in 1976. Donaldson co–starred alongside Guillaume again in Purlie and No Place to be Somebody. Before her lengthy recurring role on "The Young and the Restless," she had played Dr. Paulina Ravelle on General Hospital regularly from 1987 to 1989, who strove to prevent her daughter, Simone, from marrying the white Dr. Tom Hardy.

Film

Television