Alice Childress; Author, Playwright and Actress

Alice Childress, 77, actress and author of such books as “A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich.” She wrote musical plays with her musician husband Nathan Woodard including “Young Martin Luther King” and “Sea Island Song.” Her own plays included “Florence,” “Wedding Band” and “Trouble In Mind,” which in 1956 garnered the Obie Award as best original Off-Broadway play. Miss Childress was also a prolific writer of novels and youth books with intriguing titles such as “Sandwich,” “Rainbow Jordan” and “When the Rattlesnake Sounds.” A native of Charleston, S.C., she acted and directed with the American Negro Theatre. On Sunday in New York of cancer.