With her wiry, some might say bony, body, and sparkling smile, Charlayne Woodard was a marked contrast to fleshy Nell Carter and Armelia McQueen when the three women starred together on Broadway in "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1977-78). At first, Carter got most of the applause--and the Tony Award to take home--but after more than a decade of celebrated theatre work, Woodard began to make a name for herself in TV and motion pictures, often in key supporting roles. Intermittently in her early career she sometimes used the birth spelling of her name, "Charlaine".

Woodard had actually won her role in