Early work Uggams started in show business as a child in 1951, playing the niece of
Ethel Waters on
Beulah. That same year she appeared as a featured performer at the famed
Apollo Theater in Harlem, alongside
Ella Fitzgerald. She made her professional debut at the age of six on
Jack Barry's
NBC show "Stars And Stardust." Following that, she performed on "
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts". Uggams got her biggest break on
The Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on
Sing Along with Mitch, starring record producer-conductor
Mitch Miller. In 1960, she sang, off-screen, "
Give Me That Old Time Religion" in the film
Inherit the Wind. Uggams came to be recognized by TV audiences as an upcoming teen talent in 1958 on the musical quiz show series
Name That Tune. A record executive was in the studio audience and signed her to a contract. Her records "One More Sunrise" (an English-language cover of
Ivo Robic's "
Morgen", 1959) and "House Built on Sand" made
Billboard magazine's charts.
Television and film She appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show singing
The Beatles' "
Yesterday" in 1965 and later had her own television variety show,
The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969. This was the first network variety show to be hosted by a black person since
The Nat King Cole Show of the mid-1950s. She had a lead role in the 1977 miniseries
Roots, for which she received an Emmy nomination, as Kizzy. In 1979, she starred as
Lillian Rogers Parks in the Emmy-winning miniseries
Backstairs at the White House. She also made guest appearances on such television programs as
Family Guy (as herself),
I Spy,
Hollywood Squares,
The Muppet Show,
The Love Boat and
Magnum, P.I.. In 1996, Uggams played the role of Rose Keefer on
All My Children. In her first film, she was neither seen, nor credited. In
Inherit the Wind (1960), she sang the opening, "
(Gimme Dat) Old Time Religion", and the closing, "
Battle Hymn of the Republic". Her film career includes roles in
Skyjacked (1972),
Black Girl (1972) and
Poor Pretty Eddie (1975), in which she played a popular singer who, upon being stranded in the deep South, is abused and humiliated by the perverse denizens of a backwoods town. She later appeared in
Sugar Hill (1994) opposite
Wesley Snipes, and played
Blind Al in
Deadpool (2016) in February 2016. In April 2016, she portrayed Leah Walker, the bipolar mother of Lucious Lyon in the hit Fox series
Empire. Uggams appeared as Sadie in the 2017 television film
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and in 2018, she returned as
Blind Al in
Deadpool 2. She is an active
Democrat and hosted a 1984 Democratic Telethon. In 1999 and 2021, she guest starred in two episodes of
Family Guy. Additionally, she reprised her role as
Blind Al in
Deadpool & Wolverine. In 2023, Uggams voiced a character, Grandma, in
My Dad the Bounty Hunter and appeared as Agnes in the film
American Fiction. She won the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical (in a tie with
Patricia Routledge). She appeared on Broadway in the revue
Blues in the Night in 1982 and in the musical revue of the works of
Jerry Herman, ''
Jerry's Girls'' in 1985. Uggams replaced
Patti LuPone as Reno Sweeney in the
Lincoln Center revival of
Cole Porter's musical
Anything Goes on Broadway in March 1989. She had played Reno in a US tour in 1988–1989. Later Broadway roles include Muzzy in
Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003–2004) and Ethel Thayer in
On Golden Pond at the
Kennedy Center in 2004 and on Broadway at the
Cort Theatre in 2005. In 2001, she appeared in the
August Wilson play
King Hedley II, receiving a nomination for the Tony Award, Best Actress in a Play. In January 2009, Uggams played
Lena Horne in a production of the stage musical
Stormy Weather at the
Pasadena Playhouse in California, directed by Michael Bush and choreographed by
Randy Skinner. In June 2012, Uggams played Muzzy in a production of
Thoroughly Modern Millie at
The Muny in
St. Louis. In 2014, she starred as Rose in
Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Nutmeg Summer Series production of
Gypsy, becoming "the first African American female to play Rose in a professional production." In 2024, Uggams appeared in the role of Gran Mimi in the New York City Center Encores! production of ''
Jelly's Last Jam'', which ran from February 21 to March 3. December 9-10 2025, Uggams was a guest narrator at
Disney's Candlelight Processional at
Walt Disney World. ==Personal life==