[5] Among the audience one evening were actress Joan Crawford and gossip columnist Louella Parsons, who later met with Walden to encourage her to explore studio opportunities.
[5] In 1959, Walden made headlines when she was selected from 300 auditioning candidates by producers Albert Zugsmith and Aaron (Red) Doff to portray one of Satan’s Seven Sinners in the Mickey Rooney movie The Private Lives of Adam and Eve.
Walden turned down parts in movies that offered submissive or demeaning roles for Blacks including Raintree Country (1957) and Cleopatra (1963), both starring Elizabeth Taylor.
Remembering that a friend’s father was a chemist, she collaborated with him to experiment on makeup and moisturizers specifically designed for Black women’s skin.
[2] Fifty-five products were available in several African countries, Saudi Arabia, Holland, France, Singapore,[2] Australia, Fuji, New Zealand, Papua and New Guinea.
[1] In 1962, Barbara Walden was one of the founding members of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with golfer Maggie Hathaway.
She helped collect the 35 signatures required from the few Black residents as well non-Black neighbors to gain a charter to establish the branch.
[21] The charter was granted on June 1, 1962 with Hathaway serving as President and Board members including Walden and attorney James L.
This episode explores the early history and trailblazers in cosmetics for Black women, including Barbara Walden, Anthony Overton and Anita Patti Brown.