Barbara McNair | Singer and actress, 72

Barbara McNair, 72, the pioneering black singer-actress who hosted her own television variety show and starred with Sidney Poitier in the early 1970s, has died, her sister said yesterday.

Ms. McNair died Sunday in Los Angeles after a battle with throat cancer, her sister, Jacqueline Gaither, said.

Gaining fame in the 1960s as a nightclub singer, she graduated to film and television as opportunities were opening up for black women late in the decade. She made her Hollywood acting debut in 1968 in the film If He Hollers, Let Him Go.

She starred with Elvis Presley in his 1969 film Change of Habit and as Poitier's wife in the 1970 film They Call Me Mister Tibbs!

She hosted TV's The Barbara McNair Show, a syndicated musical and comedy program, from 1969 to 1972. - AP