Margaret Avery
Nude

Pam Grier, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Kerry Washington, and Zoe Saldana. There’s something about Black actresses that takes our breath away. Of course, we must add Margaret Avery to this list. The ebony ingénue got her start when she was cast in the groovalicious crime flick Cool Breeze (1972), wherein she revealed her ravishing rack and butt crack! At the risk of repeating herself, the skintastic starlet bared her breasts again, this time in Hell Up in Harlem (1973). Arousing as those roles were, Margaret didn’t get pigeonholed into one blaxploitation gig after another. She exposed her comic timing (as well as her black brassiere, briefs and whip) in the Richard Prior romp Which Way Is Up? (1977). The busy beauty went on to carve out a successful film career with the biopic Scott Joplin (1977) starring Billy Dee Williams and the action thriller Proud Mary (2018) starring Taraji P. Henson. In between, Margaret could be seen on the small screen via several shows (Harry O, 413 Hope St., A.E.S. Hudson Street, 10-8: Officers on Duty). The boob tube babe also played Helen Patterson on the drama series Being Mary Jane (2013-2019). Yet, here at Skin Central, we’re partial to her part in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985). Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the Oscar-nominated movie includes Margaret’s infamous lesbian kiss with Whoopi Goldberg! Perhaps that’s why Ms. Avery scored an Academy Award for nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Next comes Anatomy Award recognition if she shows more skin!