Della Reese (pictured), the actress and gospel-influenced singer who in middle age found her greatest fame as Tess, the wise angel in the long-running television drama “Touched by an Angel,” has died at age 86.
Reese’s co-star on the series, Roma Downey, said in a statement that the actress died peacefully Sunday evening in her home in the Los Angeles area. No further details were included.
Before “Touched by an Angel” debuted in 1994, Reese was mainly known as a singer, although she had costarred on “Chico and the Man,” ‘’Charlie and Company” and “The Royal Family.”
Reese was a TV groundbreaker, according to the Television Academy: She was the first African-American woman to host her own talk show, “Della,” which aired 1969-70, and in 1970 became the first black woman to be tapped as a guest host for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.”
It was “Touched by an Angel” that endeared her to viewers, although the drama wasn’t an instant hit. The story of an apprentice angel (Roma Downey) and her supervisor (Reese) being sent to Earth to solve people’s problems appeared to have little chance in a TV world dominated by sitcoms and police dramas.
The first season brought mediocre ratings, but slowly the CBS show’s audience grew until it became one of television’s highest-rated dramas. It lasted until 2003.
“Through her life and work she touched and inspired the lives of millions of people. She was a mother to me and I had the privilege of working with her side by side for so many years on ‘Touched By An Angel,’” Downey wrote in a statement. “I know heaven has a brand new angel this day.”
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