Entertainment
Michelle's acting, modeling, and dancing career has included appearances in a variety of media, including films, television programs and advertisements, theatrical productions, and print advertisements. She commuted to a job as a dancer in Las Vegas while she was still in high school.[4] She has learned to perform both ballet and Cuban dance styles[6] and has danced at the Hollywood Palladium and Tropicana Las Vegas. As a stage actor, she appeared in productions of MacBird!, The Death of Daddy Hugs and Kisses, Ride a Wild Horse, The Vagina Monologues, In the Blink of an Eye, and other plays.
One of her early television advertisement appearances was for Ultra Sheen hair products. In 1964, Michelle—still known by her birth name Geneva Mercadel—received her first film role in the short film The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Her contract did not allow her to receive residuals when the film later aired on television. Her talent agent and the film studio both believed her birth name would be received poorly, so she adopted the stage name Janee Michelle.
She chose the name Janee (pronounced Ja-Nay, and sometimes spelled Janée) to keep the first two syllables of her birth name. She chose the surname Michelle because she "thought it would be unique to have a name with two first names". When she found people had difficulty pronouncing the name Janee, she considered changing it again, but decided against it because she believed this pronunciation difficulty caused people to remember her.
In 1967, an article in The Chicago Defender predicted that Michelle's career in American cinema would be successful. Also that year, she appeared on the cover of an issue of the magazine Jet alongside Ronnie Eckstine in recognition of their appearance together in Eckstine's debut film The Love-Ins;[7] it was Michelle's most prominent film role until that point.[8] A Variety reviewer wrote that Michelle was cast well in the role.[9] Michelle's acting in the television series The Outcasts was critically acclaimed, leading to several offers of film roles. The Outcasts reviews also led to her appearance in an episode of Love, American Style alongside Greg Morris, known for his role in the Mission: Impossible television series.
Michelle was included in the magazine Ebony's list of Fifty Eligible Girls for 1969.[1] Also in 1969, Michelle again appeared on the cover of Jet, which called her "one of Hollywood's most attractive actresses".[10] The article declares Michelle to be one of several up-and-coming African-American actresses, along with Gloria Foster, Gail Fisher, and Denise Nicholas.[11] In the corresponding interview with Jet, Michelle said although racial inequality in the United States may have been a career obstacle for African-American women in the past, "that's not it today—and that's for sure".[12] Michelle argued that her success as an actor proved the falsehood of the idea that African-American women need to have sexual intercourse with certain people to become successful in the cinema of the United States.[12]
Michelle starred alongside her husband Robert DoQui in a 1969 episode of The Governor & J.J. The couple acted together again the following year in Soul Soldier,[13] a film in which Michelle is the leading lady; she appears with DoQui in nude sex scenes. Michelle's and DoQui's characters form a love triangle with Lincoln Kilpatrick's character. In a New York Times review of the film, Howard Thompson called all three actors' performances "plain painful".[14]
In 1973, Michelle collaborated with actors Judy Pace and Lillian Lehman to found Kwanza,[15] a Hollywood, California-based nonprofit organization named after the African diaspora celebration Kwanzaa. Run entirely by African American actresses on a volunteer basis, Kwanza initially provided food to people in need at Christmas.[16] Michelle and the other two co-founders each enlisted five other African American actresses to volunteer with the organization and, together, they raised enough funds to provide food to 75 families that first Christmas.[15] By 1976, the organization had fed more than 2000 individuals and had expanded to function year-round.[16]
Michelle is best known for her role in the 1974 horror film The House on Skull Mountain, which was once an obscure film but became better known when it was released on DVD. She portrays Lorena Christophe, who is summoned to the house of a recently dead distant relative who was a voodoo queen. Christophe is the love interest of the main character, who is portrayed by Victor French.[17] In the Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television, Bob McCann writes that Michelle "is quite pretty and gives a charming performance in her undemanding role". A Variety reviewer provided a similar appraisal of Michelle's appearance, calling her attractive and her role chic.[18] In 2014, she appeared in a health insurance television advertisement for AARP.
New Orleans Mardi Gras
In 1977, Michelle's cousin, Anthony "Chuck" Mercadel, was chosen to be that year's king of the Zulu parade, part of New Orleans Mardi Gras. He and Michelle had not seen each other since before her film and television career when she was living in New Orleans. Michelle was volunteering with Kwanza in Shreveport, Louisiana with 25 other actresses, including Isabel Sanford, when Chuck and New Orleans politician Robert H. Tucker Jr. visited Michelle at her hotel. Chuck said he was looking for Sanford so he could ask her to be his queen. Michelle asked him, "Why don't you ask me to be your queen?", and he did so. Michelle refused the offer because she did not wish to be his second choice. Sanford was unable to appear in the parade due to a prior engagement and Chuck asked Michelle again. This time, she accepted, despite having to rearrange her schedule.
Until the time of the parade, Michelle was working in Hollywood. She flew to New Orleans to be ceremoniously greeted at the airport by a band and some Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club members.[19] Michelle was the first Zulu queen to wear two different gowns: one for the parade and the other for the ball. Bob Mackie designed both of these gowns. Mackie had designed outfits for Cher, from whom Michelle borrowed a beige turkey feather boa and headdress for the parade. Michelle's parade gown was sleeveless, had a turtleneck, and was composed of a gold-and-cinnamon brocade decorated with topaz gemstones. The ball gown was a white, form-fitting garment with a see-through front
Business
After divorcing DoQui in 1978, Michelle married Robert H. Tucker Jr. the following year,[4] changed her name to Gee Tucker, moved back to New Orleans, and became a businessperson. After Tucker had repeatedly been unsuccessful in being elected to public office, he convinced Michelle to go into business with him and stop working for Copeland.[4] In 1980, Tucker and Michelle founded Tucker and Associates,[21] a management consulting company.
The company did not generate much revenue at first,[21] and Michelle worked elsewhere in management and marketing. For the first few years, Michelle and Tucker did not apply for assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program, which offers support to businesses run by members of minority groups. Michelle said they made this decision because "we had seen other businesses start out strongly, graduate from the SBA 8-A program and fail [and] we wanted to be able to know that we could compete without it".[21]
