In the Hallmark holiday movie Christmas Everlasting, New York City lawyer Lucy Toomey (Tatyana Ali, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) is crushed when she learns that her older sister with special needs, Alice (Brittany Guess), unexpectedly dies. Lucy leaves the Big Apple to fly home to Wisconsin. She’s comforted by her Uncle Barney (Dennis Haysbert, 24), and friend of the family and cookie maker extraordinaire Mrs. Swinson.
Mrs. Swinson is portrayed by Miss Patti LaBelle. She’s best known as a two-time Grammy Award-winning singer (she’s in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame) — but she’s also an Emmy Award-nominated actress. LaBelle is known for her roles on Greenleaf (Maxine Patterson), Star (Christine Brown), American Horror Story (Dora Brown), A Different World (Adele Wayne), and in films including Semi-Pro (Will Ferrell’s mom, SEE LINK ABOVE) and Norman Jewison’s A Soldier’s Story with a young Denzel Washington (Big Mary), among others. Christmas Everlasting premieres on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, November 24 at 8 pm.
Patti LaBelle is in the blue feathers…
