Chelsea Brown December 6 1942 March 27 2017 was born Lois Brown as an American actress comedienne singer and dancer perhaps best known for being the first AfricanAmerican series regular in the iconic groundbreaking American TV series LaughIn After LaughIn she moved to Australia where she lived for many decades and enjoyed a long and successful career in film TV and the stage She recorded albums and had a very popular cabaret act in which she toured the world She married Australian actor Vic Rooney who played her husband on the Aussie soap E Street 19891990 After her husbands death she moved back to her hometown of Chicago Illinois where she had a large extended family and many friends