# Alaina Reed Hall
**Alaina Reed Hall** (born Bernice Ruth Reed; 1946 – December 17, 2009) was an American actress and singer best known for playing Olivia Robinson, Gordon's younger sister, on the children's television series *Sesame Street* from 1976 to 1988, and Rose Lee Holloway on the NBC sitcom *227* from 1985 to 1990.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) Before her television career she was an established cabaret singer and musical theater performer in New York.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Bernice Ruth Reed, 1946, Springfield, Ohio[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) |
| Died | December 17, 2009, Santa Monica, California, of breast cancer, aged 63; diagnosed 2007[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) |
| Signature roles | Olivia on *Sesame Street* (1976–1988); Rose Lee Holloway on *227* (1985–1990)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) • [3](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/alaina-reed-amini) |
| Stage work | Original cast, off-Broadway *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road* (1974); Broadway *Chicago*, *Hair* (1977 revival), *Eubie!*[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [4](https://playbill.com/person/alaina-reed-vault-0000034030) |
| Films | *Follow That Bird* (1985), *Death Becomes Her* (1992), *Cruel Intentions* (1999)[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/) |
| Marriages | Richard Hannum Cook (divorced, two children); Kevin Peter Hall (December 1988, widowed 1991); Tamim Amini (2008, until her death)[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/bio/) • [1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) |
| Education | Kent State University[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) |
## Early life and stage career
Reed was born in [Springfield, Ohio](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield-ohio), and attended [Kent State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/kent-state-university).[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) By the time she began singing in New York nightclubs in the early 1970s she had already adopted the name Alaina Reed.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) Friends knew her by the nickname Tiny.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/bio/)
Her stage work began off-Broadway: she was one of the original cast members of the 1974 production of *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road*, an adaptation of the Beatles' album, playing Lucy (in the Sky with Diamonds) at the Beacon Theatre.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed) On Broadway she appeared as a replacement cast member as the Matron in the original *[Chicago](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-musical)* at the 46th Street Theatre from 1975 to 1977, as Dionne in the 1977 revival of *Hair* at the Biltmore Theatre, and in *Eubie!* at the Ambassador Theatre in 1978 and 1979.[4](https://playbill.com/person/alaina-reed-vault-0000034030) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed) She also appeared in William Finn's *In Trousers* at Second Stage Theatre in 1981, the first of his plays about the character Marvin, whose later installments became the musical *Falsettos*.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
## Sesame Street
Reed joined *Sesame Street* in 1976, seven years into the show's run, playing Olivia, a professional photographer and the younger sister of the character Gordon, played by Roscoe Orman.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) She often performed skits with Orman that taught lessons about sibling relationships, and she sang on the show both solo and with her human and puppet neighbors.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63) She stayed with the program until 1988.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
In a 2004 interview with the [Springfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield) (Ohio) News-Sun, she described *Sesame Street* as "the best job I ever had," and recalled realizing, as fans called out to her during the [Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade](https://www.edgepedia.org/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade), "I have a big responsibility. I was in their house every day."[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) She reprised Olivia in the 1985 film *Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird*.[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed)
## 227 and later television
In 1985 Reed was cast as Rose Lee Holloway, the apartment landlady and best friend of [Marla Gibbs](https://www.edgepedia.org/marla-gibbs)'s character Mary Jenkins, on the NBC sitcom *227*, which ran from 1985 to 1990.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [3](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/alaina-reed-amini) Because *227* was taped in California while *Sesame Street* was taped in New York, she worked on both series for several years before leaving the children's show in 1988.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
On *227* she met the actor [Kevin Peter Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-peter-hall), the 7-foot-2 performer who played the Bigfoot character Harry in *Harry and the Hendersons*; their characters married in the show's final season, and the two actors were by then married in real life.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) Gibbs told the Los Angeles Times that some episodes were written around Reed Hall and that the two performed a nightclub act together at Gibbs's club, Marla's Memory Lane, during the series.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html)
After *227* ended, Reed Hall worked steadily in guest roles on series including *ER*, *NYPD Blue*, *Friends*, *The Drew Carey Show*, and *Ally McBeal*, where she played Judge Elizabeth Witt in three episodes, and she co-starred as Lena on the short-lived WB sitcom *Cleghorne!* in 1995.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed) Her film credits included the psychologist in *Death Becomes Her* (1992) and a nurse in *Cruel Intentions* (1999).[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/) Marla Gibbs nicknamed her the "Commercial Queen" for the volume of commercial work she took after the sitcom, including spots for K-Mart in 2001 and Detrol LA in 2002.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed)
## Personal life and death
Reed Hall was married three times. Her first marriage, to Richard Hannum Cook, ended in divorce and produced two children.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/bio/) She married Kevin Peter Hall in December 1988; he died on April 10, 1991, of an AIDS-related cancer after contracting HIV from a contaminated blood transfusion.[6](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/bio/) In 2008 she married Tamim Amini, and before that marriage she was known professionally as Alaina Reed Hall or Alaina Reed.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, she died on December 17, 2009, at [Saint John](https://www.edgepedia.org/saint-john)'s Health Center in Santa Monica at the age of 63.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html) According to her husband, no funeral service was held; a celebration of her life was planned for the following year.[1](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html)
## References
1. [Alaina Reed Hall dies at 63; actress was Olivia Robinson on 'Sesame Street', Los Angeles Times (Dennis McLellan, Dec. 22, 2009)](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2009-dec-22-la-me-alaina-reed-hall22-2009dec22-story.html)
2. [Actress-Singer Alaina Reed-Amini Dies at 63, Television Academy (Jan. 15, 2010)](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/news/actress-singer-alaina-reed-amini-dies-63)
3. [Alaina Reed-Amini Obituary, Legacy.com / Associated Press](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/alaina-reed-amini)
4. [Alaina Reed (Performer), Playbill Vault](https://playbill.com/person/alaina-reed-vault-0000034030)
5. [Alaina Reed-Hall, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/)
6. [Alaina Reed-Hall Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355271/bio/)
7. [Reed Hall, Alaina 1946– (Alaina Reed), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/reed-hall-alaina-1946-alaina-reed)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames H to Ha*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license