The cause of death of Good Times actress Ja’Net DuBois has been revealed one month after she passed away at the age of 74.
Monsters & Critics reported that DuBois died in her sleep at her daughter’s home in Glendale, California on February 17. She was found unresponsive by her daughter.
PEOPLE reported that officers from the Glendale Police Department responded to a call that someone was not breathing.
Ja’Net DuBois cause of death
According to TMZ, Ja’Net DuBois’ death certificate reveals that she died of cardiac arrest.
The death certificate also revealed that she suffered from several complicating conditions that contributed to her death — hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and peripheral vascular disease.
Bern Nadette Stanis, Ja’Net DuBois’ Good Times co-star, who played Thelma in the series, said she saw Ja’Net shortly before she died and that she had appeared to be in good health. She said she was shocked when DuBois’ daughter told her — two weeks after they attended a signing event together — that the actress had died.
Ja’Net DuBois bio
Ja’Net DuBois was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised in Brooklyn. She started her acting career in 1960s Broadway. She also appeared in Broadway productions Golden Boy and A Raisin in the Sun.
DuBois was well known for playing Willona Woods on the 1970s hit series, Good Times, that aired on CBS for six seasons (1974-1979). She also appeared on the soap opera Love of Life and became the first black woman to appear as a regular in a daytime series, according to NPR.
DuBois went on to appear on The Love Boat, A Different World, The PJs, and Beverly Hills, 90210.
DuBois also appeared in the movies Diary of a Mad Housewife, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
DuBois was multi-talented and was a singer, composer, and painter. She was credited with composing and singing the theme song “Movin’ On Up” for The Jeffersons, which premiered on CBS in January 1975.
She also received two Emmys for her voice-over work in the WB series, The PJs.
Ja’Net DuBois co-founded the Pan African Film & Arts Festival, which promotes films and art by people of African descent. She was also a community activist and founder of DuBois Care Foundation that focussed on youth empowerment through afterschool programs.
DuBois’ remains were cremated. Her family kept some of the ashes and scattered the rest into the sea.
She was married to Sajit Gupta, but they later divorced. Her son, Raj Kristo Gupta, died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 36.
She is survived by her three children — Provat, Rani, and Kesha — and several grandchildren.