Suzzanne Douglas  (April 12, 1957 – July 6, 2021) was an American actress. [2]  She is best known for her role as matriarch Jerri Peterson on  The WB  sitcom  The Parent 'Hood , [2]  starring  Robert Townsend  which ran from 1995–1999. Douglas portrayed Amy Simms in the 1989 dance/drama film  Tap  alongside  Gregory Hines  and  Sammy Davis, Jr , for which she received an  NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture . In addition to Tap, Douglas has starred in several other motion pictures, among them  How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998),  Jason's Lyric  (1994),  The Inkwell (1994) as well as the 2003  Disney / ABC version of  Sounder  with  Carl Lumbly . Douglas is also best known for her portrayal as  Cissy Houston  in the  Lifetime  TV movie  Whitney  in 2015. In 2019, she appeared as the mother of one of...