Sutton died of complications from Covid-19. The New Orleans native – who never relocated from her home city – acted in her first movie with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in 1974, but she had “honed her acting abilities beginning in 1968, when she joined one of the rare African-American theatrical troupes in the Deep South. The Dashiki Project Theatre, founded by students at Dillard University and other historically black colleges and universities in Louisiana, was based in New Orleans and mounted plays that reflected the complexities of African-American life.” – NPR