When you play the powerful patriarch of one of television’s most dysfunctional families, fans tend to have plenty to say. Veteran actor Ricco Ross, who stars as Horace Bellarie in Tyler Perry’s hit Netflix drama “Beauty in Black,” brought a little Bellarie star power to Jacksonville on Sept. 5 during an all-white meet-and-greet at Medusa Lounge on the city’s Southside.
Fans dressed in their best all-white attire for an evening of music, mingling and photo opportunities with Ross, while DJ Chy Marions provided the soundtrack.
Ross’ Jacksonville appearance comes as “Beauty in Black” continues to build a sizable following for its mix of wealth, sex, family betrayal, crime and corporate power. The series follows the Bellaries, a wealthy Chicago family behind the Beauty in Black cosmetics empire whose polished public image masks secrets, criminal activity and an underground trafficking operation.
68-year-old Ross plays Horace, the family patriarch who founded the Beauty in Black brand and controls the family fortune. His character’s decisions — including his deathbed marriage to someone half his age have helped drive some of the series’ biggest twists.
The show has become a bona fide Netflix success. Season 1 spent seven weeks in Netflix’s Top 10 and reached No. 1 in 28 countries during its second week. Season 2, Part 1, later reached No. 1 in 14 countries in its second week. Netflix renewed the Tyler Perry-created series for a fourth season before Season 3 even premiered.
And Horace almost wasn’t around to enjoy that success.
Ross recently revealed that his original contract guaranteed only five episodes and that Perry initially planned to kill Horace at the end of the first season. Ross said Perry changed course after watching the chemistry among the Bellarie family actors during filming and asked him to remain as a series regular.
For Ross, “Beauty in Black” is the latest chapter in a career spanning more than four decades. Long before becoming Horace Bellarie, he appeared as Private Frost in James Cameron’s 1986 science-fiction classic “Aliens” and later appeared in projects including “P-Valley” and “Bosch: Legacy.”
Now, with “Beauty in Black” giving him a new generation of fans, Ross is discovering that playing Horace means viewers don’t just recognize him — they arrive ready to discuss the Bellarie patriarch’s every questionable decision.
In Jacksonville, they got the opportunity to tell him face-to-face.