Julia, Christie & Cara

Julia (1969-1970) The doll was based on Diahann Carroll’s character from the TV show Julia and used the same face sculpt as the Christie doll, with different face paint and a different hairstyle.

Christie (1968–present) Barbie doll’s first African-American friend character, Christie was part of the new group of Talking dolls for 1968. Christie was later issued as a Twist ‘N Turn version. The character appeared in the product line continuously for many years, though the original Christie face sculpt was discontinued in 1978. Christie is notable in that she has been romantically linked with several different male characters over the years. In 1970, she was linked with Brad, the Talking Brad doll even said “Christie is the greatest”. In 1982, the Sunsational Malibu Christie doll had a boyfriend named Ken who used the Brad face sculpt with rooted hair. In the late 80s, Christie was paired with Steven. The surname O’Neill is associate with the Nikki character, who is purported to be Christie’s sister, but the surname has not been associated directly with Christie.

Cara (1974-1977) This doll used the Steffie face sculpt from 1972, and was another African-American friend of Barbie. The Cara character was available as Quick Curl Cara (1974), Free Moving Cara (1975), Deluxe Quick Curl Cara (1976) and Ballerina Cara (1976).