Cicely Tyson put Black female pride on screen
âI want to be recalled as one who squared my shoulders in the service of Black womenâ, the actor and model wrote â and from Sounder and Roots to The Help and the Tyler Perry universe, her performances were as full as they were upstanding.
4 February 2021
Cicely Tyson in a studio shoot at the time of Sounder in 1972
âRuth was a lady, and a lady always knows when to leave,â says Cicely Tysonâs Sipsey, in her unmistakable, precisely controlled, emotion-filled voice, comforting the grief-stricken Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) as the pair stand at the deathbed of their friend Ruth (Mary Louise Parker) in Jon Avnetâs Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1991). A scene later, in a single shot at Ruthâs graveside, Tyson viscerally conveys Sipseyâs own grief â an emotion many are experiencing now, at the news of Tysonâs passing at age 96.Â