Actress Cicely Tyson, who specialized in portraying strong Black women caught up in life’s struggles during a 60-year career that earned her three Emmys and a Tony Award, died on Thursday at age 96, her manager said in a statement.
Mark Kennedy
FILE - Cicely Tyson models a B. Michael design in The Heart Truth Red Dress collection during Fashion Week in New York, Feb. 13, 2009. Tyson, the pioneering Black actress who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper s wife in Sounder, a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers hearts in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, has died. She was 96. Tyson s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide additional details. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) February 01, 2021 - 1:35 PM
NEW YORK - Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropperâs wife in âSounder,â won a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewersâ hearts in âThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,â died Thursday at age 96.
"The roles she played reflected her values; she never compromised," Oprah Winfrey said. "Her life so fully lived is a testimony to Greatness."
Cicely Tyson, the stage, screen and television actress whose vivid portrayals of strong African-American women shattered racial stereotypes in the dramatic arts of the 1970s, propelling her to stardom and fame as an exemplar for civil rights, died on Thursday. She was 96.
Her death was announced by her longtime manager, Larry Thompson, who provided no other details.
In a remarkable career of seven decades, Ms. Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people. She urged Black colleagues to do the same, and often went without work. She was critical of films and television programs that cast Black characters as criminal, servile or immoral, and insisted that African-Americans, even if poor or downtrodden, should be portrayed with dignity.
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