Groundbreaking and award-winning actress Cicely Tyson dies at 96 Robert D. McFadden
Ben Sklar /The New York Times News Service
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 Thursday. She was 96.
Her death was announced by her long-time manager, Larry Thompson.
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.
Cicely Tyson, Acting Legend and Stereotype-Shattering Icon, Dead at 96 Getty Images
The legendary Cicely Tyson has died at 96.
Tyson died Thursday, as reported by The Wrap and confirmed by her longtime manager Larry Thompson in a statement from her family that read, With a heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy.
No cause or other details of her passing were provided.
For decades, Tyson had been an icon in entertainment, having achieved success onstage, on TV, and in the movies, and having embraced her status as a role model for Black women in an industry notoriously unwelcoming to them.