Cicely Tyson, the award-winning actress who pioneered decades and has appeared in countless TV shows, movies and Broadway plays, died Thursday at the age of 96, according to her manager. Tyson’s role as a shareholder’s wife in the movie “Sounder” earned her an Oscar nomination in 1973.
“With pain in their hearts, Miss Cicely Tyson’s family announces her peaceful transition this afternoon,” Tyson’s family said in a statement from her manager. “Give the family their privacy at this point.”
First come into the spotlight as a model, Tyson was well known in the entertainment industry and won two Emmy Awards – Best Leading Actress in a Drama and Best Actress in a Special – for her role as a former slave in the 1974 television drama. “The Autobiography from Miss Jane Pittman. ” At a defining moment in the film, Pittman walks upstairs and drinks from the fountain with only white water.
‘Well, when I’m at work I just tell everyone. I said, ‘I don’t care what you see. Please don’t tell me about it … because I work so organically, ” said Tyson. “So the next day when I got on set, I knew something had happened. And I just said, ‘Please don’t tell me. I don’t want to know …’ and people were talking about the walk. I said, “What walk?” ‘
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
In 1994 she won a Supporting Actress Emmy for her performance in “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” and in 2013 at the age of 88 a Tony Award for best lead actress in the play “The Trip to Bountiful”. She starred alongside Vanessa Williams, who was inspired by Tyson’s work ethic, according to a 2015 interview.
“She’s never missed a single performance … There’s no excuse for not showing up when Cicely Tyson can show up every day,” Williams said of Tyson at the time.
In 2016, Tyson was among a group of 21 actors, musicians, athletes and innovators who were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor – by former President Obama.
“In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only succeeded as an actor, she has shaped the whole course of history,” Obama said during the presentation, per ETonline. “Cicely was never the most likely Hollywood star. The daughter of immigrants from the West Indies, was raised by a hardworking and religious mother who cleaned houses and forbade her children to go to the movies. But once she got her education and into the company Cicely made a conscious decision not only to say rules, but to speak out.
Also in 2016, Tyson was celebrated with a Kennedy Center honor for her contributions to American culture, paving the way for African Americans in the industry.
In 2018, she received an honorary Oscar statuette at the annual Governors Awards, according to The Associated Press. “I have a low status. I grew up in an area that was called the slums at the time,” Tyson said at the time. ‘I still can’t imagine meeting Presidents, Kings and Queens. How did I get here? I wonder about it. ‘
In 2020, Tyson was inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame and received a Career Achievement Peabody Award.
Her memoir, “Just As I Am”, was released on January 26, the same day that “CBS This Morning” aired an interview between the iconic actress and Gayle King, where Tyson reflected on her roles.
“Whenever I’m offered a script … what I’m interested in when I get it is ‘why me?’” She said. “Who was that character and why did they want me to play it … and if I feel like her skin matches my arm or mind, then I know there’s something about her.”
Born in 1924 to West Indian parents, Tyson said she was a very shy child, the youngest of three. AP said her parents had moved from the island of Nevis in the Caribbean to the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City. From an early age, her friends urged Tyson to take up modeling because of her striking looks.
Amanda Edwards / WireImage via Getty Images
The journey to stardom, as she told Gayle King, was not an easy one. Tyson became pregnant when she was 17 and had a short marriage that lasted just over two years. Her decision to start an acting career as a single mother brought conflicts home, including her mother kicking her out of the house.
“Oh, she told me I couldn’t live there and do that,” Tyson said. ‘Suddenly I found something that I liked to do. And I had to support a child. ‘
20th Century Fox via Getty Images
Tyson made her on-screen debut at the age of 31 in the 1956 black and white film “Carib Gold”. Through sheer determination, her career blossomed after she landed the lead role playing the wife for a sharecropper in “Sounder” – the 1972 film based on the William H. Hunter novel. Her character was trapped in prison for stealing a piece of food for the farmer’s family and forced to care for their children and tend the crops.
At the time, a review from The New York Times read, “She lets all of her easy beauty pass by to finally give us a sense of the profound beauty of millions of black women.”
In Tyson’s memoir, she tells about her love story with jazz great Miles Davis, who put her on the cover of his 1967 album ‘Sorcerer’. The two were married in 1981, but divorced less than seven years later. However, their romance spanned decades. Tyson told King she could never find such love again.
At the age of 96, Tyson was asked by King what it’s like to be considered a legend.
“I am amazed every day,” she said. “I mean, what became my life isn’t what I expected … I had no idea I was going to touch anyone.”
When King asked Tyson, “When the time comes, what do you want us to remember from you?”
She replied, “I tried my best. That’s all.”
The Associated Press and ETonline contributed to this report.