NEW YORK (AP) – Tyler Perry and Bill and Hillary Clinton were among those in attendance at a private memorial service for Cicely Tyson at Harlem’s famous Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Gospel singer Bebe Winans sang “Stand” – a request from Tyson for her death – and a letter was read by rocker Lenny Kravitz, who was a good friend.
“The ceremony was beautiful. It was very Cicely Tyson: it was formal, it was humorous, it was sad, it was glorious, ”said Larry Thompson, Tyson’s manager for over 40 years.
Reporters were not allowed in, but several mourners stopped afterwards to share their thoughts.
The Abyssinian Baptist pastor, Reverend Calvin O. Butts, said that Tyson was an example of “a life well lived and an example of how we could all live,” adding: of peace and love like anyone I can think of. “
He noted that Tyson’s service was during Black History Month, giving us “another illustration of some of the wonderful people who contributed to American art and culture.”
Tuesday’s memorial service came a day after hundreds of admirers of the pioneering black actor lined up outside the church for a public viewingSome said they came from Atlanta or Los Angeles to be there.
During the ceremony, the sun broke through the clouds and the temperature rose above 40 for the first time in the snowy city for over a week. Her coffin was carried to a hearse by six porters in white tie and tails.
Tyson died on January 28. The New York-born actor was 96.
Faye Wattleton, a reproductive rights activist who had been friends with Tyson for over 30 years, said, “She was 96, but we thought she was going to be at least 100 years old. People like her never really leave. Hopefully she will feel all the love we have given her today. “
Also in attendance were Valerie Simpson from the Ashford & Simpson duo, stylist Ellin LaVar and Emmy-nominated choreographer George Faison, who said he knew Tyson through her former husband, Miles Davis.
“Now they are joined in heaven and I am glad I was here to say goodbye to her,” said Faison. “She was a wonderful woman.”
Tyson was the first black woman to have a recurring role on a dramatic television series, the 1963 drama “East Side, West Side.” Her performance as the wife of a sharecropper in the 1972 film “Sounder” cemented her stardom and earned her a Oscar nomination.
She won two Emmy Awards for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama ‘The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman’ and another Emmy twenty years later for ‘Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All’.
At the age of 88, Tyson won a Tony Award for reviving Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful” in 2013. President Barack Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom in 2016.
Joseph Joubart played the piano during the service and said it was a moment he would never forget. “It was a truly moving experience and a tribute to what a wonderful lady she was – an icon, a legend.”
Mark Kennedy is there http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits