In Memory of Cicely Tyson (1924-2021)

Cicely Tyson
1924-2021

The barrier-breaking actress Cicely Tyson has died today at the age of 96. Tyson was an actress of stage and screen who, in her more than seventy-year career, was honored with Primetime Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Tony and Peabody Awards, as well as an honorary Academy Award. She was also a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015 and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Tyson was born in 1924 in New York City and made her screen debut in 1956 with Carib Gold. In 1972, she appeared in Sounder, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Subsequent film roles included Fried Green Tomatoes, Because of Winn-Dixie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (one of many collaborations with Tyler Perry), and The Help, for which she received her SAG Award as part of the ensemble. On television, noted roles included the acclaimed-but-short-lived East Side/West Side, the television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and How To Get Away With Murder, a role that made her the most-nominated dramatic Guest Actress in the history of the Emmys. Her final television role was in the OWN series Cherish the Day. In 2013, she won a Tony Award for her role in The Trip to Bountiful, and she reprised that role in the Emmy-nominated television film adaptation the next year. Days before her death, Tyson released a memoir, titled Just As I Am.

The TV Ratings Guide sends its condolences to the loved ones of Cicely Tyson. May she rest in peace.

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