BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Cicely Tyson
| Cicely Tyson | |
|---|---|
Tyson in 2012
| |
| Born | December 18, 1924 [1][2] New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1951–present |
| Spouse(s) | Miles Davis (1981–1988; divorced) |
Cicely L. Tyson (born December 18, 1924)[1][3] is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for her performance as Rebecca Morgan in Sounder (1972). For this role she also won theNSFC Best Actress and NBR Best Actress Awards. She starred in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), for which she won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA Award.[4]
During her career she has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three. In 2011, she appeared in the filmThe Help, for which she received awards for her ensemble work as Constantine from the BFCA and SAG Awards and she has an additional four SAG Award nominations. She starred on Broadway in The Trip to Bountiful as Carrie Watts, for which she won theTony Award, Outer Critics Award, and Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play. She previously received a Drama Desk Awardin 1962 for her Off-Broadway performance in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.[4][5]
Early life
Tyson was born and raised in Harlem, the daughter of Frederica, a domestic, and William Tyson,[1] who worked as a carpenter, painter, and at any other jobs he could find. Her parents were immigrants from Nevis in the West Indies.[6][7][8] Her father arrived in New York City at age 21 and was processed at Ellis Island on August 4, 1919.[9]
Career
Tyson was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine and became a popular fashion model. Her first acting role was on the NBC series Frontiers of Faith in 1951.[10] Her first film role was in Carib Gold in 1956, but she went on to do more television work, such as the celebrated series East Side/West Side and the soap opera The Guiding Light. In 1961, Tyson appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running off-Broadway non-musical of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. She appeared with Sammy Davis, Jr. in the film A Man Called Adam (1966) and starred in the film version of Graham Greene's The Comedians (1967). Tyson had a featured role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), and appeared in a segment of Roots.[11]
In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder. In 1974, she won twoEmmy Awards for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Other acclaimed television roles included Roots; King, in which she portrayedCoretta Scott King, The Marva Collins Story, When No One Would Listen, and The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, for which she received her third Emmy Award. In 1982, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women, who through their endurance and the excellence of their work have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.[12]
In 1991 she appeared in Fried Green Tomatoes as Sipsey. In her 1994–95 television series Sweet Justice, Tyson portrayed a civil rights activist and attorney named Carrie Grace Battle, a character she shaped by reportedly consulting with noted Washington, D.C. civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree. In 2005, Tyson co-starred in Because of Winn-Dixie and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The same year she was honored at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball. The Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts, a magnet school in East Orange, New Jersey, was renamed in her honor. She plays an active part in supporting the school, which serves one of New Jersey's most underprivileged African-American communities. In 2010, she narrated the "Paul Robeson Award"-winning documentary, Up from the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream. In 2010, she appeared in Why Did I Get Married Too? In 2011, Tyson appeared in her first music video in Willow Smith's 21st Century Girl. That same year she played Constantine Jefferson in The Help.[13]
At the 67th Tony Awards on June 9, 2013, Tyson won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Miss Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful.[14] She also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for the role.[15][16]
Personal life
Tyson has been married once, to legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis on November 26, 1981. The ceremony was conducted by Atlanta mayor Andrew Young at the home of actor Bill Cosby. Tyson and Davis divorced in 1988. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. On May 17, 2009, she received an honorary degree from Morehouse College, an all-male college. In 2010, she was awarded theSpingarn Medal from the NAACP.[17]
On May 21, 2014, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Columbia University.[18]
Credits
Film
Television
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Dark of the Moon[19] | Little Theatre | |
| 1959 | Jolly's Progress[20] | Jolly (understudy) | Longacre Theatre |
| 1960 | The Cool World[21] | Girl | Eugene O'Neill Theatre |
| 1961 | The Blacks: A Clown Show[19][22] | Stephanie Virtue Diop | St. Mark's Playhouse |
| 1962 | Moon on a Rainbow Shawl[19] | East 11th Street Theater | |
| 1962 | Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright[23] | Celeste Chipley Adelaide Smith (understudy) | Booth Theatre |
| 1963 | The Blue Boy in Black[19][24] | Joan | Masque Theatre |
| 1963 | Trumpets of the Lord[19][25] | Rev. Marion Alexander | Astor Place Theatre |
| 1966 | A Hand Is on the Gate[26] | Performer | Longacre Theatre |
| 1968 | Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights[19][27] | Myrna Jessup | John Golden Theatre |
| 1969 | To Be Young, Gifted and Black[19][28] | Various | Cherry Lane Theatre |
| 1969 | Trumpets of the Lord[29] | Rev. Marion Alexander | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| 1983 | The Corn Is Green[30][31] | Miss Moffat | Lunt-Fontanne Theatre |
| 2013 | The Trip to Bountiful | Miss Carrie Watts | Stephen Sondheim Theatre |
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