Cicely Louise Tyson
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Awards
Cicely Tyson earned an Academy Award nomination for Sounder in 1972 and two Emmys for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in 1974. In 2013, at age 88, she became the oldest Tony winner for The Trip to Bountiful. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2018. She portrayed strong Black women throughout her career, leaving a lasting legacy in film and television.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Cicely Tyson — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Cicely Tyson by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Cicely Tyson — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
A fashion editor at Ebony Magazine discovered Cicely Tyson, launching her modeling career. She was born in Harlem in 1924 to parents from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother Theodosia worked as a domestic, and her father William was a carpenter and painter. She graduated from Charles Evans Hughes High School in Manhattan before turning to acting.
In 1968, Tyson played Portia in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Her breakout came in 1972 with an Oscar nomination for Sounder. Two years later, she portrayed a 110-year-old former slave in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, earning two Emmy Awards. She appeared in the miniseries Roots 1977, King 1978, and A Woman Called Moses 1978. Tyson remained selective, only accepting roles that portrayed Black women positively. In later years, she appeared in How to Get Away with Murder and House of Cards.
Tyson married jazz musician Miles Davis in 1981, with Bill Cosby as best man, and they divorced in 1988. She had a daughter, Joan, born in 1943, kept secret until her memoir was published in 2021. She hid her true age for most of her career, presenting herself as 15 years younger. She was godmother to Lenny Kravitz and a longtime friend of Rosa Parks.
Cicely Tyson was the first African-American actress to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Movie, for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. At age 88, she became the oldest Tony winner in 2013 for The Trip to Bountiful. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2018, the first Black actress to do so. The Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing & Fine Arts in New Jersey is named in her honor. Her unwavering commitment to portraying strong, dignified Black women defines her legacy.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Cicely Tyson — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Cicely Tyson — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Age Is Just a Number. Life and Aging Are the Greatest Gifts That We Could Possibly Ever Have.
I Am the Sum Total of Each One of the Women I Have Played. That They Were Able to Survive the Times, and the Way in Which They Did It, Made Me a Stronger Person and Allowed Me to Truly Believe That All Things Are Possible.
When It Comes to Staying Right Side up in This World, a Black Woman Needs at Least Three Things. the First Is a Quiet Spot of Her Own, a Place Away from the Nonsense. the Second Is a Stash of Money, Like the Cash My Mother Kept Hidden in the Slit of Her Mattress. the Last Is Several Drops of Cayenne Pepper, Always at the Ready. Sprinkle That on Your Food Before You Eat It and It’ll Kill Any Lurking Bacteria. the Powder Does the Trick as Well, but I Prefer the Liquid Because It Hits the Bloodstream Quickly. Particularly When Eating Out, I Won’t Touch a Morsel to My Lips ‘Til It’s Speckled with with Cayenne.
Little-known facts about Cicely Tyson — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
She married Miles Davis at Bill Cosby’s home, with Cosby as best man, in a ceremony performed by Andrew Young.
Tyson became the first African-American actress to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Movie, for her performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in 1974.
In 2013, she won a Tony for The Trip to Bountiful, making her the oldest person ever to win an acting Tony at age 88.
Tyson and Diana Ross were both nominated for Best Actress Oscars in 1972, the second time in Academy history that two Black actresses were nominated in that category.
She was one of eleven African-American actresses nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, including Dorothy Dandridge, Halle Berry, and Viola Davis.
The Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing & Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey, is named in her honor; she visited often and taught master classes.
Tyson won a judgment for $750,000 after being fired from the 1983 Broadway play The Corn Is Green, produced by Elizabeth Taylor.
Though she played Maya Angelou’s daughter in Roots 1977, she was actually three years older than Angelou.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard on August 21, 1997.
She co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem with Arthur Mitchell.
Tyson only accepted roles that portrayed strong images of Black women.
Before acting, she worked as a secretary and model.
Her image appeared on a $3.25 postage stamp issued by Nevis on January 1, 2014.
President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 22, 2016.
Until 2013, her age was misreported as a decade younger; The New York Times confirmed she was born in 1924.
She was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977.
She presented herself as 10-15 years younger than her actual age for much of her career.
On September 6, 2018, she was announced as an Honorary Oscar recipient, the first Black woman to receive that honor.
Director George Cukor found her difficult to work with on The Blue Bird 1976, calling her greatly gifted, but not a comedienne.
She turned down the lead in Claudine 1974 because she felt she could not play an unmarried mother on welfare; Diahann Carroll took the role and earned an Oscar nomination.
She was considered for the role of Mags in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 2013, which went to Lynn Cohen.
She was an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Her memoir, Just As I Am, was published two days before her death.
She hosted Thursday nights for CBS Radio’s Sears Mystery Theater 1979 and later The Mutual Radio Theater.
Tyson had a daughter in February 1943, kept secret until her 2021 memoir; she referred to her as Joan to protect her privacy.
She was aunt of actress Cathy Tyson.
She separated from her first husband in June 1944 after 18 months of marriage; they divorced over a dozen years later.
She was godmother to Lenny Kravitz.
Tyson was a longtime friend of Rosa Parks and attended her funeral on November 2, 2005.
She was 42 when her acting career took off.
She attributed her longevity to a vegetarian diet.
She was 23 years older than O.J. Simpson, who played her husband in The Last Ten Yards 1969; 15 years older than Paul Winfield and 13 years older than Morgan Freeman, who also played her husbands.
To take classes with Lloyd Richards, she had to go through Mann’s acting workshop; she recalled that Mann rose from his desk and walked over to shut his door. I stood, as did every hair on my neck.
She is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, alongside her siblings.
She was only six years younger than Percy Rodrigues, who played her father in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 1968.
Both her parents were from Nevis in the West Indies.
Her birthday is reported as either December 18 or 19; her father’s naturalization petition listed the 18th.
She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
She was cousin of Louis Farrakhan.
She was only 23 years younger than Louis Armstrong, who played her grandfather in A Man Called Adam 1966.
She graduated from Charles Evans Hughes High School in Manhattan.
She was the second of three children, with siblings Emily and Melrose Tyson, and was aunt of Maxine Grandison.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Cicely Tyson.
Celebrities similar to Cicely Tyson — same craft, ranked by reach.
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