The Late Great Cicely Tyson

Actress Cicely Tyson was a true pioneer. Throughout her career, she refused to play stereotypes. Playing Jane Foster on the drama East Side/West Side, she became the first African American to have be a regular on a drama on American broadcast television. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sounder (1972). She won the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and received a special Emmy for Actress of the Year for the same TV movie. Miss Tyson paved the way for many more Black actors. She died yesterday, January 28 2021, at the age of 96.

Cicely Tyson was born in East Harlem to parents who had immigrated from the West Indies. Following her graduation from high school she worked as  secretary for the American Red Cross. After being discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine she became a model. She made her television debut in an episode of Frontiers of Faith in 1951. In 1960 she appeared in the TV series CBS Repertoire Workshop. Cicely Tyson made her film debut in Carib Gold in 1957. In the late Fifties she also appeared in the movies Odds Against Tomorrow (1957) and The Last Angry Man (1960).  Miss Tyson was an understudy for the title role in the Broadway production Jolly's Progress. She appeared in play The Cool World on Broadway in 1960.

Cicely Tyson appeared frequently on Broadway in the Sixties. She appeared in the productions Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright; A Hand is On the Gate; Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights; and Trumpets of the Lord. In 1961 she appeared off-Broadway in The Blacks. On television she played Jane Foster, the secretary of social worker Neil Brock (played by George C. Scott) on the acclaimed drama East Side/West Side. Not only was she the first Black actress to have a recurring role on an American television drama, but at the time she was the only Black actor with a regular role on an American broadcast television drama. During the decade she guest starred on The Nurses, Naked City, Slattery's People, The Guiding Light, I Spy, Cowboy in Africa, Judd for the Defense, Medical Center, The F.B.I., The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Here Come the Brides, The Bill Cosby Show, Mission: Impossible, and Gunsmoke. Miss Tyson appeared in the movies A Man Called Adam (1966), The Comedians (1967), and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968).

It was in 1972 that Cicely Tyson played Rebecca Morgan, the wife of a Black sharecropper and mother of a young son in Sounder. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Lead Actress for the role.She also appeared in the movies The Blue Bird (1976), The River Niger (1976), A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1978), and The Concorde...Airport '79 (1979). On television she starred in the television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, for which she won two Emmy Awards.Miss Tyosn appeared in the mini-series Roots. She played Coretta Scott King in the mini-series King. She guest starred on Insight, Emergency!, Norman Corwin Presents, and A Woman Called Moses. She appeared in the TV movies Wednesday Night Out and Just an Old Sweet Song.

In the Eighties Cicely Tyson appeared on Broadway in The Corn is Green. She appeared in the movie Bustin' Loose (1981). On television she appeared in the TV movies Benny's Place, Playing with Fire, Acceptable Risks, Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story, Intimate Encounters, Heat Wave, and The Kid Who Loved Christmas. She appeared in the mini-series The Women of Brewster Place. She guest starred on the TV show B.L. Stryker.

In the Nineties Cicely Tyson played the role of civil rights attorney Carrie Grace Battle on the TV series Sweet Justice. She appeared in the mini-series Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Mama Flora's Family, and Aftershock: Earthquake in New York. She gust starred on the shows Touched by an Angel and The Outer Limits. She appeared in the TV movies Clippers, Duplicates, When No One Would Listen, House of Secrets, The Road to Galveston, Bridge of Time, Riot, The Price of Heaven, Ms. Scrooge, Always Outnumbered, and A Lesson Before Dying. She appeared in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Hoodlum (1997).

In the Naughts Miss Tyson appeared in the movies Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), Madea's Family Reunion (2006), Fat Rose and Squeaky (2006), Idlewild (2006), and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). She was the voice of Jeanette Nyirabagarwa in Rwanda Rising (2007). On television she appeared in the TV movies Jewel (2001), The Rosa Parks Story (2002), and Relative Stranger (2009). She guest starred on the shows The Proud Family, Higglytown Heroes, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In the Teens Cicely Tyson returned to Broadway to appear in The Trip to Bountiful (for which she won a Tony) and The Gin Game. On television she was a regular on Cherish the Day and How to Get Away with Murder. She guest starred on House of Cards and Madame Secretary. She appeared in the TV movie The Trip to Bountiful. Miss Tyson appeared in the movies The Help (2011), Alex Cross (2012),  The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013), Showing Roots (2016), Last Flag Flying (2017), and A Fall from Grace (2020).

Cicely Tyson was a remarkable actress, not merely for her talent but in her choice of roles. She would never take any role that she felt were demeaning to Black women. She refused to play maids, drug addicts, or prostitutes. Instead she played impactful, often inspirational characters, and in doing so changed the way Black women were portrayed on the big and small screens.

She leaves behind no shortage of great performances. She was impressive in Sounder, playing a strong, intelligent, and devoted mother faced with poverty. In The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman she played a centenarian from her days as a slave to her death not long before the Civil Rights movement. She gave an incredible performance as Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the mini-series King. In The Marva Collins Story she played another real life person, educator Marva Collins, who founded Westside Preparatory School in Chicago. Cicely Tyson gave so many great performances that it would take a book to detail them all. From Jane Foster on East Side/West Side to Miss Luma Lee Langston on Cherish the Day, Cicely Tyson was consistently excellent. It was through her talent and her refusal to take roles that demeaned Black women that she helped create better roles for Blacks and paved the way for many Black actresses to come.