Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson was born on December 19, 1924, in the Bronx, New York City, but her family quickly moved to East Harlem. She was a model and actress from the United States. Throughout her seven-decade career, she became recognized for her portrayals of powerful African-American women. She was one of three children born to a domestic servant, Fredericka Tyson, and a carpenter and painter, William Augustine Tyson. Her parents were West Indian immigrants. On August 4, 1919, her father came to New York City at the age of 21 and was processed at Ellis Island.

Tyson, who had previously featured in modest film and television parts, gained significant recognition and critical acclaim for her portrayal as Rebecca Morgan in Sounder (1972). For her performance in the film, she was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture "Drama." Tyson's performance as the titular character in the 1974 television drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, based on Ernest J. Gaines received further recognition for the performance, which earned her two Emmy Awards and a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Tyson continued to act in films and on television into the twenty-first century. She starred as Constantine Jefferson in the Academy Award-winning film The Help, in 2011. She has also played the recurring character of Ophelia Harkness in the courtroom drama TV series "How to Get Away With Murder" since the show's start in 2014, for which she has received five Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. Tyson has also featured in many stage plays in addition to her film work. In 1962, she won a Vernon Rice Award for her Off-Broadway performance in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.

In 2013, Tyson won the Tony Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Carrie Watts in The Trip The Trip aired on Bindass is a story of four girlf >> Read More... to Bountiful. In 2015, Tyson was named a Kennedy Center Honoree. Tyson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2016, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Tyson's memoir, Just as I Am, was released on January 26, 2021, and she marketed it during her final weeks. Tyson passed away on January 28, 2021, at the age of 96. Her funeral was conducted on February 16 at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church.