Cicely Tyson, award winning actress and model, who challenged stereotypes of Black women for decades, died at the age of 96 on January 28.
She was vocal about choosing roles where Black women were shown as strong, complex individuals such as her Emmy nominated portrayal of Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In her last interview, with host Gayle King of CBS’s This Morning, less than a week before her death, Tyson said, “Whenever I’m offered a script, what I’m interested in when I get it is what I mean-Who was that character, and why did they want me to play it? And when I get to the point where I feel like her skin has fitted my own, or my mind, then I know there is something about her.”
Tyson told King she fell pregnant at 17, and wanting to pursue acting to support her child, her mother threatened to kick her out of the house. Her mother opposed an acting career, and when Tyson pushed back, her mother did not speak to her for almost two years.
Tyson said, “She thought I was going to live in the den of inequity because she grew up in the slums, lots of prostitution walking up and down the streets, and that’s all she knew about movies.”
Tyson told King her mother eventually came around when she saw Tyson performing on stage, and the two had a strong relationship until her death.
Tyson’s career spanned seven decades, from her debut in 1951 in the NBC television series Frontiers of Faith to her role in the Netflix film “A Fall from Grace” in 2020. Altogether, Tyson appeared in 29 films, at least 68 television series, and 15 productions on and off Broadway.
Tyson won many awards, including an honorary Oscar. She was in notable films that challenged Black stereotypes such as “Sounder” about a woman who provides for her family by cleaning homes after her husband is imprisoned for stealing food. The role won her an Oscar nomination.
In The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, she played a woman who recalls her life from slavery to the Civil Rights era. She received two Emmys for the role.
She also starred on television shows like Roots.
Tyson’s memoir, titled Just as I Am, was published on January 26, 2021. She describes her childhood growing up in East Harlem to conservative, working-class immigrants from the West Indies.
She says, “I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams.”
In her final words in her final interview with King, Tyson was asked how she wanted to be remembered. “I’ve done my best. That’s all.”
