Cicely Tyson, a legendary film, television and stage actress renowned for her role in “Sounder” and other films has died at the age of 96.
While announcing her death, her manager, Larry Thompson said: “With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon.
“At this time, please allow the family their privacy.”
The cause of death was not instantly given.
Tyson was born and bred in Harlem and she was first identified as a model for Ebony Magazine. She started her screen journey with bit parts but became in the early 70s when Black women were began to get starring roles.
In 1972, she starred as Rebecca Morgan, a sharecropper in “Sounder” and was nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards in 1973.
Also ,Tyson won two Emmy awards for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” and she won a Tony Award for “The Trip to Bountiful” in 2013.
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor by President Barack Obama in 2016, and in 2015, she received the Kennedy Center Honors lifetime achievement award.
She appeared in 1991’s “Fried Green Tomatoes,” 2005’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and 2011’s “The Help.”
Tyson appeared in the series “Roots,” where she played the role of Binta, Kunta Kinte’s mother. Also, she played Coretta Scott King in the 1978 series “King” and Harriet Tubman in the series “A Woman Called Moses.”
She won an Emmy for the role she played in “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” in 1994.
May her gentle soul rest in peace.
