Cicely Tyson, 96, (born December 19, 1924, New York City, New York, U.S.—died January 28, 2021), American model and actress noted for her vivid portrayals of strong African American women.
The Hollywood Times was honored to be part of Cicely Tyson’s TCM Classic Film Festival’s Hand & Footprint Ceremony back in April 2018. Her hands and feet were placed in cement that beautiful Friday morning with such grace and brought a smile to her face that will always live on in my mind.
Discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony magazine, she quickly rose to the top of the modeling world. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway productions, and the following decade she appeared in several short-lived Broadway shows. Tyson won minor roles in a few feature films before portraying Portia in the 1968 film version of Carson McCullers’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
Apart from her acting career, Tyson was known for her relationship with jazz musician Miles Davis (married 1981–88). She was honoured by the Congress of Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Council of Negro Women. In 1977 she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. She was named a Kennedy Center honoree in 2015. The following year Tyson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2018 she received an honorary Academy Award.
Tyson’s memoir, Just As I Am, was published January 26, 2021,[68] and she was promoting the book during her final weeks. In an interview with Gayle King, asked how she wanted to be remembered, Tyson said, “I’ve done my best. That’s all.”
Here is the article from 2018:
https://www.thehollywoodtimes.today/tcm-classic-film-festival-cicely-tysons-hand-footprint-ceremony/