[42] However, actress RaéVen Larrymore Kelly is her adopted granddaughter. (LIVING), "Cicely, the Looker From 'Sounder'; Cicely, the Looker", The Staue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, Inc, https://archive.org/details/blacks00grov/mode/2up, "Kinky Boots, Vanya and Sonia, Pippin and Virginia Woolf? [18] Since 2014, Tyson has guest-starred in How to Get Away with Murder as Ophelia Harkness, the mother of main character Annalise Keating (Viola Davis); for this role, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Tyson also starred as Carrie Watts in the Broadway play The Trip to Bountiful, winning the Tony Award, the Outer Critics Award, and the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play in 2013. [2][3] Tyson is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Black Reel Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, one Tony Award, an honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award. Its two-night premiere is Feb. 11 and 12. In a career spanning more than seven decades, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Cicely Tyson doesn’t quibble with those who marvel at her long life and career, now in its eighth decade. Davis told the press in 1967 that he intended to marry Tyson in March 1968 after his divorce was finalized,[38] but he married singer Betty Davis that September. [40] Davis credited Tyson with saving his life and helping him overcome his cocaine addiction. In 2005, Tyson was honored at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball. Tyson has received honorary degrees from Clark Atlanta University, Columbia University;[20] Howard University;[21] and Morehouse College, an all-male historically black college. Having appeared in minor film and television roles early in her career, Tyson garnered widespread attention and critical acclaim for her performance as Rebecca Morgan in Sounder (1972); she was nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work in the film. PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Cicely Tyson doesn’t quibble with those who marvel at her long life and career, now in its eighth decade. [11], In 1961, Tyson appeared in the original cast of French playwright Jean Genet's The Blacks, the longest running off-Broadway non-musical of the decade, running for 1,408 performances. Her first acting role was on the NBC series Frontiers of Faith in 1951. They were married on November 26, 1981 in a ceremony conducted by Atlanta mayor Andrew Young at the home of actor Bill Cosby. [citation needed] In the 1994–95 television series Sweet Justice, Tyson portrayed a civil rights activist and attorney named Carrie Grace Battle, a character she shaped by reportedly consulting with noted Washington, D.C. civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree.