Tracy Sherrod, from the moment we met, I knew my life story was best entrusted in your capable hands. My confidence in you has been well placed. You are a true visionary, a beacon in the publishing community. Thank you for acquiring my book and for championing its publication at every turn. Thank you as well for your strong management and unflappable calm at the helm of Amistad Press, and as a leader within HarperCollins. I am also grateful to the HarperCollins team members—those behind the scenes and those out front—for investing their time and talents in Just as I Am. To Judith Curr, president and publisher at HarperCollins: Your enthusiasm for this book has cleared the path for its publication. I am thankful for your unwavering support. To Paul Olsewski, senior director of publicity, and to Stephen Brayda, art director and cover designer: Thank you for your exceptional work, and for going the extra mile. And to Terri Leonard, Suzanne Quist, Yvonne Chan, Marta Durkin, Lucy Albanese, John Jusino, and Anna Brower—thank you for the love and care you put into the production, photo insert, and packaging of the book.
Maxine Grandison, my niece, you are not only the keeper of our family’s rich culinary tradition, you’re also the guardian of the family tree. Thank you for researching the Tyson and Huggins ancestries and contributing your findings to this book. You are a glorious demonstration of both legacies. Your mother, Emily, would be as proud of you as I am.
A special thank you to Viola Davis, Minyon Moore, and Tyler Perry—each of whom so graciously gave of their time during the completion of Just as I Am. Viola, I appreciate your beautiful foreword, and even more than that, your warm spirit. Minyon and Tyler, thank you for recalling colorful stories that now live on these pages. Thank you, too, for blessing me with your light and laughter. I adore you.
Carol Wiggins, you have been a loyal confidante to me, as well as a dear friend to our beloved Arthur Mitchell. You shared with me that Arthur Mitchell, on his deathbed, told you “Take care of Cicely”—and you have honored his wish. Thank you for the countless hours you’ve spent at my side, and for the years you stood at his. Also, thank you for your assistance in reviewing drafts of this book.
B Michael, the words “thank you” fall short in conveying my gratitude to you. You are more than a masterful designer, the couturier I’ve relied on for more than fifteen years. You’re also a trusted escort. Thank you for your hands-on caring, and for your assistance with this book. You and Mark-Anthony Edwards are my extended family.
Bill Haber, I will forever be grateful that you and your wife, Carole, welcomed me into your home and hearts all those years ago. You were with me from the beginning, watching this marvelous path unfold, encouraging me at every turn. It is because of your generosity that my career on the West Coast took root. Thank you for investing in me over many decades, both as an agent and as a dear friend.
To my attorney, Glenn Goldstein: You have been my saving grace since the start of my career. I don’t know what I would do without you. God bless you.
Lois Harris, there are moments in our relationship that I will never forget. Thank you.
Debra Lee, although we rarely see each other, for you to announce to the world that Cicely Tyson is your new best friend—I believe you. Thank you so much for all of your years of support. It’s invaluable to me.
To CiCi in Dr. Orsher’s office: I am grateful for your willingness to do whatever task was needed. Every time you looked in my face and considered what had to be done, you said, “I’ll do it.” That was always manna for my ears. To Arthur Hicks at London Town Car: Thank you for safely driving me all over New York City and beyond. You’ve been a marvelous traveling companion. And to Carl Foster, who served faithfully as my assistant for many years: Thank you for sharing your recollections for this book.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard University, and host of the award-winning PBS documentary series Finding Your Roots: I appreciate your willingness to research my family’s ancestry, and though we encountered an impasse, I am grateful to your team for offering its findings as reference material for this book.
To the staff and students at Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts: I cannot tell you how much you mean to me, every one of you. I was mesmerized to see the first graduating class, marching across that stage to receive your diplomas, and I’ve been no less in awe during each successive ceremony. I am so proud of you. You’ve added joy to my days and years to my life. Your love is a priceless gift. And to the school’s first principal, Mrs. Laura Trimmings, may you rest in peace: It is only because of your persistence that a school now bears my name. I am grateful for your passion and determination. You are a rose among roses, a treasure to me and to the scores of students you touched during your career. Thank you for using your life in service to a higher call.
To the Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem: Over many decades, your encouragement is what has helped me to carry on. Thank you for providing me with a spiritual home. When I’m in town, I do not miss Sunday service, which you’ve often commented upon from the pulpit. Despite whatever is happening in my life, gathering with the saints always gives me strength, as does sitting in the pew on which my mother’s name is engraved. Her spirit lives there.
As far back as I can recall, E.A.T. restaurant on New York’s Upper East Side has been my home away from home—my supper table on the go. To Eli Zabar, the owner, thank you for the years of hot soup and warm service, as well as for lending me your upstairs space to conduct interviews for this book. You and your entire waitstaff have always made me feel welcome.
Each of you, my dear readers and viewers, has surrounded me with the sweet scent of your presence. When I made the choice to devote my life to the stage, I did so with the hope that I might change one person—just one. God heard my quiet prayer and granted it a hundredfold, with grace beyond measure over all these decades. Thank you for your abundant love to me during my journey. In your care, I have flourished.
Index
A specific form of pagination for this digital edition has been developed to match the print edition from which the index was created. If the application you are reading this on supports this feature, the page references noted in this index should align. At this time, however, not all digital devices support this functionality. Therefore, we encourage you to please use your device’s search capabilities to locate a specific entry.
Page numbers of photographs appear in italics.
Key to abbreviations: CT = Cicely Tyson; NYC = New York City
Actors Studio, 140
Ailey, Alvin, 155
Alder, Shannon L., 359
Alex Cross (film), 362
Ali, Muhammad, 210
Alice, Mary, 343
Alonzo, John, 226–27
Amos, John, 287, 354
Amos ’n’ Andy (radio show), 30–31, 90
Anderson, Marian, 164
Andrews, Bert, 179–82
Angelou, Maya, 96, 105, 173–75, 185, 189, 222, 285, 307, 344, 356, 386–89
Armstrong, Louis, 66, 80, 164
Armstrong, William H., 224
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The (TV movie), vii, ix, xiv, 20, 241–53, 269, 278, 291, 295, 327, 332, 346, 362, 364
Ayler, Ethel, 209
Baker, Rick, 248
Baldwin, James, 174, 291
Bassett, Angela, 266, 355, 361
Belafonte, Harry, 145, 171–72, 222
Bernstein, Sidney, 218, 261
Berry, Halle, 266, 361
Bethune, Mary McLeod, 124, 368
Between Yesterday and Today (TV show), 186–88
Bill Cosby Show, The (TV show), 183, 193
Black literature, music, and arts, 63–70, 172–75, 178, 237–38, 267; American Negro Theater, 145–46; Black Arts Movement, 174, 222; Black female writers, 181–82; Black-led production companies, 360–61; Coleman and, 129–30; Cotton Club and performers at, 66; Dance Theatre of Harlem, 219�
�22, 233, 254; Harlem Renaissance, 66–67; Legends Weekend, 344, 374; Lewisohn Stadium as venue, 164; NYC theater, 67, 145–47, 154–60, 163, 172–75, 180
Black Lives Matter, 268
Black Panther (film), 228
Blacks, The (play), 172–75, 177, 178, 181, 183, 184, 186, 188, 208–9, 218, 258, 311
Blanchard, Terence, 379
Blue Bird, The (film), 271–75
Blue Boy in Black, The (play), 214
Blyton, Enid Mary, 190–91
Bonet, Lisa, 183
Boseman, Chadwick, 228
Brando, Marlon, 314–16
Brooks, Gwendolyn, 351
Browne, Roscoe Lee, 157–58, 173
Brown Girl, Brownstones (TV special), 181, 182, 231
Burton, LeVar, 282
Bustin’ Loose (film), 306
Butts, Calvin O., 348–49
Byron, Rev. Joseph, 34, 38, 42, 48, 53–54, 74
Caesar, Shirley, 344
Cambridge, Geoffrey, 177, 178
Carib Gold (film), 138, 145, 149–52, 154, 155, 215–16
Carroll, Diahann, 5, 163–65, 171, 175–76, 387
Carroll, Vinnette, 153–57, 170, 180, 260–61, 303–4, 344
Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights (play), 214
Casimir, Camelo “Frenchie,” 206, 212
Chase, Leah, and Dooky Chase, 305–6
Cheadle, Don, 346
Chenery, Horace, 81–84
Cherish the Day (TV series), 387
Chisholm, Shirley, 267–68, 327, 361, 368
Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts, 353–59, 364
Civil Rights Movement, 8–9, 169–70, 184–85, 206–7, 210, 219, 223–24, 269, 395
Cleage, Pearl, 344
Cole, Olivia, 343
Coleman, Ralf, 216
Coleman, Warren, 4, 129–35, 138–41, 147, 152, 153–55, 157, 163, 170, 205, 215–16
Collins, Marva, 306, 309–10
Comedians, The (film), 282–83
Corn Is Green, The (play), 310–11, 372
Cosby, Bill and Camille, 193–94, 299, 301, 302–5
Courtship of Eddie’s Father (TV show), 216
Crucible, The (Miller), 153
Cukor, George, 272, 275
Dance Theatre of Harlem, 219–22, 233, 254
Dark of the Moon (play), 153–60, 170, 180, 231
Davis, Cheryl, 275–77, 340
Davis, Evelyn, 128–29
Davis, Miles (husband), 163–70, 193–207, 210–13, 235–36, 238–40, 254, 275–77, 291–98, 307, 365, 388; death, 341–42; housekeeper for, 166–67, 236, 275; CT married to, 297–306, 312–27, 333–42, 347
Davis, Ossie, 145, 182, 222, 368
Davis, Viola, vii–xii, 266, 361, 364–67
Dee, Ruby, 145, 146, 147, 205, 222, 344, 368, 386–87
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, 367–68
DeWindt, Hal, 131–32, 133, 170
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (film), 361–62
Du Bois, W. E. B., 67
DuVernay, Ava, 252, 361, 385, 387
East Side/West Side (TV series), ix, 188, 189, 192
Elder, Lonne, 5, 175, 224
Elise, Kimberly, 361–62
Ellington, Duke, 66, 174, 186
Endara, Robert, 382
Evans, Benita, 182
Fall from Grace, A (film), 364
Fences (film), xi, xii, 363, 376
Finney, James, 206
Fitzgerald, Ella, 164
Fonda, Jane, 267, 272, 273
Foote, Hallie, 370–71, 373, 374
Foote, Horton, 369, 370, 371, 373
Foster, Carl, 358, 370
Foster, Gloria, 303
Frankel, Gene, 173
Franklin, Aretha, 379, 387–88
Franklin, David McCoy, 306–7
Freeman, Morgan, 309
Fried Green Tomatoes (film), 345–46
Gaines, Ernest J., vii, 241, 242–43, 245, 346
Gardner, Ava, 272, 273
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., 290
Genet, Jean, 172–73, 177
Get Christie Love! (TV series), 279–81
Gillespie, Dizzy, 203
Gimbel, Alva B., 222
Gin Game, The (play), 376
Givens, Robin, 343
Goldberg, Whoopi, 382
Goldina, Miriam, 140
Gooding, Cuba, Jr., 370–71
Gordone, Charles, 173, 317
Gordy, Berry, Jr., 237, 238
Gossett, Charles, 138
Gossett, Lou, Jr., 173, 216, 287
Graham, Stedman, 344–45
Graves, Teresa, 280–81
Gregory, Dick and Lillian, 304
Guiding Light (TV series), 192–93, 257, 392
Haber, Bill, 4, 216, 229, 245, 253, 274, 278, 279, 280, 294, 354
Haber, Carole, 216, 217
Haley, Alex, 278, 281, 284
Hampden, Walter, 153
Hand Is on the Gate, A (play), 214, 376
Hansberry, Lorraine, 146
Harlem School of the Arts, 220–21
Harlem Writers Guild, 174
Harry, Jackée, 343
Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The (film), 209–10
Help, The (film), x, xiv, 364–66
Holiday, Billie, 66, 70, 177, 249
Hollywood, film industry, 65, 154; Black casts, 228; Black rebels, 224; Black-led companies, 360–61; Black scriptwriters and directors, 361; Blaxploitation films, 5, 224, 227, 243, 244, 269, 279; CT’s Oscar, 382; depiction of Black families, 7, 224, 227; first Black man to win an Oscar, 230; first talkie, 65; Little Rascals and Black children, 58; Oscars, 229–30; racism and, 145–46; roles for Black women, 5, 8, 145, 209–10, 266–67, 370; wage inequity, 268
Hoodlum (film), 346
Hooks, Kevin, 5, 225, 230
Hooks, Robert, 175, 230
Horne, Lena, 171, 222
How to Get Away with Murder (TV series), x–xi, 20, 366, 382
Huggins, Charles (grandfather), 11, 97
Hughes, Langston, 67, 146
Hurston, Zora Neale, 67, 182, 267
In the Shadow of the Great White Way (Andrews), 180
I Spy (TV series), 193
Jack, Thelma, 124, 136, 165
Jackson, Jacqueline, 328
Jackson, Jesse, 327–33
James, Lorenzo, 221, 255
John Paul II, Pope, 332
Johnson, James Weldon, 66
Jolly’s Progress (play), 171
Jones, James Earl, 173, 178, 311, 376
Jones, Quincy, 288, 341, 385
Jordan, Barbara, xiii, 368
Julia (TV series), 5
“Just as I Am” (hymn), 75
Kay, Monte, 171, 176
Kazan, Elia, 208–9
Kennedy Center Honors, 377–80
Kenneth (first husband), ii, 84–85, 89–92, 96–102, 104–5, 169, 176
Kind of Blue (Davis, album), 163
King (TV miniseries), 269–71, 327
King, Coretta Scott, xiv, 173, 269–71, 344
King, Gayle, 344
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 4–5, 7, 169, 170, 173, 207, 210, 211, 219, 222, 223, 269–70, 306, 327, 359, 377, 395–96
King Kong (film), 58–59, 60
Kitt, Eartha, 171
Komack, Jimmy, 216, 217
Kravitz, Lenny, 183
Kravitz, Sy, 183
Leibovitz, Annie, 349
Leonard, Walter, 310
Lesson Before Dying, A (TV movie), 346–47
Lincoln, Abbey, 173–74, 209
Locke, Alain, 66–67
Mabry, Betty, 211, 212–13, 235, 319, 335
Man Called Adam, A (film), 274
Mandela, Nelson and Winnie, 331
Mann, Paul, 141–45, 148
Marshall, Paule, 181–82
Marva Collins Story (TV movie), 306, 309
McCoy, Corky, 165
McGe
e, Arthur, 205, 393
Medical Center (TV series), 216–17
Melvin, Harold, 166, 206, 236
Minnelli, Liza, 234–35
Mitchell, Arthur, 178–79, 219–22, 223, 229–30, 233, 234, 255, 383–85, 386
Monroe, Marilyn, 138, 141
Monson, Lex, 175
Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (play), 178, 303, 311
Moore, Erwin, 354, 369
Moore, Minyon, 330–32
Morrison, Toni, 182
National Council of Negro Women, 124
Negro Federal Theater of Massachusetts, 216
Nevis, British West Indies, 11–13, 14, 16, 26, 29, 41–42, 79, 97, 109, 257, 259, 289, 290, 332, 354
New Negro, The (Locke), 66–67
New York City (NYC): avant-garde theater, 172; Black actors in, 145–47; Black churches, 33–36, 42–43, 74, 85, 348; CT and clothing stores, 60, 62, 78, 122, 127; East Harlem, 25, 26; Great Migration, 65; Harlem, 65–66, 85; Harlem nightclubs, 65–66; Harlem Y’s “Little Theater,” 154, 159; High School of Performing Arts, 154; housing discrimination, 172; integration, 333–34; New York City Ballet, 178; 1920s, 65; Orchidian bar, 260, 272; Powell elected, 108–9; Sardi’s, 175, 183, 206; theaters, 153, 172, 181, 208, 372; Tyson family in, 16–32; Upper West Side, 171–72; West Indians in, 14, 33, 74
Noble, Jeanne, 367, 368
Obama, Barack and Michelle, 330, 376–77, 379, 380–81
O’Brien, Soledad, 355
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, The (TV miniseries), 346
Our World magazine, 126, 128, 179
Palmer, Keke, 374
Parks, Rosa, 169, 357, 380, 388
Paul Mann’s Actors Workshop, 141–48
Perry, Tyler, 359–64, 385, 387
Peters, Brock, 171, 219–20
Phillips, Channing E., 327
Poitier, Sidney, 142, 146–47, 175–76, 214–15, 222, 230, 362
Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 108–9
Price, Leontyne, 164
Pryor, Richard, 306–9
racism, 14, 23, 24, 60, 65, 68–69, 146, 190–91, 394–95; British golliwog doll, 190–91; colorism, 22–24, 191; color line, 108–9; CT and, 6–8, 24, 60–63, 139, 207, 208–10, 268–69, 394–95; Davis and, 333–34; fighting, 1960s, 206–7; in Hollywood, 145–46; Just Breathing While Black, 233; The Ladder, 266–68; murder and violence, 68, 69, 70, 169, 185, 207 210, 211, 249, 268, 327, 394, 396; the Other America, 70; stereotypes, 30–31, 58, 143–44; wealth disparity, 69, 266, 268