Ground-breaking actress changes Hollywood with career spanning seven decades

by BRYAN DAVIS

Bosque Film Society Historian

Thursday saw the passing of yet another beloved film icon that has been a part of my life since childhood.

When I was 13, my mom dropped me off at the Majestic Theater in Stephenville to see “Sounder.”  It wasn’t the usual Disney film or western I was accustomed to.  Its focus was a proud family of sharecroppers set during the Depression-era South.  The family didn’t look like the typical stars I was familiar with on the big or the small screen.  It featured an African-American cast whose portrayals were so stark, so real, and so true that it struck a chord that made me look at things a bit differently from that moment on.  And for me, that’s what good filmmaking is about.

The performances were uniformly wonderful. But Cicely Tyson’s portrayal of the mother was so stunningly raw with emotion, I had to learn more.  I was already an autograph collector, but feel confident my letter to her was my first to an African-American actor or actress.  I was delighted to receive a sweet letter and this stunning photo for my collection.  I loved that she signed the stark black and white picture in red.

Cicely Tyson received her only Oscar nomination for “Sounder,” but her career was just beginning to take flight.  She was a powerhouse on television for the next 50 years, and became the first African-American woman to win a best actress Emmy for her starring role in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” in 1974. That performance took her character from slavery through the Civil Rights movement.  Cicely would go on to win many more awards and accolades and play more amazing women, such as the mother of Kunta Kinte in the 1977 groundbreaking mini-series “Roots,” the mother of Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King and Marva Collins to name but a few. Her later works in film included “Fried Green Tomatoes” and “The Help.”

What a moment when she won the Tony award at 89 in 2014 for playing Carrie Watts in my favorite stage play, Horton Foote’s “The Trip To Bountiful.” It was made into a film she produced that was also outstanding.  Well into her 90s, she won five consecutive Emmy nominations through 2020 for her role as Ophelia, mother to Viola Davis, in “How To Get Away With Murder.” And, she received an honorary Oscar in 2019.

With a career spanning seven decades, Cicely Tyson truly paved the way for so many decades before our current heightened awareness of equality in the workforce, in film, and in life.  When she died January 28th at age 96, she left a legacy of groundbreaking work that sets a high bar for all who follow, no matter the race or gender.

Take a glimpse back at her amazing career in this IMDb original: https://youtu.be/zeEGdG3KF-A

“Each day, a great human surrenders to that which awaits us all,” said Will Godby, Bosque Film Society Filmmaker in Residence.