Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Honorary Oscar winner who starred in Sounder and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and earned five Emmy noms for her recurring role on How to Get Away with Murder, died today. She was 94.
Her manager Larry Thompson confirmed the news by did not provide details of her death.
“I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” Thompson said in a statement. “Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”
Tyson racked up 16 career Emmy nominations and won three, including two in 1974 for her legendary turn in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, in which she played a Southern woman who was born into slavery and lives to join the civil rights movement.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline