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Cicely Tyson
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Acclaimed actor Cicely Tyson was born December 19, 1933 in the Village of Harlem, New York City. She first pursued a modeling career, appearing on the covers of both "Vogue" and "Harper's Bazaar . As an actor she has worked on stage, film and television. For "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman", she won two Emmy awards. For her work in the movie "Sounder", she was named Best Actress by the National Society of Film and was nominated for an Academy Award.
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Tyson was born in the borough of East Harlem, New York, to parents who had emigrated from Nevis, the smallest island in the Caribbean's Windward Island chain. The move to America brought no prosperity to the Tyson family. Cicely's father worked at carpentry, house painting, and whatever other odd jobs he could find; her mother worked as a housekeeper; and Cicely herself stood on the street-corners selling shopping bags to supplement the household income.
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Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield play Louisiana sharecroppers who are trying to survive during the Depression in Martin Ritt's Sounder (1972). The film, an adaptation of William H. Armstrong's novel, is the hard luck tale of Nathan Lee Morgan who is arrested for stealing food for his family, his wife who tries to keep their family together while he's away, and their child who is determined to help them.
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In the minds of many, Cicely Tyson is the embodiment of black womanhood. A naturally gifted actress, she nonetheless worked diligently to learn all the nuances of her craft. Although strikingly beautiful, she has refused to get by on her looks, demanding instead to be judged on her professional abilities. Tyson is often given credit for inspiring black American women to embrace African standards of beauty, rather than trying to make themselves over in the image of white America.
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Actress Cicely Tyson, 71 years old and beautiful, arrived exhausted for her interview. She had just returned from Southeast Asia, where she’s working with her foundation to rebuild a school on behalf of tsunami victims. Ms. Tyson was ... mourning the recent death of her friend, actor Ossie Davis.
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Tyson 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.
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Cicely Tyson