Just as I Am: A Memoir

by Cicely Tyson

  To Michelle Burford, my collaborative writer: Thank you for lending me the poetry of your pen and the openness of your heart. During my six decades on the stage, I have always been divinely guided, and the spirit once again led me well in prompting me to choose you. Our intimate conversations over many months are a sacred gift I hold dear. Thank you for gathering the scattered pieces of my memories and arranging them into a powerful, cohesive whole. Your excellence shines through in every passage.

  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

  Burton, Richard, 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, Robert F., 210, 211

  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

  McGee, 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