Cicely Tyson, Beloved Hollywood Actress, Dead at 96

Cicely Tyson has died at the age of 96. The actress had won an Emmy and a Tony award over the course of her long career. She had just released a memoir entitled Just as I Am and was still working on a number of projects. She was once married to Miles Davis, and travelled around the world over the course of her 96 years. Her manager shared the news of her passing with the world and fans from all over are flocking to social media to share their remembrances of an absolutely astonishing performer. Sounder and Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman were two films which netted Tyson some of that awards buzz when they released. In her memoir, she talked about receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. In her memoir, this is what she said about the legacy she hoped to leave behind.

“I want to feel as if I embodied our humanity so fully that it made us laugh and weep, that it reminded us of our shared frailties,” she explained. “I want to be recalled as one who squared my shoulders in the service of Black women, as one who made us walk taller and envision greater for ourselves.”

Just earlier this month, the actress sat down with The New York Times to talk about her own mortality. Her answers to those questions are powerful and inspiring.

“I’m not scared of death. I don’t know what it is. How could I be afraid of something I don’t know anything about?,” she offered before talking about other people’s perceptions of death, “They just think they know death because other people say it is something to be scared of, but they don’t know that it is a frightening thing. Do you? No. you don’t know what it is. People say it is this and it is that. But they don’t know. They’ve not been there. I’ve not been there. I’m not in a hurry to go either! I take it a day at a time… and I’m grateful for every day that God gives me.”

Did you have a favorite movie that she appeared in? Let us know down in the comments!