(CMR) Emmy-winning actress Cicely Tyson, who received an Honorary Oscar in 2018, died on Thursday afternoon.
Her family announced Tyson's death via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide details of her death.
“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy,” the statement issued through Thompson said.
Tributes from Broadway and Hollywood poured in, including from Tracie Thomas, who thanked her for paving the way. Thomas referred to her as “a queen and a trailblazer indeed.”
Marlee Matlin wrote: “She was a consummate pro and all class.”
Tyson distinguished herself in theater, film, and television in a career that spanned over 50 years.
She made her film debut in “Twelve Angry Men” in 1957, but her formal debut would come two years later in the Sidney Poiter film “Odds Against Tomorrow.” Her early career saw her in films including “The Comedian,” “The Last Angry Man,” and “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”
According to Variety, Tyson refused to participate in blaxploitation movies in the 10s; she waited until 1972 to return to the screen in the drama “Sounder.”
Tyson refused to play roles she thought demeaning to black women throughout her career.
Tyson, who was nominated for the Emmy's 16 times, got the first recurring role for a Black woman in television in the drama series “East Side/West Side”.
She won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”
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