Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-LOS ANGELES, California-Legendary actress Diahann Carroll, the first Black woman to star in her own television series as 'Julia' in the 1960s sitcom, is dead at 84, Carroll also starring in the 1974 Hollywood film 'Claudine,' and opposite the great Joan Collins in the popular TV series 'Dynasty."
A New York Native and trailblazer for women in television and film, Carroll died in her sleep at her Los Angeles home following a long time struggle with breast cancer, and with her daughter by her side, her agent said.
Also a model and singer, the Oscar-nominated actress rose to stardom in performances in some of the earliest major studio films to feature Black casts, including Carmen Jones in 1954 and Porgy and Bess.
She fought for substantive roles for Blacks in television and Hollywood films and paved the way for Black women like Halle Berry, an Ohio native and the first Black woman to win a best actress Oscar, Hattie McDaniel, the first Black and first Black woman to win an Oscar, but for best supporting actress in the Civil War epic 'Gone With The Wind."
She won a Tony award for best actress in 1962 for her Broadway performance in the musical 'No Strings,' also a first for a Black woman, and was nominated for a Emmy and won a Golden Globe for 'Julia,' where she played a widow and a nurse raising a young son.
The sitcom, which ran from 1968-1971 on NBC, was the first weekly series to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role.
For her role in the 1974 Hollywood film 'Claudine' opposite James Earl Jones, where she starred as a widowed mother of seven in Harlem and maid who falls in love with a city sanitation worker, she was nominated for a best actress Oscar, Carroll also sharing the big screen with legendary actors such as Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, the first Black man to win an Oscar, and with whom she reportedly had a nine-year affair.
A beautiful woman, talented performer, and Black role model, Carroll was married four times, first to record producer Monte Kay in 1956, and with whom she shares a grown daughter.
Her third husband died in a car accident, and her first, second and fourth marriages, the latter to Vic Damone in 1987, ended in divorce.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief at Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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