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Cicely Tyson Quotes

Cicely Tyson
  • Mini Bio
  • Name: Cicely Tyson
  • Born: 19th December 1924, Harlem, New York City, U.S.
  • Died: 28th January 2021, New York City, U.S.
  • Resting place: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx New York City, U.S.
  • Occupation: Actress and model
  • Height: 5' 3½" (1.61 m)
  • Trademark: Her penchant for only accepting roles of women with strong characters
  • Achievements: At the age of 88 she became the oldest ever recipient of the prestigious Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her 2013 Broadway performance starring in Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful
  • Major awards: 3 Emmy awards, 1 Tony award, 1 Honorary academy award and 1 Screen actor guild award
  • Diet: Vegetarian
  • Marriage resume: Miles Davis 26th November 1981 - 29th April 1988 (divorced)

"I will fight until I drop. It is just a matter of having some faith in the fact that as long as you are able to draw breath in the universe, you have a chance"

Cicely Tyson

"I don't want anybody to walk ahead of me and I don't want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that's how I feel about equal rights"

Cicely Tyson

"Whatever good I have accomplished as an actress I believe came in direct proportion to my efforts to portray black women who have made positive contributions to my heritage"

Cicely Tyson

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch -- what make you go beyond the norm"

Cicely Tyson

"All I have to do is find someone who has something to say that will enrich my life and they can't get rid of me"

Cicely Tyson

"I made a choice to use my career as a platform to address the issues of the race I was born into"

Cicely Tyson

"My mom didn't allow us to go to the movies. I didn't walk into a theater until I was already a grown woman"

Cicely Tyson

"Age is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have"

Cicely Tyson

"I have learned not to allow rejection to move me"

Cicely Tyson

"I am the sum total of each one of the women I have played"

Cicely Tyson

"I'm a firm believer in divine guidance"

Cicely Tyson

"I am the character, until I go home"

Cicely Tyson

"You never know what motivates you"

Cicely Tyson
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Cicely Tyson Biography

From the streets of Harlem Cicely Tyson rose with dignity and determination to become one of the finest actresses of her generation.

The long hard road to success in any profession is an arduous journey where the weak and the less determined find themselves on the wayside. Cicely Tyson knows this road well as she persistently progressed through the thespian ranks until the spotlight finally turned its glare onto her undoubted talent after the slogging her way through decades of bit parts and small roles.

Cicely Tyson was a determined lady who knew her own mind, she dreamed of becoming an actress and when she informed her parents she was going to pursue her dream it caused an argument and she decided to leave the family home. Her first big break was when a fashion editor at Ebony Magazine spotted her and she was invited for a photo shoot, things escalated and she soon received more modelling offers which got her face more noticed and eventually she started getting roles in off Broadway theatre productions.

Some TV work and small bit parts in the movies followed, so she was making progress, albeit slowly. Her standing in the film industry took an upward trajectory when she starred in the critically acclaimed movie Sounder (1972), her stunning performance earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Two years later the plaudits were again slavering over her performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974). Suddenly Tyson was being offered major Hollywood scripts but she turned down most roles offered because she wanted to portray only strong women on the screen, it seems Cicely liked to bring her personal strength of character and determination to the screen and raise the profile of her race.

The Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts located in East Orange New Jersey was renamed in her honour after the support she gave to the school in their quest to help underprivileged children in the local communities.

She was also good for a one liner so this is my compilation of 13 of the best Cicely Tyson quotes

Quotes About Cicely Tyson

Film maker Tyler Perry was full of praise when he announced: "Cicely Tyson chose to empower us when we didn’t even know it was possible for us to be empowered"

Movie director Ava DuVernay was moved to say: "You are the seed for so many of us, the rose that we adore, we blossom because of you and for you"


Cicely Tyson image quote