Diahann Carroll

I woke up this morning to the sad news that actress and singer DIAHANN CARROLL has died. Here I am with her and her co-stars from her pioneering sitcom JULIA. She was a beautiful woman who 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" in 1959. In 1962, Carroll won a Tony Award for best actress, a first for a black woman, for her role in the Broadway musical "No Strings." Her 1968 debut in JULIA, the first series on American television to star a black woman in a non-stereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of a mixed-race diva in the primetime soap opera DYNASTY. Carroll was the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Television Series in 1968. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for the 1974 film Claudine. RIP to a true pioneer, DIAHANN CARROLL.