Black News Alerts and Urban Newsroom have confirmed that Diahann Carol, legendary actress, has died at 84.
What We Know:
- As a young woman and even into her middle years, Carroll had a career of firsts. The first black actress to win a Tony, for the 1962 musical “No Strings,” in which her fashion-model character was involved in an interracial romance. The star of “Julia,” the first sitcom centered on a black character who was not a servant — she played a widowed nurse and mother — for which she won a 1969 Golden Globe and was the first black actress nominated for a comedic-lead Emmy.
- Carroll’s daughter, Susan Kay, told The Associated Press her mother died Friday in Los Angeles of cancer
- Carroll played Julia Baker, a nurse whose husband had been killed in Vietnam, in the groundbreaking situation comedy that aired from 1968 to 1971.
- During her long career, Carroll earned a Tony Award for the musical “No Strings” and an Academy Award nomination for “Claudine.”
This is a breaking news alert. This story will be updated here.
