Source: New York Daily News Archive / Getty
Oscar-nominated actress Diahann Carroll died today at her home in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. She was 84.
Carroll won a Tony Award for the musical “No Strings” and an Academy Award nomination for “Claudine.”
Carroll was the first Black woman to have her own television show portraying someone other than a servant. The hit show “Julia” aired from 1968 to 1971 and featured Carroll as an nurse and mother who had suddenly become a widow when her husband died in Vietnam. She received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for her work on the show.
Carroll was a fan of the show “Dynasty” and approached creator Aaron Spelling about a role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Carroll told People “They’ve done everything [on the show]. They’ve done incest, homosexuality, murder. I think they’re slowly inching their way toward interracial. I want to be wealthy and ruthless … I want to be the first black bitch on television.”
And this is how Dominique Deveraux was born.
https://twitter.com/BeeNasty_/status/1180164017761013762?s=20
Diahann Carroll is survived by her daughter and her grandchildren, August and Sydney.
Source: In His Image Photography / In His Image Photography
