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Diahann Carroll

Actor

Diahann Carroll

Born July 17, 1935 in Bronx, New York, USADied October 4, 201931 films

Diahann Carroll (born Carol Diahann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer and model. She 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.

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Her 1968 debut in Julia, the first series on American television to star a black woman in a nonstereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of an interracial 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 nomination for Best Actress for the 1974 film Claudine. She was also a breast cancer survivor and activist.

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The best way into Diahann Carroll's work
Eve's Bayou posterFirst watchEve's Bayou19976.5as ElzoraSummer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
The Five Heartbeats poster7.3The Five Heartbeats1991Carmen Jones poster6.2Carmen Jones1954Paris Blues poster6.5Paris Blues1961The Masked Saint poster5.6The Masked Saint2016Peeples poster5.6Peeples2013The Star Wars Holiday Special poster3.4The Star Wars Holiday Special1978

Filmography

31 films as actor
  1. 2016The Masked SaintMs. Edna
  2. 2013PeeplesNana Peeples
  3. 2010The FrontNana
  4. 2010At RiskNana
  5. 2009Diary of a Single MomTherapist
  6. 2000Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole StoryMaria Cole
  7. 2000Sally Hemings: An American ScandalBetty Hemings
  8. 2000The Courage to LovePouponne
  9. 1999Jackie's Back!Diahann Carroll
  10. 1999Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 YearsSadie Delany
  11. 1998The Sweetest GiftMrs. Wilson
  12. 1997Eve's BayouElzora
  13. 1995Jirimpimbira: An African Folk TaleNarrator
  14. 1994Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal LifestyleLydia Bishop
  15. 1991Sunday in ParisVernetta Chase
  16. 1991The Five HeartbeatsEleanor Potter
  17. 1990Murder in Black and WhiteMargo Stover
  18. 1989From the Dead of NightMaggie
  19. 1988Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi AbromowitzDiahann Carroll
  20. 1983Starfest: The Stars Salute Public Television 1983
  21. 1982Sister, SisterCarolyne Lovejoy
  22. 1979I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsVivian
  23. 1978The Star Wars Holiday SpecialMermeia
  24. 1975Death ScreamBetty May
  25. 1974ClaudineClaudine Price
  26. 1968The SplitEllen "Ellie" Kennedy
  27. 1967Hurry SundownVivian Thurlow
  28. 1961Paris BluesConnie Lampson
  29. 1961Goodbye AgainNightclub Singer
  30. 1959Porgy and BessClara
  31. 1954Carmen JonesMyrt