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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 5 OctOber 2019
Diahann Carroll, Oscar-nominated, pioneering actress, dies

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY “They said it was a fantasy,” single mother of six who
AP Entertainment Writer Carroll recalled in 1998. “All finds romance in Har-
NEW YORK (AP) — Diahann of this was untrue. Much lem with a garbage man
Carroll, the Oscar-nominat- about the character of Ju- played by James Earl
ed actress and singer who lia I took from my own life, Jones.
won critical acclaim as the my family.” In the 1980s, she appeared
first black woman to star in Not shy when it came to in the long-running prime-
a non-servant role in a TV confronting racial barri- time soap opera “Dynasty”
series as “Julia,” has died. ers, Carroll won her Tony for three years. More re-
She was 84. portraying a high-fashion cently, she had a number
Carroll’s daughter, Susan American model in Paris of guest shots and small
Kay, told The Associated who has a love affair with roles in TV series, including
Press her mother died Fri- a white American author in playing the mother of Isa-
day in Los Angeles of can- the 1959 Richard Rodgers iah Washington’s charac-
cer. musical “No Strings.” ter, Dr. Preston Burke, on
During her long career, Car- Critic Walter Kerr described “Grey’s Anatomy.”
roll earned a Tony Award her as “a girl with a sweet In 2006, she made her first
for the musical “No Strings” smile, brilliant dark eyes club appearance in New
and an Academy Award and a profile regal enough York in four decades, sing-
nomination for “Claudine.” to belong on a coin.” ing at Feinstein’s at the Re-
But she was perhaps best She appeared often in gency. Reviewing a return
known for her pioneer- plays previously consid- engagement in 2007, a
ing work on “Julia.” Carroll ered exclusive territory for New York Times critic wrote
played Julia Baker, a nurse white actresses: “Same that she sang “Both Sides
whose husband had been Time, Next Year,” ‘’Agnes Now” with “the reflective
killed in Vietnam, in the of God” and “Sunset Boule- tone of a woman who
groundbreaking situation vard” (as faded star Norma has survived many severe
comedy that aired from Desmond, the role played storms and remembers ev-
1968 to 1971. by Gloria Swanson in the ery lightning flash and thun-
Although she was not the 1950 film.) derclap.”
first black woman to star in Her film career was spo- Carol Diann Johnson was
her own TV show (Ethel Wa- radic. She began with a born in New York City and
ters played a maid in the secondary role in “Car- attended the High School
1950s series “Beulah”), she men Jones” in 1954 and for the Performing Arts. This May 8, 2013 file photo shows Diahann Carroll at the world
premiere of “Peeples” in Los Angeles. Carroll passed away
was the first to star as some- five years later appeared in Her father was a subway Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 at her home in Los Angeles after a long bout
one other than a servant. “Porgy and Bess,” although conductor and her mother with cancer. She was 84.
NBC executives were wary her singing voice was a homemaker. Associated Press
about putting “Julia” on dubbed because it wasn’t She began her career as vis Jr., Sidney Poitier and executive Freddie Glus-
the network during the ra- considered strong enough a model, but a prize from David Frost. She even be- man, later marrying maga-
cial unrest of the 1960s, but for the Gershwin opera. “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent came engaged to Frost, zine editor Robert DeLeon,
it was an immediate hit. Her other films included Scouts” TV show led to but the engagement was who died.
It had its critics, though, “Goodbye Again,” ‘’Hurry nightclub engagements. canceled. Her most celebrated mar-
including some who said Sundown,” ‘’Paris Blues,” In her 1998 memoir “Diah- An early marriage to night- riage was in 1987, to sing-
Carroll’s character, who is and “The Split.” ann,” Carroll traced her tur- club owner Monte Kay re- er Vic Damone, and the
the mother of a young son, The 1974 film “Claudine” bulent romantic life, which sulted in Carroll’s only child, two appeared together in
was not a realistic portrayal provided her most memo- included liaisons with Harry Suzanne, as well as a di- nightclubs. But they sepa-
of a black American wom- rable role. Belafonte, Duke Ellington, vorce. She also divorced rated in 1991 and divorced
an in the 1960s. She played a hard-bitten Miles Davis, Sammy Da- her second husband, retail several years later. q

‘Michael Jackson’s This Is It’ gets

box set after 10 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Each will include four LPs would produce.
A small-batch box set of on translucent-blue vinyl, It was culled from the re-
film, music and memora- a 3-D Blu-Ray disc of the hearsal footage for what
bilia will be released to cel- film, a 60-page coffee ta- was to have been a come-
ebrate the 10th anniversary ble book and a ticket for a back tour before Jackson’s
of “Michael Jackson’s This July 24, 2009 concert at O2 doctor after his doctor
Is It,” the movie that cap- Arena in London that was gave him a fatal dose of
tured Jackson’s final con- never held because Jack- the anesthetic propofol.
cert rehearsals before his son died 18 days before It’s among the first Jackson
death. the shows was scheduled projects announced since
Only 1,000 numbered cop- to begin. renewed allegations of
ies will be made of the set The film, which had the child sexual abuse against
that is available for presale highest global box office the singer made in the
at the Jackson online store gross of any concert docu- Emmy-winning documen-
and will be released on mentary, was released in tary “Leaving Neverland,”
Dec. 11, Sony Music and theaters that October, the which Jackson’s estate has This box set cover image released by Sony Music shows Michael
the Jackson estate an- first of several posthumous repeatedly attacked and Jackson’s This Is It 10th anniversary box set
nounced Friday. projects the Jackson estate challenged in court.q Associated Press