Cicely Tyson on screen and stage

Cicely Tyson was an African American actress noted for her groundbreaking work in film, television and theatre.

Cicely Tyson in 2012 at the Time 100 Gala

Filmography

Sources:^[1][2][3]

Film

Year	Title	Role	Ref
1956	Carib Gold	Dottie (uncredited)	[1]
1959	Odds Against Tomorrow	Jazz Club bartender (uncredited)	[1]
1959	The Last Angry Man	Girl Left on Porch (uncredited)	[4][1]
1960	Who Was That Lady?	Not available (uncredited)	[5][6]
1966	A Man Called Adam	Claudia Ferguson	[1]
1967	The Comedians	Marie Therese	[1]
1968	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter	Portia	[1]
1972	Sounder	Rebecca Morgan	[7]
1976	The Blue Bird	Tylette, The Cat	[1]
	The River Niger	Mattie Williams	[1]
1978	A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich	Sweets	[1]
1979	The Concorde... Airport '79	Elaine	[1]
1981	Bustin' Loose	Vivian Perry	[1]
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes	Sipsey	[1]
1997	Hoodlum	Stephanie St. Clair	[8]
2001	The Double Dutch Divas!	Herself (uncredited)	[1]
2005	Because of Winn-Dixie	Gloria Dump	[1]
	Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Myrtle	[9]
2006	Madea's Family Reunion	Myrtle	[1]
	Fat Rose and Squeaky	Celine	[1]
	Idlewild	Mother Hopkins	[1]
2007	Rwanda Rising	Voice of Jeanette Nyirabagarwa	[1]
2009	Up from the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream	Narrator
2010	Why Did I Get Married Too?	Ola
2011	The Help	Constantine Jefferson
2012	Alex Cross	Regina "Nana Mama" Cross
2013	The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia	Mamma Kay
2016	Showing Roots	Hattie
2017	Last Flag Flying	Mrs. Hightower
2020	A Fall from Grace	Alice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1961	Frontiers of Faith		"The Bitter Cup"	[1]
1962	The Nurses	Betty Ann Warner	Episode: "Frieda"	[1]
1963	To Tell the Truth	Decoy contestant	Episode: March 25, 1963 (decoy for Shirley Abicair)	[10]
	Naked City		Episode: "Howard Running Bear Is a Turtle"	[1]
1963–1964	East Side/West Side	Jane Foster	26 episodes
1965	Slattery's People	Sarah Brookman	Episode: "Question: Who You Taking to the Main Event, Eddie?"	[1]
1965–1966	I Spy	Princess Amara Vickie Harmon	2 episodes	[1]
1966	Guiding Light	Martha Frazier		[1]
1967	Cowboy in Africa	Julie Anderson	Episode: "Tomorrow on the Wind"	[1]
	Judd for the Defense	Lucille Evans	Episode: "Commitment"	[1]
1968–1969	The F.B.I.	Julie Harmon Lainey Harber	2 episodes	[1]
1969	Medical Center	Susan Wiley	Episode: "The Last 10 Yards"	[1]
	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Betty Kelly	Episode: "Guess Who's Coming for Lunch"	[1]
1970	Gunsmoke	Rachel Biggs	Episode: "The Scavengers"	[1]
	Mission: Impossible	Alma Ross	Episode: "Death Squad"	[1]
	The Bill Cosby Show	Mildred Hermosa	Episode: "Blind Date"	[1]
	Here Come the Brides	Princess Lucenda	Episode: "A Bride for Obie Brown"	[1]
1971	Marriage: Year One	Emma Teasley		[1]
	Neighbors			[1]
1972	Emergency!	Mrs. Johnson	Episode: "Crash"	[1]
	Soul Train			[1]
	Wednesday Night Out			[1]
1974	The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman	Jane Pittman
	Free to Be… You and Me	Herself		[1]
1976	Just an Old Sweet Song	Priscilla Simmons		[1]
1977	Roots	Binta	Miniseries	[1]
	Wilma	Blanche Rudolph		[1]
1978	King	Coretta Scott King	Miniseries	[1]
	A Woman Called Moses	Harriet Ross Tubman		[1]
1979	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Cicely Tyson/Talking Heads"	[1]
1981	The Body Human: Becoming a Woman	Host		[1]
	The Marva Collins Story	Marva Collins
1982	Benny's Place	Odessa		[1]
1985	Playing with Fire	Carol Phillips		[1]
1986	Intimate Encounters	Dr. Claire Dalton		[1]
	Acceptable Risks	Janet Framm		[1]
	Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story	Muriel
1989	The Women of Brewster Place	Mrs. Browne		[1]
1990	The Kid Who Loved Christmas	Etta		[1]
	B.L. Stryker	Ruth Hastings	Episode: "Winner Takes All"	[1]
	Heat Wave	Ruthana Richardson
1991	Clippers	Donna	Short	[1]
1992	Duplicates	Dr. Randolph		[1]
	When No One Would Listen	Sarah		[1]
1993	House of Secrets	Evangeline		[1]
1994	Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All	Castralia Marsden Family House Slave/Maid
1994–1995	Sweet Justice	Carrie Grace Battle
1996	The Road to Galveston	Jordan Roosevelt
1997	Bridge of Time	Guardian		[1]
	Riot	Maggie	Segment: "Homecoming Day"	[11]
	Ms. Scrooge	Ms. Ebenita Scrooge		[1]
	The Price of Heaven (Blessed Assurance)	Vesta Lotte Battle		[1]
1998	Always Outnumbered	Luvia		[1]
	Mama Flora's Family	Mama Flora
1999	A Lesson Before Dying	Tante Lou
	Aftershock: Earthquake in New York	Emily Lincoln		[1]
2000	Touched by an Angel	Abigail Peabody-Jackson	Episode: "Living the Rest of My Life"	[1]
	The Outer Limits	Justice Gretchen Parkhurst	Episode: "Final Appeal"	[1]
2001	Jewel	Cathedral		[1]
	The Proud Family	Mrs. Maureen Parker (voice)	Episode: "Behind Family Lines"	[12]
2002	The Rosa Parks Story	Leona Edwards McCauley
2005	Higglytown Heroes	Great Aunt Shirley Hero (voice)	Episode: "Wayne's 100 Special Somethings"	[1]
2009	Relative Stranger	Pearl
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ondine Burdett	Episode: "Hell"	[13]
2014	The Trip to Bountiful	Mrs. Carrie Watts	TV movie
2015–2020	How to Get Away with Murder	Ophelia Harkness	10 episodes Guest (season 1-5), recurring (season 6)
2016	House of Cards	Doris Jones	3 episodes	[14]
2019	Madam Secretary	Flo Avery	Episode: "Leaving the Station"	[15]
2020	Cherish the Day	Miss Luma Lee Langston	Series regular	[16]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Ref.
1957	Dark of the Moon		Little Theatre	[17]
1959	Jolly's Progress	Jolly (understudy)	Longacre Theatre	[18]
1960	The Cool World	Girl	Eugene O'Neill Theatre	[19]
1961	The Blacks: A Clown Show	Stephanie Virtue Diop	St. Mark's Playhouse	[17][20]
1962	Moon on a Rainbow Shawl		East 11th Street Theater	[17]
	Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright	Celeste Chipley Adelaide Smith (understudy)	Booth Theatre	[21]
1963	The Blue Boy in Black	Joan	Masque Theatre	[17][22]
	Trumpets of the Lord	Rev. Marion Alexander	Astor Place Theatre	[17][23]
1966	A Hand Is on the Gate	Performer	Longacre Theatre	[24]
1968	Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights	Myrna Jessup	John Golden Theatre	[17][25]
1969	To Be Young, Gifted and Black	Various	Cherry Lane Theatre	[17][26]
	Trumpets of the Lord	Rev. Marion Alexander	Brooks Atkinson Theatre	[27]
1983	The Corn Is Green	Miss Moffat	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre	[28][29]
2013	The Trip to Bountiful	Miss Carrie Watts	Stephen Sondheim Theatre	[30]
2015	The Gin Game	Fonsia Dorsey	John Golden Theater	[31]

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
1979	Sears Radio Theater	Host, Thursdays; "Love and Hate Night"	[32]