Honoring Cicely Tyson With a Look Back at Her Stage Highlights

As previously reported, Cicely Tyson, the actor and Civil Rights icon who began performing Off-Broadway in the 1950s, enjoyed a distinguished career in TV and film, and returned in triumph to win a Tony Award at age 88 for The Trip to Bountiful, died January 28 at 96.

Ms. Tyson enjoyed early stage success Off-Broadway in the long-running production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. She won her first award for acting in 1962: a Drama Desk Award for her Off-Broadway performance in Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.

Ms. Tyson made her Broadway debut in 1959, understudying Eartha Kitt in the title role of Jolly’s Progress, opposite Vinnette Carroll and Ellis Rabb. She returned to the stage several times among her thriving film career, including performances in Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights, The Corn is Green, and more. She was last seen on Broadway in The Gin Game in 2015, starring alongside James Earl Jones.

In honor of Ms. Tyson, we are looking back at highlights from her career onstage. Flip through the gallery below.