Oscar-Nominated and Tony Award-Winning Actress Diahann Carroll Dead at Age 84

By Kayla Kunkel October 4, 2019 at 10:32am

Oscar-nominated actress Diahann Carroll died Friday at the age of 84 following a battle against cancer, according to The Associated Press.

Carroll was most known for her starring role as Julia Baker, a nurse raising her son after losing her husband to the Vietnam War, in the late-1960s and early 70s comedy “Julia.”

While she wasn’t the first black woman to star in a TV show, she was critically acclaimed as the first to star in an non-servant role.

Despite the racial tension of the time, “Julia” was a hit, cementing Carroll as a pioneer on the small screen.

“There was nothing like this young successful mother on the air,” Carroll once told PBS, according to NBC News. “And we thought that it might be a very good stepping stone.”

So few African-American women had starred on television at the time that the makeup department didn’t even have cosmetics for Carroll.

“The studio had only dealt with the little American girls or European girls — all the same color,” Carroll later said.

“How could you have a makeup department and you don’t have makeup for every skin in the United States of America?”

In the mid-1980s, Carroll also starred in the TV show “Dynasty.”

The talented actress won a Tony Award in 1962 for her role in the musical “No Strings.”

She was also nominated for an Academy Award for her starring performance in the 1974 film “Claudine.”

The Tony Awards paid tribute to the actress Friday on Twitter.

“We are sad to say goodbye to a true icon, Diahann Carroll,” The Tony Awards’ official Twitter account wrote.

We are sad to say goodbye to a true icon, Diahann Carroll. The first African-American Tony winner in a leading role, winning for her performance in No Strings in 1962. #DiahannCarroll pic.twitter.com/C9VCzwuJmt

— The Tony Awards (@TheTonyAwards) October 4, 2019