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Diahann Carroll (born July 15, 1935) is an American actress and singer. Born Carol Diahann Johnson in The Bronx, New York, she attended the New York City High School of the Performing Arts, along with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams.
Her first film role was in Carmen Jones in 1954, but her big break came when she became the first African American actress to star in her own television series in which she did not play a domestic worker, when Julia debuted in 1968. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role.
In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess along with such distinguished actors as Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr. and Pearl Bailey. Opera singer Loulie Jean Norman dubbed Carroll's singing voice.
In 1974 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Claudine. She has also starred in the series Dynasty and The Colbys. Carroll also had a recurring role on the NBC sitcom A Different World as Whitley Gilbert's (Jasmine Guy) mother.
Broadway credits
- House of Flowers (1954) in the part of Ottilie
- No Strings (1962) in the part of Barbara Woodruff
- Agnes of God (1982) (replaced Elizabeth Ashley)
Filmography
- Carmen Jones (1954)
- Porgy and Bess (1959)
- Goodbye Again (1961)
- Paris Blues (1961)
- Hurry Sundown (1967)
- The Split (1968)
- Claudine (1974)
- Color Adjustment: Blacks in Primetime (1991) (documentary)
- The Five Heartbeats (1991)
- Eve's Bayou (1997)
TV Work
- The Man in the Moon (1960)
- Julia (1968-1971)
- Death Scream (1975)
- The Diahann Carroll Show (1976) (canceled after a few weeks)
- The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
- Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (miniseries)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979)
- Sister, Sister (1982)
- Dynasty (cast member from 1984-1987)
- From the Dead of Night (1989)
- Murder in Black and White (1990)
- Sunday in Paris (1991)
- A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (1994)
- The Sweetest Gift (1998)
- Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999)
- Jackie's Back! (1999) (Cameo)
- The Courage to Love (2000)
- Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000)
- Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000)
- The Court (2002) (canceled after 6 episodes)