Cicely Tyson will soon have a Peabody to add to the honorary Oscar, three Emmys, and Kennedy Center Honors prize on her mantel. The iconic actress is this year’s recipient of the Peabody Awards’ Career Achievement Award, Deadline reports. The honor is “bestowed on individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and digital media have left an indelible mark on the field and in American culture.”
The other Peabody winners will be announced tomorrow, June 10, as the official ceremony has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
Tyson has worked for over seven decades in film, television, and theater. She received an Oscar nod for her lead turn in “Sounder” and 15 Emmy nominations, including wins for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” and a special Actress of the Year prize. Tyson was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame earlier this year and in 2018 became the first African American woman to receive an honorary Oscar.
“Roots,” “The Women of Brewster Place,” “A Lesson Before Dying,” “The Rosa Parks Story,” and “Fried Green Tomatoes” are among her many notable credits. Most recently, she appeared in Ava DuVernay’s new series, “Cherish the Day,” and reprised her role of Ophelia Harkness on “How to Get Away with Murder.”
“With her award-winning performances, Tyson has taught us to champion a world of possibility for social justice, creativity, vitality, and joy,” the Peabody Board of Jurors stated. “Through her career, she has demonstrated the importance of imagining human freedom, the power of struggle, the grace of sacrifice, and the importance of witnessing in a nation desperate to reckon with itself. Her powerful command of her craft and her lifelong dedication to make work that entertains and challenges helps us find our ethical and moral bearings, inviting us to ponder the qualities that make for an ethical and moral life.”
Peabody executive director Jeffrey P. Jones added, “Cicely Tyson’s uncompromising commitment to using her craft to address the big issues of her time — gender equality, racial and social justice, equity and inclusion — places her in rare company. And she did so when speaking up and speaking out invited stigma, isolation, and retribution. She was a seminal figure of her time, and ahead of her time.”
Head over to Deadline to check out the Peabody Awards’ tribute video to Tyson.
