Diahann Carroll

Carroll was a Broadway stage veteran starring on Broadway in Agnes of God, House of Flowers, and No Strings, the latter of which earned her a Tony Award, the first given to a black woman for best actress in a lead role of a musical.

Carroll was best known for starring as Julia Baker, a widowed nurse raising a young son, on the comedy Julia, becoming the first African-American female to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own primetime network series. Carroll received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for her role on the series.

Carroll also starred in three seasons of ABC's Dynasty and its spinoff The Colbys.

In 1959, Carroll was cast to play Clara in Preminger and Rouben Mamoulian's movie adaptation of Porgy and Bess, but her voice was considered too low for her character's Summertime number, so another singer dubbed for her.


Carroll starred alongside James Earl Jones in the 1974 film Claudine, playing a Harlem woman on welfare who raises six children on her own and falls for a garbage collector (Jones).

Carroll recently had recurring roles as Jasmine Guy's mother on NBC's A Different World, as Isaiah Washington's mom on ABC's Grey's Anatomy and as a Park Avenue widow on USA's White Collar. She also appeared in such films as Eve's Bayou (1997) and on stage as Norman Desmond in a musical version of Sunset Blvd.

She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2011.