The Northeast Pulmonary Teaching Conference

The American Lung Association of Central New York

Majestic African American actress with extraordinary range. Born in Harlem to Caribbean parents, Tyson toiled in a number of menial jobs before finding success as a model. She moved into acting in the late 1950s, and was noticed in several off-Broadway productions. (She also had a bit part in 1959's Odds Against Tomorrow.

A regular part as the secretary on the 1963-64 TV series "East Side/West Side" won Tyson audience recognition, and she played the female lead in the pretentious black drama, A Man Called Adam (1966), opposite Sammy Davis, Jr. Other early credits include The Comedians (1967) and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Tyson's breakthrough role was that of a sharecropper's wife in Sounder (1972); this earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She followed that with a stunning starring performance in the TV drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which won her an Emmy, portraying a fictional 110-year-old slave who traces her life from the Civil War through the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

In fact, her best opportunities have come on television, not on the big screen, in such miniseries and TV movies as "Roots" (1977), "King" (1978, as Coretta Scott King), The Marva Collins Story (1981), When No One Would Listen (1992), and "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" (1994). Her feature credits include The River Niger (1975), The Blue Bird (1976), A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (1978), The Concorde-Airport '79 (1979), and Bustin' Loose (1981). She returned to movies in a supporting role in Fried Green Tomatoes (1992).

Trivia

	Worked as a secretary and model while establishing herself as an actress
	Will only portray strong images of women
	Cofounded the dance Theatre of Harlem with Arthur Mitchell
	She was married to Miles Davis by Andrew Young in the home of Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby was the best man, and gave away the bride.
	Now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
	She was the Thursday night host for CBS Radio's "Sears Mystery Theater" (1979). She was still Thursday's host when it became "The Mutual Radio Theater" on Mutual Radio (1980).

Personal quotes

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm." "The choices of roles I made had to do with educating and entertaining. And as a result I found myself working only every two or three years." - on her commitment to choose only positive images.

"One lady told me that before she saw 'Sounder', she didn't believe black people could love each other, have deep relationships in the same way as white people."

For more program information, contact Glenn Ivers at the American Lung Association of Central New York at 506 East Washington Street, Syracuse, NY 13202-1940   tel: 315-422-6142
e-mail: Russ Acevedo, Program Chair and Webmaster
              Glenn Ivers, Committee Chair: glenn@nepulmonaryconf.com

The Northeast Pulmonary Teaching Conference

For more program information, contact Glenn Ivers at the American Lung Association of Central New York at 506 East Washington Street, Syracuse, NY 13202-1940 tel: 315-422-6142 e-mail: Russ Acevedo, Program Chair and Webmaster Glenn Ivers, Committee Chair: glenn@nepulmonaryconf.com

For more program information, contact Glenn Ivers at the American Lung Association of Central New York at 506 East Washington Street, Syracuse, NY 13202-1940 tel: 315-422-6142
e-mail: Russ Acevedo, Program Chair and Webmaster
Glenn Ivers, Committee Chair: glenn@nepulmonaryconf.com