Diahann Carroll has died. The 84-year-old singer and actress succumbed to cancer on Friday at her home in Los Angeles.
Carroll is known as the first Black woman to star in a non-stereotypical role – a widowed nurse raising a young son – in a primetime network comedy series, “Julia.” That series, which ran from 1968 to 1971, earned her an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award. Later, she starred on “Dynasty” as Dominique Deveraux, the first Black b---h on TV. On the big screen, she earned an Oscar nomination for “Claudine” in 1974.
In later years, Carroll played Whitley Gilbert’s mother on “A Different World,” and Preston Burke’s mom on “Grey’s Anatomy.” She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2011.
Diahann was married four times: to Monte Kay, a manager and a casting consultant on “House of Flowers;” to Freddie Glusman, a Las Vegas clothier (that union lasted just a few weeks); to magazine editor Robert DeLeon (he died in an auto accident in 1977); and to singer Vic Damone (from 1987 until their 1996 divorce). She also had a three-year romance with talk-show host David Frost. She’s survived by her daughter, Suzanne Kay, and two grandchildren, August and Sydney.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter