Diahann Carroll: Class, Elegance, Sophistication and Groundbreaking Racial Pioneer.

Last Friday, October 4, 2019, the world lost one of the most elegant, classy, sophisticated, talented entertainers who ever lived. Carol Diann Johnson, better known to the larger world as Diahann Carroll died at the age of 84.

For more than half a century, Carroll deeply etched her imprints and left a memorable and lasting legacy in the world of entertainment. Indeed, the world has suddenly become immensely less glamorous. A woman possessed with a tremendous amount of charisma and magnetism, she frequently turned heads and drew considerable attention wherever she went and made her presence known.

She had an arresting presence that frequently melted all those who had the good fortune to either interview and /or write feature articles about her. She was a human being who exuded an intense degree of worldliness and many people across race and ethnicity deeply admired and loved her for it.

As a pre-teen, in the late 1970s, I remember hearing my mother and other Black women frequently discuss Ms. Carroll. I do not recall ever hearing a dissenting or negative comment (at least among the Black women I encountered) whenever her name was mentioned. On the contrary, many Black women were in unison concurring that Ms. Carroll was the epitome of class, elegance and sophistication.

While my mother and her friends were middle-aged Black women who were members of the same generation as Ms. Carroll, it is hard, in fact, virtually impossible to wholly describe the indelible impact that Diahann Carroll had on, the entertainment world, more than a few Black women and the larger society in general.

Writers, directors, producers, both domestically and internationally, were fascinated and deeply intrigued by such a multi-faceted and multi-talented woman who seemed to easily transcend across racial boundaries during a time when many entertainers, in particular, Black entertainers, were often unable to do so. Diahann Carroll was one such rare exception.

Various media publications, especially Negro publications (as they were referred to at the time until the late 1960s) eagerly sought her out for interviews and employed her with lavish and lush pictures on their covers coupled with affable and adoring stories in the pages of their magazines.

In the early years of television, she was a routine presence on television specials, award shows, late-night talk shows, game shows as well as daytime television. Eventually, she became one of the most prominent celebrities of the 1960s.

Upon her death, the tributes on social media and mainstream media were plentiful, unanimously and universally affectionate and laudatory. There was no mistaking that one of the most beautiful women of her generation and beyond had departed this earth. She had one of the most distinctive cultural impacts ever. She was a person of immense beauty, rabid sensuality, boundless glamour and formidable sex appeal.

She was compared to Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Dorothy Dandridge, and other women across the racial and ethnic spectrum. While there is no doubt that many of the women she was equated with were indeed beautiful, classy and sexy in their own right, the undisputed truth is that was only one Diahann Carroll.

The majority of her fans best remember her for her groundbreaking, pioneering role as the upper-middle class, candid talking, widowed, suburban nurse, Julia Baker, in the NBC television series Julia (1968–1971), For others, it was the mysterious, super-wealthy, combative and ruthless if necessary, powerful, regal businesswoman, Dominique Devereaux on the enormously popular ABC nighttime soap opera Dynasty (1981–1989) on which she starred for three seasons (1984–1987) and the wealthy, intuitive widow, June Ellington in the USA series White Collar (2009–2014). For most Generation X’ers like myself and younger baby boomers, it was the latter two series.

Carroll was an entertainer who inhabited various segments of the entertainment world. In 1962, she was the first Black woman to earn a tony award for her Broadway performance as the worldly, cultured fashion model Barbara Woodruff in the Richard Rodgers interracial musical “No Strings.” Such an honor would result in a number of future firsts.

From Julia to returning to Broadway in the early 1980s to play the intense, no-nonsense, chain-smoking psychiatrist, Dr. Martha Livingstone in the lacerating, gut-wrenching drama “Agnes of God.” and other breakthrough roles. Diahann Carroll was symbolic of the words first and pioneer. Her considerable skills and remarkable career resiliency served as an inspiration for many future Black female actresses.

Halle Berry, Kerry Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Viola Davis, Holly Robinson- Peete, Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Debbie Allen, Taraji P. Henson, Angela Bassett, Gabrielle Union and others have credited the late, Ms. Carroll for providing a valuable road map and a trailblazing path to follow.

Just as Carroll had given accolades to forebears such as Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Freddie Washington, Hattie Mc. Daniel, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, etc… as well

While many of her fellow Black predecessors, as well as a few of her contemporaries, were often, if not entirely, relegated to accepting roles that were maids, servants, subservient sidekicks or in some cases, blatantly demeaning roles, Diahann Carroll, more often than not, was an aberration. She was more park avenue and bourgeois sista as opposed to round the way, downtown girl.

Save for a few far and in between roles, very seldom did she ever play Black women who were either downtrodden or struggling to make ends meet. In fact, her Oscar-nominated role as the welfare mother to six children in the 1974 movie “Claudine” (she lost to Ellen Bursytn who won for her role in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”) was one such example.

Interestingly, it was this penchant for gravitating to upscale roles that resulted in fierce hostility from certain segments of the public. Julia came under blistering criticism from Black radicals who saw the series as insulting, patronizing as well as unrealistic in its portrayal of life for most Black women during its time period.

White racists resented the fact that a beautiful, intelligent, occasionally sharped-tongued and sassy, sophisticated, upscale, Black woman was gracing their television screens in prime time or at any time. In her 1986 biography Diahann, Carroll candidly discussed the hostility and hate mail that she and some of her fellow co-stars received. Such animosity reflected the deep schism in race relations of the era.

She also described an incident where she was abruptly disinvited from a high profile party in the early 1960s when a White, female, upper east side Manhattan socialite was concerned that the presence of such an attractive, intelligent, regal, upscale, Black woman would “confuse” and “disillusion” her young children who were accustomed to viewing Black people as subservient human beings.

Carroll’s personal life, her inclination for European fashion, her choice of male suitors (many of them White men) and other facets of her lifestyle were occasionally the subject of intense discussion and controversy.

While she expressed her blackness differently than many other Black men and women of her era did, she was, nonetheless, fiercely proud of being a Black woman, a Black person and a Black culture.

Her performances transmitted the unambiguous message to more clever and astute minded Black people that despite hyper and abject levels of societal marginalization due to centuries of political, social, economic and to a large degree, psychological disenfranchisement, that they too,(especially Black women) were beautiful, intelligent, resilient, cultured and accomplished. She did so with unmistakable and unapologetic candor. This was evident in the roles and characters she chose to play during her illustrious career.

Frank, forceful, fearless and without apology, Carroll deftly, eloquently and endearingly and described, detailed and dissected the undeniable complexities prevalent in Black womanhood in her performances. By selecting to portray women who were powerful, influential, intelligent, sophisticated and cultured.

She was shrewdly transmitting a message to Black women that they too were worthy of respect as well the finer things that life had to offer. While she had her detractors, (like all entertainers, including some in the Black community,) the undisputed truth is that many of her Black contemporaries (and non-Black ones) deeply admired and respected her.

Diahann Carroll was one of a kind. Her level of talent, insight, intelligence, sophistication and keen intuition was noteworthy. The considerable degree of outpouring and admiration she has received was well deserved. Without a doubt, she has etched a permanent place for herself in the field of entertainment. Her pioneering spirit and legacy will live on. Heaven has suddenly become even more beautiful and glamorous. May she rest in peace.

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This post was previously published on Medium.com and is republished here with permission from the author.