LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cicely Tyson received her first and only Oscar nomination in 1972. It was for best actress for her work in \u201cSounder,\u201d\u2026<\/b>
\nLOS ANGELES (AP) — Cicely Tyson received her first and only Oscar nomination in 1972. It was for best actress for her work in \u201cSounder,\u201d which she thinks of as her first major role. She wasn\u2019t called to the stage that year — Liza Minnelli was for \u201cCabaret\u201d — but now 45 years later, Tyson is finally getting her Oscar.
\u201cIt is an emotionally wrenching matter to me,\u201d Tyson said.
Tyson, 93, is no stranger to awards and honors. She\u2019s won three Emmys (two in the same year for \u201cThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,\u201d and one for \u201cThe Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All\u201d), a Tony award (for \u201cThe Trip to Bountiful\u201d), been a Kennedy Center honoree and, in 2016 was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. Now she can add one more award to that list as she prepares to accept her honorary Oscar Sunday at the 10th annual Governors Awards Sunday in Hollywood.
\u201cI come from lowly status. I grew up in an area that was called the slums at the time,\u201d Tyson said. \u201cI still cannot imagine that I have met with presidents, kings, queens. How did I get here? I marvel at it.\u201d
When film academy President John Bailey called her to inform her that the Board of Governors voted unanimously to give her the award, she \u201cwent to water.\u201d
\u201cIt is the last thing in the world that I ever expected,\u201d Tyson said, thinking, \u201cI hadn\u2019t done a major movie since \u2018The Help.\u2019\u201d
Tyson has worked since the 2011 film, with roles in \u201cLast Flag Flying\u201d and the television show \u201cHow to Get Away With Murder,\u201d but \u201cThe Help\u201d was the last film that had anyone mentioning her name alongside Oscar. Oprah even called her and predicted she\u2019d get a nomination, to which she responded: \u201cMy role was two seconds!\u201d
\u201cI am extremely grateful to the Board that they even know my name,\u201d Tyson added with a hearty laugh.
She is being honored Sunday along with publicist Marvin Levy and composer Lalo Schifrin.
Born in Harlem, Tyson started out as a model and theater actress, eventually landing a role in the film \u201cThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter\u201d in 1968. Her pursuit of acting caused a rift with her mother, who disapproved, but Tyson said she was her \u201cmotivating force.\u201d
\u201cI was determined to prove her wrong,\u201d Tyson said.
Plus, she learned quickly that she had a larger purpose than just acting. On the press tour for \u201cSounder,\u201d which took her to parts of the United States that she hadn\u2019t yet been to, she remembers a man in a press conference telling her that watching the film made him realize that he was prejudiced.
\u201cHe said, \u2018You know, I could not accept the fact that your older son was referring to his father as daddy. That\u2019s what my son calls me,\u2019\u201d Tyson said. \u201cAnd I thought to myself, \u2018My God. My God.\u2019 It was those kinds of experiences as I went across the country promoting \u2018Souder\u2019 that made me realize that I, Cicely Tyson, could not afford the luxury of being an actress. There were some issues that I definitely had to address and I chose my profession as my platform.\u201d
It led to a lifetime of activism and humanitarianism off screen. Tyson even has a performing arts school named after her in New Jersey and frequently goes on tour to speak to children. On screen Tyson has portrayed women like Coretta Scott King and Harriet Ross Tubman. She decided early that she would only take jobs that \u201cspeak to something,\u201d which is also why she ends up saying \u201cno\u201d a lot.
\u201cMy honorary Oscar proves to me that I was on the right track and I stayed on it,\u201d Tyson said.
And while most of the time \u201cno\u201d works, sometimes it doesn\u2019t. Tyson tried to say no to wearing a terrifically large hat to Aretha Franklin\u2019s funeral only to be overruled by her designer. The hat would become a viral highlight.
\u201cI never thought in my career that I would be upstaged by a hat! And I did not want to wear it,\u201d Tyson said. \u201cI said, \u2018I can\u2019t wear that hat, I will be blocking the view of the people behind me, they won\u2019t be able to see and they\u2019ll call me all kinds of names.\u2019 He just looked at me and said, \u2018Put the hat on.\u2019\u201d
She came around, eventually, thinking of the hat as homage to Franklin\u2019s appearance at Obama \u2019s inauguration.
As for whether or not she\u2019ll don a similarly spectacular piece of art on her head Sunday night at the Governors Awards? Tyson just laughs.
\u201cOh no!\u201d she said. \u201cI won\u2019t even mention it to him.\u201d
___
Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com\/ldbahr<\/p>\n

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