It's conventional wisdom that Hollywood has no use for a woman over forty. So it's a good thing that Diahann Carroll, with her winning career, is anything but conventional.
With wisdom that only aging gracefully can bestow, she talks frankly about her four marriages as well as her other relationships, including her courtship with Sidney Poitier; racial politics in show business; and the personal cost, particularly to her family, of being a pioneer.
From a recent, Emmy-nominated role on Grey's Anatomy to appearances on Oprah, Diahann Carroll's legendary stage, film, and television career has spanned more than five decades.
Her title role on Julia beginning in 1968 established Carroll as the first African-American actress to star in her own television series. The role garnered her both an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win to go along with the 1962 Best Actress Tony Award she won for her role in No Strings (also a first for a black woman). Diahann also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in Claudine.
In the 1980s, Diahann joined the glitzy nighttime soap opera Dynasty as the jet-setter Dominique Deveraux.
Carroll's career continued strong in the 1990s with appearances in films such as The Five Heartbeats and she also starred as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. As a breast cancer survivor and activist, Carroll invited a camera crew into her treatment room for a national broadcast special to draw attention to the cause.
Ever the consummate performer, her new cabaret show at Feinstein's has traveled nationwide to sold-out audiences.
This enhanced recording includes photographs from the author's collection.
Diahann Carroll is a legendary singer; theatrical, television, and film actress; Tony and Golden Globe Award winner; and Emmy, Oscar, and Grammy nominee. A veteran of the entertainment industry whose pioneering career has inspired many, Diahann made her Broadway stage debut starring in Harold Arlen and Truman Capote's House of Flowers. After seeing her in this production, Richard Rodgers created as a starring vehicle for Carroll the Broadway production No Strings, for which she won the Tony Award. Her recent theatrical appearances have also garnered acclaim, including her role as the "ultimate" Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Widely known as a pioneer, in 1968 she became the first black actress in television history to star in her own series, Julia, for NBC, which soared to the top of the Nielsen ratings and received an Emmy nomination. Other notable roles include the title role in Claudine, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and Dominique Deveraux in the wildly popular television series Dynasty. She has worked with legends such as Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Judy Garland, Michael Caine, Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Frank Sinatra. In no apparent rush to settle down, Carroll most recently appeared on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and in a cabaret show that is currently touring the country, The Life and Times of Diahann Carroll.
