Tony Award and Academy Award nominee Diahann Carroll dies

Diahann Carroll who won critical acclaim as the first black woman to star in a non-servant role in a TV series as Julia, has died. She was 84.Carroll’s daughter, Susan Kay, told The Associated Press her mother died Friday in Los Angeles of cancer.Carroll earned a Tony Award for the musical No Strings and an Academy Award nomination for best actress for Claudine.

She began her career as a model in a segregated industry; she got much of her work due to publications like the black magazine Ebony. A prize from Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts TV show led to nightclub engagements.After she was treated for breast cancer in 1998, she spoke out for more money for research and for free screening for women who couldn’t afford mammograms.