Open Thread | Remembering Diahann Carroll, the Legend

Posted on October 7, 2019 by rikyrah

Legend…trailblazer Diahann Carroll passed away last week at the age of 84.

 

Ms. Carroll was a legend. She was stunning, beautiful, graceful to the very end. Her two roles that will forever be close to my heart were Marianne Gilbert and Dominique Deveraux. She was divine in both roles.

RIP, Ms. Carroll.
Thanks so much for all your roles.

Just stunning😍😍

Diahann Carroll, pioneering actress on ‘Julia’ and ‘Dynasty,’ dies at 84
POSTED 11:18 AM, OCTOBER 4, 2019, BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK —Diahann Carroll, the Oscar-nominated actress and singer 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.

During her long career, Carroll earned a Tony Award for the musical “No Strings” and an Academy Award nomination for “Claudine.”

But she was perhaps best known for her pioneering work on “Julia.” Carroll played Julia Baker, a nurse whose husband had been killed in Vietnam, in the groundbreaking situation comedy that aired from 1968 to 1971.

Although she was not the first black woman to star in her own TV show (Ethel Waters played a maid in the 1950s series “Beulah”), she was the first to star as someone other than a servant.

NBC executives were wary about putting “Julia” on the network during the racial unrest of the 1960s, but it was an immediate hit.
It had its critics, though, including some who said Carroll’s character, who is the mother of a young son, was not a realistic portrayal of a black American woman in the 1960s.
“They said it was a fantasy,” Carroll recalled in 1998. “All of this was untrue. Much about the character of Julia I took from my own life, my family.”

Not shy when it came to confronting racial barriers, Carroll won her Tony portraying a high-fashion American model in Paris who has a love affair with a white American author in the 1959 Richard Rodgers musical “No Strings.” Critic Walter Kerr described her as “a girl with a sweet smile, brilliant dark eyes and a profile regal enough to belong on a coin.”

She appeared often in plays previously considered exclusive territory for white actresses: “Same Time, Next Year,” ”Agnes of God” and “Sunset Boulevard” (as faded star Norma Desmond, the role played by Gloria Swanson in the 1950 film.)

“I like to think that I opened doors for other women, although that wasn’t my original intention,” she said in 2002.

Her film career was sporadic. She began with a secondary role in “Carmen Jones” in 1954 and five years later appeared in “Porgy and Bess,” although her singing voice was dubbed because it wasn’t considered strong enough for the Gershwin opera. Her other films included “Goodbye Again,” ”Hurry Sundown,” ”Paris Blues,” and “The Split.”

The 1974 film “Claudine” provided her most memorable role. She played a hard-bitten single mother of six who finds romance in Harlem with a garbage man played by James Earl Jones.
In the 1980s, she appeared in the long-running prime-time soap opera “Dynasty” for three years. More recently, she had a number of guest shots and small roles in TV series, including playing the mother of Isaiah Washington’s character, Dr. Preston Burke, on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

She also returned to her roots in nightclubs. In 2006, she made her first club appearance in New York in four decades, singing at Feinstein’s at the Regency. Reviewing a return engagement in 2007, a New York Times critic wrote that she sang “Both Sides Now” with “the reflective tone of a woman who has survived many severe storms and remembers every lightning flash and thunderclap.”

 

 https://youtu.be/p1CVtBE_nk8

Oprah, Ava DuVernay, Lee Daniels, Debbie Allen Remember “Icon” Diahann Carroll: “We Will Forever Sing Your Praises”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/diahann-carroll-dead-hollywood-stars-pay-tribute-social-media-1245489

This scene😂😂😂

The March on Washington -1963

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58 Responses to Open Thread | Remembering Diahann Carroll, the Legend

  1. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    This heifer here!

    U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos faces potential sanctions or a finding she’s in contempt of court for continuing to collect on the debt of former students at bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc., going so far as seizing their tax refunds and wages.
    “I’m not sure if this is contempt or sanctions,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim told lawyers for the Education Department at a hearing Monday in San Francisco. “I’m not sending anyone to jail yet but it’s good to know I have that ability.”
    The judge said she was “astounded” that the department violated her June order to stop collecting the debts from students, who had been promised refunds of their tuition.

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 2:00 pm

    The pregnancy/ fired story has angles other folks don’t see .. but, we do

    Native Wakandan Here on H1B Work Visa (@MargueriteEHill) Tweeted:
    @JFakhredin She didn’t have valid teaching credentials, hadn’t spent the summer trying to get the necessary coursework & was still offered a contract! Man, some Black people would have delighted in those options! Talk about privilege! https://twitter.com/MargueriteEHill/status/1181609015052242944?s=17

    Reply
  3. Liza says:
    October 8, 2019 at 10:21 am

    Yeah, with all that is going on in this country let’s raise some hell about a gum wrapper being tossed on the ground.
    https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1181362025957658624

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:42 am

    Cake or Death (@Johngcole) Tweeted:
    It says something to me that every single person I served with in the Army and who I still keep in touch with (about 50 people), 75% of whom are Trump supporters, to an individual, is horrified by the decision to let the Kurds be slaughtered. https://twitter.com/Johngcole/status/1181568339522531331?s=17

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:25 am

    Zahara’s growing up, y’all.
    I still remember as the little bald headed baby in Angelina’s arms….
    Time is flying…

    Angelina Jolie, 44, strikes a pose with co-star Michelle Pfeiffer, 61, as she’s joined by her daughters Zahara, 14, and Shiloh, 13, at the Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil premiere in Rome
    By RYAN SMITH FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 16:41 EDT, 7 October 2019 | UPDATED: 05:04 EDT, 8 October 2019

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7547845/Angelina-Jolie-joined-teen-daughters-Zahara-Shiloh-Maleficent-premiere-Rome.html

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:15 am

    Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) Tweeted:
    Pompeo broke faith with his people and the country. His ambition blinded him. He should quit. His immediate political prospects are grim https://t.co/wqdPZWs5nH https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1181371971201830912?s=17

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:11 am

    Wakandan War Dog (@Kennymack1971) Tweeted:
    In the end let the record show White America’s collective arrogance, stupidity, hard headedness and unwavering belief in the myth of white supremacy above all did more to tank the United States than the “Others” they worked so hard to hold back.

    Assholes. https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1181400192815390720?s=17

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:10 am

    Cake or Death (@Johngcole) Tweeted:
    what scares me the most about the kurdish shit trump pulled is it would not surprise me at all if the way the DoD and national security folks learned of this was because freaked out Kurdish leaders started calling Pentagon contacts https://twitter.com/Johngcole/status/1181427383708082176?s=17

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    October 8, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Black Professor (@BlackProphet55) Tweeted:
    I don’t want none of whatever you’re smoking if you think you’re going to convince me Elizabeth Warren is a better presidential candidate than Kamala Harris.

    Let this shit be known, as a Black Gay Man, I trust Kamala Harris based on her record and life experience.

    Period. https://twitter.com/BlackProphet55/status/1181363314837917696?s=17

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 11:40 am

    The Little Mermaid Live! cast unveiled in full costume for the first time in new promo video
    By KEVIN KAYHART FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    PUBLISHED: 00:35 EDT, 7 October 2019 | UPDATED: 03:19 EDT, 7 October 2019

    Eager fans are getting a first look at the cast of ABC’s The Little Mermain Live! in costume in a new promo video.

    The upcoming special, live event, which is part of Disney’s 30th anniversary celebration of the beloved animated film, stars Auli’i Cravalho, Queen Latifah, Shaggy, Graham Phillips and John Stamos.

    It will feature live musical performances from the cast, along with intricate live sets, costumes and songs from the original 1989 film and the Tony-nominated Broadway stage version.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7544835/The-Little-Mermaid-Live-cast-unveiled-costume-time-new-promo-video.html

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 9:24 am

    David Frum (@davidfrum) Tweeted:
    Possible Trump motives

    1) Protecting income flow from Trump Towers Istanbul

    2) Payoff to Turkey to cover up recording of Khashoggi murder by Trump allies

    3) Obeisance to Putin

    4) Warning to House: if you impeach me, Ill burn every American alliance and interest before I go https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1181173686239465474?s=17

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Because, of course…….

    Freddie Mac Using Shady AI Company for Mortgage Loans
    ZestFinance is implicated in high-cost payday lending and backed by Peter Thiel. It’s now working with a government-sponsored mortgage giant.

    BY MAX MORAN
    OCTOBER 7, 2019

    The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giant, is testing underwriting software from fintech firm ZestFinance. A creation of ex-Google executive Douglas Merrill, ZestFinance claims to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to spot trends in a borrower’s record that traditional lending models miss. This supposedly allows more credit to flow to borrowers who need and can afford it, allowing Freddie to issue more mortgages.

    Here’s what the Journal didn’t report: ZestFinance is currently entangled in a class action lawsuit for dodging state-imposed limits on exorbitant payday lending interest rates. This is at least its second time in court over these issues. The Journal also neglected to note how one of the company’s venture capital backers has direct ties to President Donald Trump’s American AI Initiative, which could allow taxpayer dollars to flow through ZestFinance back into his pocket.

    Press coverage of ZestFinance has barely discussed these salient facts. That’s why the House Financial Services Committee needs to conduct an oversight hearing of the company’s new relationship with Freddie Mac.

    ……………………………..

    But that altruistic version of the story doesn’t scan with the company’s practices, especially in its early days. ZestFinance originally ran a direct-lending platform called Zest Cash, where it lent to people whom Merrill calls “subprime” (read: low credit score) borrowers. One of its partners was BlueChip Financial, a corporation founded by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in 2012. But according to an ongoing lawsuit, ZestFinance used BlueChip Financial as a front for dodging payday lending regulations.

    This is a common tactic used by online payday lenders, known as a “rent-a-tribe” scheme. Because BlueChip is technically based in Chippewa tribal territory, it’s outside of the jurisdiction of interest rate cap laws in certain states. That means a nontribal company that funnels its business through a tribal corporation like BlueChip can exploit low-income borrowers with high interest rates without fearing oversight. Tribal businesses could also claim exemptions from federal consumer protection laws.

    ……………………………………..

    Even this merits further oversight, though. ZestFinance is a startup, meaning it survives off of investment money from venture capitalists. One of its backers is the private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, which holds major stakes in national payday lending companies, according to a report from Americans for Financial Reform (where I worked as an intern) and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.

    Another prominent ZestFinance backer is Peter Thiel, the radical far-right libertarian behind Palantir, the surveillance company whose ICE contracts progressive activists are currently fighting to undo.

    Thiel is Trump’s most outspoken supporter in Silicon Valley, who spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention. He has written that he turned his back on democracy once women gained voting rights and low-income people gained government aid. But he’s also an early Facebook investor who is well respected in venture capital circles. Thiel invested $20 million in ZestFinance in 2013 through the most secretive of his funds, Thiel Capital, whose website is only a logo.

    Why does it matter that Thiel is a ZestFinance backer? Because Thiel also installed an associate of his as the highest-ranking technology official in the Donald Trump White House: Michael Kratsios, who used to be the principal and chief of staff at the aforementioned Thiel Capital.

    Reply
  26. Liza says:
    October 7, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Another consequence of having a corrupt, incompetent buffoon in the Oval Office pretending to be a president.
    https://twitter.com/JaneFerguson5/status/1181092229076721664

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 8:31 am

    Business associates of Rudy Giuliani sought to leverage U.S. government influence to replace the CEO of Ukraine’s state-owned natural gas company to profit from fuel sales to the war-torn country. The meeting “wasn’t a shakedown,” their lawyer says. https://t.co/b5RKFGKQzb

    — The Associated Press (@AP) October 6, 2019

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 8:29 am

    Judge rejects Trump’s challenge to the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal probe

    NEW YORK (AP) — Federal judge rejects President Trump’s challenge to the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal probe.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-rejects-trumps-challenge-to-the-release-of-his-tax-returns-for-a-new-york-state-criminal-probe/ar-AAIoKHm?ocid=spartanntp

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    October 7, 2019 at 2:50 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄 😄😄

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      October 7, 2019 at 9:01 am

      Good Morning, Rikyrah and Everyone.

      Quite a tribute for Ms. Carroll. She certainly had a distinguished career. Such a beautiful lady, may she rest in peace.

      Reply

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