It’s her birthday today.
One of my earliest memories seeing a movie – I had to be 7 or 8 – was watching Sounder with my parents. I sat on the floor in front of the television. My parents sat on the couch behind me. They were probably both smoking. The movie made a vivid impression on me – so much so that when I finally re-watched it – maybe 20 years later – I remembered specific shots. But what I remember most of all is the “reunion scene”. It was overwhelming to me, but I was a child, and not quite sure what to do. I turned around to look at my mother. She sat there, with tears streaming down her face. Normally I would get alarmed if my mother cried. This time though I just felt: “Oh. Okay. Confirmation that what I am seeing is incredible.” I didn’t think exactly those things, but I remember the feeling of satisfaction in being confirmed in my own personal impression of a piece of art that my parents were letting me stay up and watch.
As an adult, I can now watch Tyson’s performance and marvel at what she is doing. She has one moment that makes me weep every time, and it’s not a huge moment of catharsis. It’s very small. Her son, home from his time away at the country school, writes a letter to his beloved teacher and reads it out loud to his illiterate mother and his siblings. Tyson sits, listening, and then says, proudly, but with a little bit of awe, and also the warmth of a mother’s support, “That’s a fine letter.” You believe TOTALLY that Cicely Tyson is who she says she is in that character.
Tyson was one of the great American actresses. She gives an all-time great performance – not just for her, but for anybody – in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. You can’t compare it to anything else because there isn’t anything else like it. Miss Jane Pittman shattered barriers, raised the bar, gave voice to the silenced, and etc. and etc. and nobody but Tyson could have played the role the way she did.
Watch her movements. She is meticulous without being showy. Watch her gestures.
It was an honor to write about Sounder for Film Comment. That film is important to me because it connects me with the dawn of not just my movie love but my discernment of what was good, the birth of my EYE.
Tyson has within her the most important of combinations: deep empathy, she wants to do right by her characters, and that means becoming them, imagining her way into their shoes (how does this woman cook, walk, stand up for herself, cry, love?) It’s got to be specific. We are not monolithic. We are individuals. Tyson cares deeply about that. But she also has within her great expressiveness. Meticulous character work can sometimes inhibit emotion. An actor focuses so much on the character work the performance becomes show-y, or worse, show-off-y. The catharsis, then, feels empty. On the flip side, if you ONLY focus on emotion, and your character work is generalized or sloppy or condescending, then everything else is empty. Tyson is so open you FEEL what she feels. Viscerally. I am not talking abstract. I am talking communication of emotion so powerful you literally feel her feelings. When Judy Garland made a gesture, it went right through you, vibrating: you feel the feeling too, you are almost forced to. Garland left you no choice. Tyson was the same way. The way she throws her arms out to Paul Winfield as she runs towards him in the reunion scene in Sounder – her fingers move a little bit – restlessly – her fingers twitching to touch him, her body – every single molecule of it – so filled with NEED, a need to get to him, get him in her arms NOW – I am in tears just writing these words. Her performance is storytelling at its most pure, primal, and important. An actor is the vehicle through which the story is told.
We are so lucky she graced us with her gifts, in movies, in television, on Broadway. It’s hard to imagine our world without her performances.
Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0, if you’d like to subscribe.
And I remember thinking “Last Flag Flying” was a rare Richard Linklater misfire, but her brief performance was one of my favorites of that year. I would’ve happily watched a whole movie about her character.
Oh yeah! I forgot about that! (Not a good sign – and he’s one of my current faves). But you’re right about Tyson! She elevates everything she’s in.
She was a very special person, in addition to her incredible acting skills. She was a rare talent, with, as you noted, an empathy for her characters that had real impact. On top of everything else, she was married to Miles Davis for a time, which should qualify her for minor sainthood status. Talk about a formidable couple. I can’t even imagine an evening in their home. She is one of my favorites, even though I might have shrunk up to a peanut in her presence. If she had been born twenty years later, imagine the kinds of roles she would have gotten–not to diminish the amazing work she did.
// which should qualify her for minor sainthood status. //
Ha!!!
// imagine the kinds of roles she would have gotten //
I know. It was so exciting when she showed up, suddenly, in Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying, about the Vietnam veterans. I think it was mid 2000s. (I liked that movie.) Her showing up was an EVENT – very few actors have that ability – to make whatever they are in an EVENT!!
Cicely was phenomenal. Love her performance in The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman. She’s another actor who I can never catch acting; she just always WAS the various characters she played. A mighty talent. I agree that we were so lucky to have had her with us.
Merry Christmas.
Maddy
She really did just go so deep. It’s kind of a miracle, I just can’t figure out how she did what she did.