It was only Tuesday when Gayle King unveiled her interview with groundbreaking acting legend Cicely Tyson CBS this morning viewers. She was therefore surprised when she heard just two days later that Tyson had died at the age of 96.
“When I got the news yesterday, when I got the call, I felt like someone had hit me in the chest,” King said. ET on Friday. ‘You know, at 96 you can not say death is unexpected, but in this case it was unexpected for me, because I only saw her a week ago. She was so engaged and so full of life and she talked about things she still wanted to do, saying, ‘I still want to direct.’ She said in her book that it’s better than sitting at home and leaving poop, those were her words. She still feels she has other things she wants to do, and she’s looking forward to doing them. ‘
The award-winning star of Emmy and Tony chatted with King as she promoted her memoirs, Just like me, which was released the same day. So they talked about Tyson’s more than 60 years as an actress on stage and in TV and film, the challenges she faced, especially as a black woman, and even her legacy. (When King asks Tyson what she wants people to remember about her, she simply replies, ‘I did my best.’)
“I feel so grateful and so happy that I had to spend time with her a week ago,” King said. ‘I feel conflicting about the emotions I’m feeling at the moment, because how can you not smile when you think of Cicely Tyson? She was grace, she was class, she was essential, that’s what Cicely Tyson was. I adored her, and I talked to her daughter last night and said that she had seen our interview and that she liked the interview a lot. It made me, I must say, feel really good. ”
King, who had previously interviewed Tyson, recalled that she was as elegant as ever.
‘[She] sit there and talk to me with Manolo Blahnik pumps on, ”King said. “She was dressed to the T, she was ready, she was sitting in church, she was so proud and so happy and she was not done yet,” King said. “And I asked her, ‘Do you think of death? “And she said, ‘Of course I think of death. I have lost many friends, but it feels like you have to do work as long as you are still breathing. ”
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