Clarice Taylor

Clarice Taylor (September 20, 1917 – May 30, 2011) was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across several decades. Born in Buckingham County, Virginia, she was raised in Harlem, New York, and went on to become a recognized presence in American theater and on screen.

Taylor began her career in the theater at a time when opportunities for African-American performers were severely limited. She trained and worked with the American Negro Theatre and, to support herself financially, took employment with the U.S. Post Office, following the professional path of her father, Leon B. Taylor, Sr. In the 1960s she secured work that allowed her to act full-time, and she became one of the founding members of the Negro Ensemble Company, based at its East Village headquarters on St. Mark's Place in New York City.

Her Broadway career included a 1975 appearance in The Wiz, in which she played Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North. She also appeared on Broadway in Purlie, where she played the role of Idella Landy. In addition to her Broadway work, Taylor performed a one-woman show titled Moms, which she took on tour and for which she received an Obie Award in 1987 for best performance by an actress.

Taylor's film work began while she was active with the Negro Ensemble Company. Her first film role came in Change of Mind in 1969, followed by a role as Minnie in Otto Preminger's Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon in 1970. In 1971 she appeared as Birdie in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me and as Mrs. McKay in Such Good Friends. In 1973 she brought to film a role she had originated off-Broadway, playing Gladys Brooks in Five on the Black Hand Side. Her subsequent film appearances included Nothing Lasts Forever (1984), Sommersby (1993), and Smoke (1995), the last of which marked her final screen role.

On television, Taylor accumulated a number of recurring roles. She appeared on The Doctors in 1968 as Nurse Hope Stark, and recurred on Sesame Street over a thirteen-year period as David's grandmother Grace. She played Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son beginning in 1972 and took on the role of Anna Huxtable, mother of Bill Cosby's character Cliff Huxtable, on The Cosby Show beginning in 1984. Her performance in the latter role earned her an Emmy Award nomination in 1986.

Taylor died on May 30, 2011, in Englewood, New Jersey, from congestive heart failure at the age of 93. She was survived by her two adopted sons, William and James Thomas, and extended family.