Ethyl Spraggins Ayler (May 1, 1930 – November 18, 2018) was an American character actress with a career spanning over five decades.

Biography

Ayler was born in

Whistler, Alabama Whistler was an unincorporated community in Mobile County, until the 1950s when it was annexed into neighboring Prichard. The founding of Whistler, in the 1850s, coincided with construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The M & O, an early lan ...

and graduated from

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Afric ...

. In 1957, she made her

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

debut in the

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musical, '' Simply Heavenly''. Later that year, she debuted on Broadway in the multiple

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-nominated musical, ''

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

'' as an understudy for

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

(also making her Broadway debut). Another notable early performance was in Jean Genet's play, '' The Blacks: A Clown Show'', which ran

for 1,408 performances and received three Obie Awards, including Best New Play. The impressive cast of

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

actors included three future

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

nominees:

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

Cicely Tyson Cicely Louise Tyson (December 19, 1924January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career which spanned more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson recei ...

and Louis Gossett Jr. Throughout her career, Ayler appeared frequently with the Negro Ensemble Company. This included notable performances in ''The First Breeze of Summer'', ''

Eden Eden may refer to: * Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq O ...

'' and ''

Nevis Mountain Dew ''Nevis Mountain Dew'' is a 1978 play by American playwright steve carter . Set in the 1950s, it is the second of Carter's Caribbean trilogy. ''Nevis Mountain Dew'' explores the subject of euthanasia involving the patriarch of an affluent fami ...

''. On television, Ayler had a recurring role as Carrie Hanks, Clair Huxtable's mother on ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

''. She also made memorable performances in the films '' To Sleep with Anger'' (1990) and Eve's Bayou (1997). For her work in '' To Sleep with Anger'', Ayler received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. Ayler's last Broadway appearance was in another Tony-nominated production, ''The Little Foxes'', in 1997. On November 18, 2018, she died in Loma Linda, California, at the age of 88.Ethel Ayler obituary
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Selected credits

Theatre

Film

References

External links

* * *
Ethel Ayler at the Internet Theatre Database
1930 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Alabama Actresses from New York City People from Prichard, Alabama African-American actresses American television actresses American film actresses American musical theatre actresses 20th-century African-American women singers American stage actresses Fisk University alumni 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people {{US-theat-actor-1930s-stub