Skip to content
Advertisement

Clarice Taylor passes at 93

Advertisement

Clarice Taylor, best known as Anna Huxtable, the mother of Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s (Bill Cosby), on “The Cosby Show,” died in Englewood, N.J., of congestive heart failure. She was 93. Taylor was born on Sept. 20, 1917, in rural Virginia and raised in Harlem.

Taylor began work in the entertainment industry with the American Negro Theatre and was one of the founding members of the Negro Ensemble Company, first headquartered in the East Village on St. Marks Place. The company provided acting opportunities for African American performers at a time when few were to be had.

Aside from working most of her life at the post office, Taylor found steady television employment on “Sesame Street,” playing Harriet, the mother of the character David for 14 years, but truly became nationally recognized through her work with the Cosby, receiving an Emmy nomination in 1986 for outstanding guest performer in a comedy series.

Taylor won an Obie Award for her performance in a one-woman show about Moms Mabley, written by Alice Childress, and played Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in the original Broadway cast of “The Wiz.”

She also starred in Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut, the psychological thriller, “Play Misty for Me.”

Memorial services for Taylor, who died on May 30, were held Tuesday night at Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem where many celebrity mourners, including Al Sharpton who delivered the eulogy, turned out to pay respects to the star.

Taylor is survived by two sons William and James, and five grandchildren.

Advertisement

Latest