Obituary: Diahann Carroll

Actress and sometimes singer Diahann Carroll, 84, has died of cancer, according to her daughter.   She had battled breast cancer, beginning in the 1990s,  and was involved in cancer awareness.   Carroll is best remembered for having starred in the 1960s sitcom Julia, one of the first, though not the first, television series starring an African American.

It was major news at the time. Later on, she dated, married, and divorced singer Vic Damone, the subject of a blog post here.  Damone died last year.

A situation comedy broadcast on NBC from 1968 to 1971, “Julia” starred Ms. Carroll as Julia Baker, a widowed nurse with a young son. The show featured Marc Copage as Julia’s son, and Lloyd Nolan as the curmudgeonly but broad-minded doctor for whom she worked. (“Have you always been a Negro or are you just trying to be fashionable?” he asks Julia in an audacious, widely quoted line from the first episode.)


Popular with both black and white viewers, “Julia” in its first season reached No. 7 in the Nielsen ratings, the highest position it attained in its three seasons on the air.

In true showbiz fashion, "Diahann Carroll" was not her real name.  She was born Carol Diane Johnson, which is a good name, but it wasn't showbiz enough, so she changed it by reversing the first two names and altering the spelling.  She dropped her last name, at least professionally.  From a young age she started as a singer, but she later branched out into acting.