US actress Cicely Tyson dead at 96

American actress Cicely Tyson, who starred in such films as "Green Tomatoes," "The Help" and the TV series "Roots" about the fate of slaves, has died. "With a heavy heart," her family announced the actress' death Thursday afternoon, Tyson's longtime manager announced. The cause of death was not initially released. Tyson lived to be 96 years old. The New York native, who first worked as a model, was among the first African-American women to star in a TV series in the early 1960s. She played a secretary in the drama series "East Side/West Side." In 1973, she received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in the drama "The Year Without a Father." The trophy then went to Liza Minnelli for "Cabaret," but Tyson was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement by the Film Academy in 2018. She picked up several Emmy trophies, including as the lead actress in the TV movie "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" (1974), in which she played a former slave who looks back on her life.