good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with the income rabble cicely tyson. dramas like miss jane pittman to name one. it's earned her international acclaim. an oscar nomination, three emmy awards, a tony award for a performance of kerry watts at the theater here in los angeles. an award winning run on broadway. we are glad you could join us. a conversation with cicely tyson coming upright now.

♪ by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ there's so much to love and admire about cicely tyson. her outstanding performances from roots and the autobiography of jane pittman and her advocacy for civil rights and her ability to play strong women.

i love this quote she gave "the new york times." i could not afford the luxury of just being an actress. i made the choice to use my career as a platform for the race i was born into. we look at cicely tyson and her tony award winning role as kerry watts here at the theater in los angeles. that every day. maybe then we wouldn't appreciate so much the days when he's on our side. maybe he's always on our side, we don't know it? i had to wait 20 years cooped up in that city before i could appreciate heading back here. jesus is mine. ♪ oh what a fortress of glory

divine ♪ ♪ year of salvation ♪ purchase of god >> i grew up singing that song in my pent costal church. when i saw you on broadway, a moving part was listening to the audience join in and sing the lyrics with you. >> actually, i didn't know. i didn't hear it. it was my family who had come to see the show and asked me if i heard the people singing. you know, i'm so focused on stage that i did not hear it. but, a few nights later, it was so robust that i couldn't miss it. they were standing up and applauding and rocking. it was wonderful. >> yeah. >> rested assurance is a hymn i

heard my mother sing on sundays in the kitchen preparing sunday dinner. and i named, i go to a baptist church and i bought a pew for the family. on it is "blessed assurance" for my mom. >> i'll have to look it up when i go there. it is a beautiful song. >> very moving. >> it is. how does it feel on stage after all these years and you pull the audience into a scene that way? >> it's a buoy. it lifts me up. it's like being on top of a balloon. it lifts you up to the sky, it really does. and i tell people all the time, my students, young people that i talk to that the audience gets the overflow. if you are full, it's the overflow that the audience gets. and that's what --

>> how do you, after all these years and the various expressions of your gift still remain so full? you give so much away, how do you remain full? >> that's it. you put something in this hand and i have this hand out. you put something in that hand and you offer me something else, what do i do? i have to let loose of something to build again. >> yeah. yeah. >> okay? >> yeah. >> that's what we do. we were born to share, to give. that's why we have the gift that we have. if you don't use it, you will lose it. i'm quoting miles davis. >> i knew where you were going. >> if you don't use it, you lose it. that's what we are here for, to share with one another. whatever gifts god has given us. >> what do you most get out of

sharing your artistic gift, whether on stage or on screen? what is the joy in it for you, the sharing? >> the joy comes from -- now people ask me why i don't watch my work, which i don't. >> right. >> the gratification to me comes in the doing of it. >> mm-hmm. >> i do it in the hopes the audience will get what i feel while i'm doing it. that's the reason for my doing it. >> yeah. >> when i'm stopped, every day, by someone, it could be a child, it could be a teenager, it could be an elder and they say you have done so much for me. that's all i need. that's enough for me. okay. it makes me know that i had chosen the right path on which to travel. >> yeah. >> in order to share the gift

god has given me. >> amazing we have had these conversations publicly and privately. i am always humbled at how well you wear this garment. i mean the garment of a public that loves you. i looked at the -- we are taping shows here every day. with all respect to all guests we have had over the years, there are certain people when they are coming on the lot, there's a buzz all over the lot. so and so is coming to the studio today. people come out of nowhere to meet and get a glimpse of said person. you were one of those persons. when it was said you were going to be here, others wanted to come see cicely tyson. at this age, how do you wear that garment with such grace and humility when love and adoration is coming at you?

>> i guess, you know, i think i thank god every day that whatever it is, it isn't something that i consciously am aware of. do you understand what i am saying? >> mm-hmm. >> i consider myself deeply blessed that i have lived long enough and my mother has always said to me, if you live long enough, you will see everything. she's full of these types of sayings. i have lived long enough to go into a second phase of my life with a career that has blossomed. so, i guess, maybe consciously

or subconsciously, i'm aware of the fact that i'm here. i am the soul surviving member in my family. i have lost my mother, brother, father and sister. i'm the only one here. i was the frailest of the three children. i wasn't supposed to be here. they almost lost me several times, yet, i have outlived all of them. i know that that reason is because i have a mission to fulfill. when i have done that, and he thinks that i have done that, then i'll leave. >> if i'm getting too touchy here, tell me. since you raised it, tell me what the frailties were. why were you sick as a child, a disease or illness? >> i was premature and had a heart problem. yeah. >> yeah.

>> so, they didn't expect me to survive that. >> with a heart problem, you lived all these years. i thought maybe you had something else. your heart ain't gave out after all these years. that leads me to ask how it is, i was thinking to use the word proficient. you are more gifted. i'm proficient at what i do. you are an artistic genius at what you do. how is it that at your age, you can stay that focused, be this good. i watched you on broadway. i have commented to so many people how your timing is so on point. as a musician would say, you are the one. you are always the one. you are right where you are supposed to be. how do you keep all this going at this chronologically gifted age. you are chronologically gifted, i'll call it that.

how do you do it? >> well, it's my work. it's my profession. it's what i chose to make a living for myself in this life. so, when ever -- for instance kerry, i had gone to see geraldine paige do the movie. i left the theater, went to my agent and said get me my gift. i'll retire. >> he looked at me, he laughed and that was it. i visited him on a monthly basis. i said where is my trip to bountiful. i was not referring to the actual play "a trip to

bountiful." i was referring to one good role. i had some phenomenals. >> oh, lord, yes. >> i just want one more. i won't be greedy. then i'll go, you know? well, 26 years later, i receive a call from my assistant lois. she says ramsay is looking for you. he is the costume designer for tripp and he had someone he wants to introduce you to. the person turned out to be halle. we met and she said, i'm about to do a play of my fathers. he had so much respect for you. i know he would want you alone, to play the lead role.

>> i asked, who is your father. she said -- i said and the play? she said tripp to bountiful. i fell off the chair. i fell right off. i thought this is not real. i'm just imagining this is going on. "trip to bountiful." 26 years later. out of nowhere it came. so, i said of course. what am i supposed to say? where is the script? so, i got the script and i started reading. the more i read it, the more i fell in love with this woman. i then took a trip to texas to

visit his home and to get a sense of who this woman was and how he came about her. every little thing he talked about for her in the play, i wanted to be a part. i needed to feel her. i needed to slip into her skin so that it fitted me. once i felt i had that and came back -- i hadn't been on the stage in 30 years. up stage, down stage, around stage. i was scared to death, do you hear me? >> yeah. >> so, michael wilson, who was the director saw it, knew it, understood it. he was so careful about how he

handled me for fear of i can't do it and go away. so, when he saw that i had been able to stand on my own two feet, he let go. >> the rest is history. speaking of feet. you get a copy of these -- a shot of -- there you go. look at that. her bling. i just want y'all to see that, speaking of bling. those are cute. >> thank you. >> are they comfortable? they look comfortable. let me advance the story quick. 26 years, you have basically called down this play. >> yeah. >> you called down this moment? you have to call things as they were not. you call that down, a qurter century later, you call this down. how, then, did it feel when you

were sitting in the audience at the tony awards and they called your name? >> call. first of all, i never dreamed it to be possible. i didn't expect it at all. so, call was with me. when they got to the category i said i said somebody else's name when i heard cicely tyson over it. i turned to him and i said, do i have to go up there? >> that would be helpful, yeah. >> yes. i said you have to go with me. you have to go with me. i can't go by myself.

>> when i saw him and looked at the vast audience, they were standing up. applauding. it's a moment i'll never forget. >> yeah. >> never. >> yeah. you are going to make me cry now. how does one process -- again, i keep coming back to how long you have done this as a tribute to your journey and your gift. how does one process, at this age, being regarded and awarded and honored in that way by your peers? >> i'm going to tell you a story. i speak a lot to youngsters. some years ago, i was attending school in alabama. speaking to a number of young

people. a young late di- sat up. no that you have made it, what else are you going to do? what are you going to do? >> i looked at her and i thought about the question and i said to her, the day i think that i have made it, i'm finished. okay? because i use every single day, every single experience as a day of educating myself. there isn't a day that goes by, in my life, that i don't learn something. if i learned that i made a mistake, which i don't think there are any, i will think about it and i will say, well

this lets me befrom that. so every single thing that happened in my life. i asked the subtotal of my whole life experience. that's what i am today. every single thing. i tend to think of those things that we perceive as negative, as positive. once you are able to survive that, and you can make the next step then you know that you are strong enough to go on. >> some mistakes for you are lessons. >> they are all lessons. they are all lessons. what we perceive, as a mistake -- >> is a lesson. >> it's part of who you become. we tend to gain more from what we perceive as negative opposed

to what we receive. >> anybody being honest with you, anybody as successful as you are. they have learned more from their failures, if they can being honest. >> exactly. see, the most important thing, i think, to get from that is the fact that you survived. >> oh, yeah. >> something you thought you could never live through. >> yeah. >> you survived it. gives you more strength for the next thing. >> if nothing else, you are a survivor. in a business that doesn't always regard a person of your color. >> yes. >> and your style. >> yeah. >> and your -- how have you survived in this business all these years? >> i have been put here for a

purpose. nobody can deter that. >> i will never forget, for as long as i live, the night i game to see you and tripp on broadway. i'll never forget it because of your brilliant performance. secondly, i came backstage to see you after the show. >> you kneeled. >> i always do. down on both knees. i was the bearer of bad news to you that night. that was the day the verdict came down in the trayvon martin/george zimmerman trial. you said what's wrong. i said the verdict came down. what are you saying to young people about how to vav gait life when you see innocent children like trayvon or ferguson, missouri. what do you say to the young people? >> to-and-a-half gave, i think i would peek to the warrants, first. ses leshlly parents of young,

black boys. as corny as it may sound, it's important for them to know that they have to do unto others as they would have done them do unto you. let that be your mantr, okay? that will allow you to carry yourself in such a way that perhaps you will not feel threat ing to someone of another color of someone who has the power or the right to carry an ammunition that can take your life away. so, it will not allow you to

spew any anger. that would encourage them to do that. you first have to know who you are, what you are and why you are on the face of this earth. if you know that about yourself, i have a friend here in california, three sons. i said that to her. she's working with me on the show. i said i have such respect for you. to be able to bring up three young, black men in this city and not have them get into any difficulty. not one of them. not one time. and what it took for you -- she broke down and cried. she understood what i was

saying. all mothers, i don't know, i can't begin to imagine what it would be like to lose a child in that way. i cannot imagine. >> i could talk to you for hours and hours and hours. you have work to do here in l.a. after you leave the theater here in los angeles, you are headed to boston. >> yes. >> then, i hope, i have been raring rumors it might work out for y'all. >> they have a theater and director. >> that would be nice. you having fun, though? you enjoying it? >> i'm loving every single moment. i am so grateful it's this stage of my life i'm allowed to do it. >> i enjoyed every moment of this conversation. i love you. >> thank you. god bless you. thank you. >> waited a long time for her to

show up on this set. she's always someplace around the world. for years i have been trying to get a date worked out to get her on this set. finally, it worked out. i'm going to sleep well tonight. >> you live long enough, you'll see everything. >> that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. ♪y for more information on this show, visit tavis smiley on pbs.org. i'm tavis smiley. join me next time as we dive into what's grabbing the country's attention. that's next time. see you then.

♪ by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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