Hold the hurrahs, despite a record number of Oscar nominees of African heritage. That is the message from Cicely Tyson, the grande dame of African-American actors.
"It's very difficult for me," the 71-year-old Tyson said recently in a L.A. interview for Because Of Winn-Dixie. "I have mixed emotions about it."
Of the 20 nominations in the four acting categories, five went to actors with an African heritage. Jamie Foxx got two of them, as best actor for Ray and as best supporting actor for Collateral. Don Cheadle garnered a best actor nod for Hotel Rwanda and Morgan Freeman got one as best supporting actor for Million Dollar Baby. They are all Americans.
'NOT WORKING'
The final nomination went to English stage star Sophie Okonedo, who was nominated as best supporting actress for playing Cheadle's heroic wife in Hotel Rwanda. While U.S. commentators routinely use the phrase "African-American" for all the nominees in question, Okonedo is not American.
"I'm not denying their right to be where they are," Tyson said of the black nominees, "but I think that we need to get the same kind of recognition and attention." She said she is referring to African-American actresses, many of whom have trouble getting good roles, much less Oscar nominations, and are routinely paid less than African-American males.
"You have Angela Bassett -- brilliant talent -- and she's not working, you know," Tyson said. "So you have to ask me that when I feel that women are on a par with the men."
Tyson helped make history at the Oscars herself. When she was nominated as best actress for Sounder (1972), the 1973 ceremony also featured Diana Ross in the same category for Lady Sings The Blues and Paul Winfield was up for best actor, also for Sounder. Liza Minnelli won as best actress for Cabaret and Marlon Brando won as best actor, and rejected his statue by proxy, for The Godfather. "That was the first time they had three African-American actors nominated," Tyson said. It would be 29 years before even that modest record was matched and only this year before it was broken.
"I hope the day will come when we won't even have this discussion, do you know what I mean?" Tyson said.
