Diahann Carroll (Carol Diahann Johnson, The Bronx, New York, USA, July 17, … Read Full Bio ↴Diahann Carroll (Carol Diahann Johnson, The Bronx, New York, USA, July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer and model. She rose to stardom in performances in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including Carmen Jones in 1954 and Porgy and Bess in 1959. In 1962, Carroll won a Tony Award for best actress, a first for a black woman, for her role in the Broadway musical No Strings.
Discography
Diahann Carroll Sings Harold Arlen Songs (1957)
Best Beat Forward (1958)
The Persian Room Presents Diahann Carroll (1959)
Porgy and Bess (1959) (with the André Previn Trio)
Diahann Carroll and the André Previn Trio (1960)
Fun Life (1961)
Modern Jazz Quartet – The Comedy (1962)
Showstopper! (1962)
The Fabulous Diahann Carroll (1963)
A You're Adorable: Love Songs for Children (1967)
Nobody Sees Me Cry (1967)
Diahann Carroll (1974)
A Tribute to Ethel Waters (1978)
The Time of My Life (1997)
Her 1968 debut in Julia, the first series on American television to star a black woman in a non stereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of a mixed-race diva in the primetime soap opera Dynasty.
Carroll was the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Television Series in 1968. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for the 1974 film Claudine. She was also a breast cancer survivor and activist.
Carroll was born in the Bronx, New York, to John Johnson, of Aiken, South Carolina, and Mabel (Faulk), of Bladenboro, North Carolina. When Carroll was an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up. She attended Music and Art High School, and was a classmate of Billy Dee Williams. In many interviews about her childhood, Diahann Carroll recalls her parents' support, enrolling her in dance, singing, and modeling classes. By the time Carroll was 15, she was modeling for Ebony. After graduating from high school, she attended New York University, majoring in sociology.
Carroll's big break came at 18, when she appeared as a contestant on the Dumont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. On the show, which aired January 8, 1954, she took the $1,000 top prize for a rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song, "Why Was I Born?" She went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattan's Café Society and Latin Quarter nightclubs soon followed.
Carroll's film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones (1954) as a friend to the sultry lead character played by Dorothy Dandridge. That same year, she starred in the Broadway musical, House of Flowers. In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, but her character's singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman. She made a guest appearance in the series Peter Gunn, in the 1960 episode "Sing a Song of Murder". She starred with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward in the 1961 film Paris Blues. In 1962, Carroll won the Tony Award for best actress (a first for a black woman) for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor and Richard Rodgers musical No Strings. In 1974, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Claudine. The role of Claudine had been written specifically for actress Diana Sands, (who had made guest appearances on Julia as Carroll's cousin Sara) but shortly before filming was to begin, Sands found out that she was terminally ill with cancer. Sands attempted to carry on with the role, but as filming began, she became too ill to continue, and recommended her friend Carroll take over the role. Sands would not live to see Claudine. She died in September 1973; Claudine, starring Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones, was released in April 1974.
Carroll is well known for her title role in the 1968 television series Julia, which made her the first African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. That role won her the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress In A Television Series" in 1968, and a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1969. Some of her earlier work also included appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, and Ed Sullivan, and on The Hollywood Palace variety show. In 1984, Carroll joined the nighttime soap opera Dynasty as the mixed-race jet set diva Dominique Deveraux, half-sister of Blake Carrington. Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, who briefly played her onscreen husband Brady Lloyd. Carroll remained on the show until 1987, simultaneously making several appearances on its short-lived spin-off, The Colbys. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for the recurring role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World.
In 1991, Carroll played the role of Eleanor Potter, the wife of Jimmy Potter, portrayed by Chuck Patterson, in The Five Heartbeats, a musical drama film in which Jimmy manages a vocal group. In this role, Carroll was a doting, concerned, and protective wife alongside actor and musician Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, and others. In a 1995 reunion with Billy Dee Williams in Lonesome Dove: The Series, she played Mrs. Greyson, the wife of Williams' character. In 1996, Carroll starred as the self-loving and deluded silent movie star Norma Desmond in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard. In 2001, Carroll made her animation début in The Legend of Tarzan, in which she voiced Queen La, an evil sorceress and ruler of the ancient city of Opar.
In 2006, she appeared in the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy as Jane Burke, the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke. In December 2008, Carroll was cast in USA Network's series White Collar as June, the savvy widow who rents out her guest room to Neal Caffrey.[4] In 2010, Carroll was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama entitled, 1 a Minute, and she appeared as Nana in two Lifetime movies: At Risk and The Front, movie adaptations of two Patricia Cornwell novels.
Carroll was present on stage for the 2013 Emmy Awards, to briefly speak about being the first African American nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She was quoted as saying, "talented Kerry Washington better win!" Washington erroneously stated that Carroll was the first black performer ever to be nominated for an Emmy. Actually, at least three black performers were nominated before Carroll, who was first nominated in 1963. These performers include: Ethel Waters for a guest appearance on Route 66, in 1962; Harry Belafonte, nominated in 1956 and 1961 and winning in 1960; and Sammy Davis Jr., who was nominated in 1956 with Belafonte.
Carroll was married four times, first to record producer Monte Kay in 1956. Her father boycotted the wedding ceremony, presided by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The marriage ended in 1962. The union produced a daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford (born September 9, 1960), who became a freelance media journalist. In 1959, Carroll began a nine-year affair with married actor Sidney Poitier. She claimed that Poitier persuaded her to divorce her husband and he would leave his wife to be with her. When Carroll got her divorce, Poitier didn't keep up his end of the bargain, yet the relationship continued until 1968. Carroll dated and was engaged to British television host and producer David Frost from 1970 until 1973. In 1973, Carroll surprised the press by marrying Las Vegas boutique owner Fred Glusman. Several weeks later, she filed for divorce, charging Glusman with physical abuse. In 1975, Carroll married Robert DeLeon, a managing editor of Jet. She was widowed two years later when DeLeon was killed in a car crash. Carroll's fourth marriage was to singer Vic Damone in 1987. The union, which Carroll admitted was turbulent, had a legal separation in 1991, reconciliation, and divorce in 1996.
Carroll was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She said the diagnosis "stunned" her because there was no family history of breast cancer and she had always had a healthy lifestyle. She underwent nine weeks of radiation therapy, and was clear since. She frequently spoke on the need for early detection and prevention of the disease.
Carroll died of cancer on October 4, 2019 in Los Angeles.
Carroll was a founding member of the Celebrity Action Council, a volunteer group of celebrity women who served the women's outreach of the Los Angeles Mission, working with women in rehabilitation from problems with drugs, alcohol or prostitution. She helped to form the group along with other female television personalities including Mary Frann, Donna Mills, Linda Gray and Joan Van Ark.
Discography
Diahann Carroll Sings Harold Arlen Songs (1957)
Best Beat Forward (1958)
The Persian Room Presents Diahann Carroll (1959)
Porgy and Bess (1959) (with the André Previn Trio)
Diahann Carroll and the André Previn Trio (1960)
Fun Life (1961)
Modern Jazz Quartet – The Comedy (1962)
Showstopper! (1962)
The Fabulous Diahann Carroll (1963)
A You're Adorable: Love Songs for Children (1967)
Nobody Sees Me Cry (1967)
Diahann Carroll (1974)
A Tribute to Ethel Waters (1978)
The Time of My Life (1997)
Her 1968 debut in Julia, the first series on American television to star a black woman in a non stereotypical role, was a milestone both in her career and the medium. In the 1980s she played the role of a mixed-race diva in the primetime soap opera Dynasty.
Carroll was the recipient of numerous stage and screen nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Television Series in 1968. She received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for the 1974 film Claudine. She was also a breast cancer survivor and activist.
Carroll was born in the Bronx, New York, to John Johnson, of Aiken, South Carolina, and Mabel (Faulk), of Bladenboro, North Carolina. When Carroll was an infant, the family moved to Harlem, where she grew up. She attended Music and Art High School, and was a classmate of Billy Dee Williams. In many interviews about her childhood, Diahann Carroll recalls her parents' support, enrolling her in dance, singing, and modeling classes. By the time Carroll was 15, she was modeling for Ebony. After graduating from high school, she attended New York University, majoring in sociology.
Carroll's big break came at 18, when she appeared as a contestant on the Dumont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James. On the show, which aired January 8, 1954, she took the $1,000 top prize for a rendition of the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song, "Why Was I Born?" She went on to win the following four weeks. Engagements at Manhattan's Café Society and Latin Quarter nightclubs soon followed.
Carroll's film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones (1954) as a friend to the sultry lead character played by Dorothy Dandridge. That same year, she starred in the Broadway musical, House of Flowers. In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, but her character's singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman. She made a guest appearance in the series Peter Gunn, in the 1960 episode "Sing a Song of Murder". She starred with Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward in the 1961 film Paris Blues. In 1962, Carroll won the Tony Award for best actress (a first for a black woman) for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor and Richard Rodgers musical No Strings. In 1974, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Claudine. The role of Claudine had been written specifically for actress Diana Sands, (who had made guest appearances on Julia as Carroll's cousin Sara) but shortly before filming was to begin, Sands found out that she was terminally ill with cancer. Sands attempted to carry on with the role, but as filming began, she became too ill to continue, and recommended her friend Carroll take over the role. Sands would not live to see Claudine. She died in September 1973; Claudine, starring Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones, was released in April 1974.
Carroll is well known for her title role in the 1968 television series Julia, which made her the first African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. That role won her the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress In A Television Series" in 1968, and a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1969. Some of her earlier work also included appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, and Ed Sullivan, and on The Hollywood Palace variety show. In 1984, Carroll joined the nighttime soap opera Dynasty as the mixed-race jet set diva Dominique Deveraux, half-sister of Blake Carrington. Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, who briefly played her onscreen husband Brady Lloyd. Carroll remained on the show until 1987, simultaneously making several appearances on its short-lived spin-off, The Colbys. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for the recurring role of Marion Gilbert in A Different World.
In 1991, Carroll played the role of Eleanor Potter, the wife of Jimmy Potter, portrayed by Chuck Patterson, in The Five Heartbeats, a musical drama film in which Jimmy manages a vocal group. In this role, Carroll was a doting, concerned, and protective wife alongside actor and musician Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, and others. In a 1995 reunion with Billy Dee Williams in Lonesome Dove: The Series, she played Mrs. Greyson, the wife of Williams' character. In 1996, Carroll starred as the self-loving and deluded silent movie star Norma Desmond in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard. In 2001, Carroll made her animation début in The Legend of Tarzan, in which she voiced Queen La, an evil sorceress and ruler of the ancient city of Opar.
In 2006, she appeared in the television medical drama Grey's Anatomy as Jane Burke, the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke. In December 2008, Carroll was cast in USA Network's series White Collar as June, the savvy widow who rents out her guest room to Neal Caffrey.[4] In 2010, Carroll was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama entitled, 1 a Minute, and she appeared as Nana in two Lifetime movies: At Risk and The Front, movie adaptations of two Patricia Cornwell novels.
Carroll was present on stage for the 2013 Emmy Awards, to briefly speak about being the first African American nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She was quoted as saying, "talented Kerry Washington better win!" Washington erroneously stated that Carroll was the first black performer ever to be nominated for an Emmy. Actually, at least three black performers were nominated before Carroll, who was first nominated in 1963. These performers include: Ethel Waters for a guest appearance on Route 66, in 1962; Harry Belafonte, nominated in 1956 and 1961 and winning in 1960; and Sammy Davis Jr., who was nominated in 1956 with Belafonte.
Carroll was married four times, first to record producer Monte Kay in 1956. Her father boycotted the wedding ceremony, presided by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The marriage ended in 1962. The union produced a daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford (born September 9, 1960), who became a freelance media journalist. In 1959, Carroll began a nine-year affair with married actor Sidney Poitier. She claimed that Poitier persuaded her to divorce her husband and he would leave his wife to be with her. When Carroll got her divorce, Poitier didn't keep up his end of the bargain, yet the relationship continued until 1968. Carroll dated and was engaged to British television host and producer David Frost from 1970 until 1973. In 1973, Carroll surprised the press by marrying Las Vegas boutique owner Fred Glusman. Several weeks later, she filed for divorce, charging Glusman with physical abuse. In 1975, Carroll married Robert DeLeon, a managing editor of Jet. She was widowed two years later when DeLeon was killed in a car crash. Carroll's fourth marriage was to singer Vic Damone in 1987. The union, which Carroll admitted was turbulent, had a legal separation in 1991, reconciliation, and divorce in 1996.
Carroll was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She said the diagnosis "stunned" her because there was no family history of breast cancer and she had always had a healthy lifestyle. She underwent nine weeks of radiation therapy, and was clear since. She frequently spoke on the need for early detection and prevention of the disease.
Carroll died of cancer on October 4, 2019 in Los Angeles.
Carroll was a founding member of the Celebrity Action Council, a volunteer group of celebrity women who served the women's outreach of the Los Angeles Mission, working with women in rehabilitation from problems with drugs, alcohol or prostitution. She helped to form the group along with other female television personalities including Mary Frann, Donna Mills, Linda Gray and Joan Van Ark.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Diahann Carroll Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We want some milk and cookies
We want some milk and cookies
We want some milk and cookies
Please bring it right here
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
So bring it out here
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We want some milk and cookies
We want some milk and cookies
We want some milk and cookies
Please bring it right here
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
We won't go until we get some
So bring it out here
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Glad tidings we bring
To you and your kin
Glad tidings for Christmas
And a happy New Year
Diahann Carroll's "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a cheerful song that celebrates the holiday season with simple yet catchy lyrics. The first stanza repeats the same line, "We wish you a merry Christmas" three times while adding the wish for a "happy New Year" to complete the greeting. The second stanza deviates slightly from the traditional holiday pleasantry by requesting Santa Claus for milk and cookies. Carroll's playful rendition of the song also includes the demand for milk and cookies to be delivered promptly, adding a humorous and slightly indulgent twist to the traditional lyrics. The song's final verse repeats the opening stanza with the addition of "Glad tidings we bring to you and your kin," reminding listeners of the joy that the holiday season brings.
At its core, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a lighthearted and catchy song that encourages listeners to embrace the spirit of the season. The lyrics' emphasis on joy, togetherness, and indulgence encapsulate the holiday spirit, creating a feel-good song that is as relevant today as it was when it was first released.
Line by Line Meaning
We wish you a merry Christmas
We hope you have a joyful Christmas celebration
We wish you a merry Christmas
We hope you have a happy and festive Christmas holiday
We wish you a merry Christmas
We hope you have a wonderful and magical Christmas season
And a happy New Year
And we hope that the upcoming year brings you joy and happiness
Glad tidings we bring
We come bearing good news and happiness
To you and your kin
For you and your family
Glad tidings for Christmas
We bring joy and happiness for Christmas
And a happy New Year
And we hope that the new year will bring you even more joy and happiness
We want some milk and cookies
We would like some milk and cookies as a treat
We want some milk and cookies
We really desire some milk and cookies
We want some milk and cookies
We hope that you will provide us with some milk and cookies
Please bring it right here
Please bring the milk and cookies to us here
We won't go until we get some
We will stay until we receive our desired treat
We won't go until we get some
We are not leaving until we get our milk and cookies
We won't go until we get some
We are determined to get our treat before leaving
So bring it out here
Bring the milk and cookies to us right here
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: Art Harris
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found