Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Viola Davis on Cicely Tyson: “I’m devastated. My heart is just broken. I loved you so much!! You were everything to me!”

Share

★ Make Showbiz411 your Preferred Source on Google

Cicely Tyson played Viola Davis’s mother on “How to Get Away with Murder” for five seasons. She was nominated for Emmys each of those years.

Viola sent me this message as a quote about Miss Tyson: “I’m devastated,” she wrote, “I remember a prayer I had when I was 9. I asked God in a desperate moment to pluck me out of my hard life. I closed my eyes and waited. Cut to 40 yrs later working with…this beauty…this Queen….God answered my prayer. With a bonus. That’s how it felt. An answer to my deepest prayer.”

Miss Davis also posted to Instagram, as you can see below. Both statements are so moving, I teared up as I read them. You will, too. (PS She doesn’t want to hear this now, but Viola carries the mantle of Cicely Tyson. She is a daughter in spirit and talent.)

Donate to Showbiz411.com

Showbiz411 is now in its 13th year of providing breaking and exclusive entertainment news. This is an independent site, unlike the many Hollywood trades that are owned by one company. To continue providing news that takes a fresh look at what's going on in movies, music, theater, etc, advertising is our basis. Reader donations would be greatly appreciated, too. They are just another facet of keeping fact based journalism alive.
Thank you


Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more

In Other News