Diahann Carroll (/daɪˈæn/ dy-AN; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist.

Carroll rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including the classic movie musicals Carmen Jones (1954) and Porgy and Bess (1959).

Carroll's other notable film credits include Paris Blues (1961), The Split (1968), Eve's Bayou (1997), and Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters First 100 Years (1999).

"[4] Carroll's big break came at the age of 18, when she appeared as a contestant on the DuMont Television Network program, Chance of a Lifetime, hosted by Dennis James.

[9] Carroll's film debut was a supporting role in Carmen Jones (1954),[4][8][2] as a friend to the sultry lead character played by Dorothy Dandridge.

[4][2] A few years later, she played Clara in the film version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (1959), but her character's singing parts were dubbed by opera singer Loulie Jean Norman.

[1][4][8][2] Twelve years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role alongside James Earl Jones in the film Claudine (1974),[1][4][8][2] which part 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 learned she was terminally ill with cancer.

In 1984, Carroll joined the nighttime soap opera Dynasty at the end of its fourth season as the mixed-race jet set diva Dominique Deveraux,[4] Blake Carrington's half-sister.

[8] Her high-profile role on Dynasty also reunited her with her schoolmate Billy Dee Williams, who briefly played her onscreen husband Brady Lloyd.

In 2001, Carroll made her animation debut in The Legend of Tarzan,[11] in which she voiced Queen La,[12] ruler of the ancient city of Opar.

From 2008 to 2014, she appeared on USA Network's series White Collar in the recurring role of June, the savvy widow who rents out her guest room to Neal Caffrey.

[14] In 2010, Carroll was featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama titled 1 a Minute, and appeared as Nana in two Lifetime movie adaptations of Patricia Cornwell novels: At Risk and The Front.

Her father boycotted the ceremony for her first wedding [citation needed] in 1956, to record producer Monte Kay,[4][8] which was presided over by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

She helped to form the group along with other female television personalities including Mary Frann, Linda Gray, Donna Mills, and Joan Van Ark.

[8][4] Carroll also suffered from another form of cancer and dementia at the time of her death, which was unrelated, though actor Marc Copage, who played her character's son on Julia, said that she did not appear to show serious signs of cognitive decline as of late 2017.