Diahann Carroll, at 15 years of age.
Carroll at 19 years of age in Carmen Jones, a Black version of Bizet's opera Carmen in 1953.
During Carmen she meets Marlon Brando. He pats her on the "fannie" but finds that she is a proper young lady, when she remarks "I beg your pardon" --- a line she will continue to assert in Hollywood. Later he sends her An Actor Prepares and takes her out on occasion.
Carroll at age 21.
Usually described as stiff, Carroll in 1959, after she begins to liven up her stage presence.
Nightclub image . . . photographs and press releases depict her as sexy singer.
Carroll's first and short-lived marriage to casting director, Monte Kay whom she meets during House of Flowers.
Carroll stars in Broadway musical written specifically for her in 1960. This production depicted a fantasy story of a top African American model model in an interracial romance with an American writer suffering from writer's block.
The costumes over $15,000 just for Carroll. After she helps her lover recover, he goes back to Maine, she stays in Paris.
Carroll with David Frost, English journalist at engagement party. They never married.
Carroll co-starring with Joanne Woodward in Paris Blues, 1961.
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Carroll with Sidney Poitier in Paris Blues. Their roles as the Americans in Paris seem to echo her previous role in No Strings. Except it is Poitier who prefers the freedom of Paris to American racial segregation. Their long-term and much publicized private affair begins with this film.
Diahann Carroll photographed with President Kennedy in 1962.
Carroll is compared often to the First Lady's well-coiffed image, and called the Black Jackie Kennedy and much later to a Black Barbie doll in 1968.
Diahann Carroll as Julia in 1968. Pictured with Marc Copage as Corey Baker and neighbor Earl J. Waggerdorn.
Carroll meets 24 year old Ebony/Jet writer, Robert DeLeon, who becomes her third husband. He dies tragically in a car accident while speeding and intoxicated.
Diahann Carroll, known for her extravagant taste in clothing and life-style, leases a lavish "flat" in Manhattan and signs agreement that if she ever sells the apartment, he gets first "dibs" at original price. She is being sued for 1.8 million dollars by the previous owner of the apartment.
Following a hiatus from film and television roles, Carroll returns to the "Big" screen in a role that could be characterized as a selective fit in Claudine in 1974.
She plays a mother struggling to raise her six children on welfare, when she meets a city garbage collector, played by James Earl Jones. Nominated for for an Oscar for best actress, many critics still believe that this has been her best performance to date.
Calculating her next move to television, Carroll is cast opposite the ideal "white" bitch, . She returns to television as the "first black bitch" Dominique Devereaux on Dynasty.
Carroll with Billy Dee Williams, both mature images of black sophistication, wealth, and power in Dynasty.
Carroll with current husband Vic Damone, Las Vegas singer.