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We Remember: The Cosby Show’s Clarice Taylor

*Respected actress Clarice Taylor, a longtime fixture in film and theatre, passed away. Taylor, perhaps best known for role as Bill Cosby’s matriarch mother on the “Cosby Show,” was 93 when she succumbed to heart failure. At the time of her passing she was surrounded by her family.

Before retiring from Hollywood in 2009, Taylor built up a legendary resume of stage and theatre work that included starring in The Wiz, To Be Young, Gifted and Black and Moms, Mabley, and Moms.

Taylor earned an Emmy nomination in 1986 for her recurring role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s mother, Anna Huxtable, on the long-running sitcom. A performer on stage, radio, TV and film for over five decades, the actress was a member of the New York stage group, the Negro Ensemble Company, and helped to pave the way for African-American actors in the early 1960s.

Her own big break came that decade when she landed the role of Harriet, David’s grandmother, on Sesame Street. She also starred alongside Liza Minelli in 1970′s Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon and played Grady’s
Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son.

Taylor is survived by her two sons, William and James, and her five grandchildren.