Former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and film mogul Tyler Perry were among participants in a private memorial service for legendary actress Cicely Tyson in Harlem on Tuesday.
The nearly three-hour service was held at the Abyssinian Baptist Church on West 138th Street, where just a day earlier hundreds of fans of the pioneer icon had lined up to pay their respects at a public display.
“The ceremony was beautiful. It was very Cicely Tyson: it was formal, it was funny, it was sad, it was glorious, ”said Tyson’s longtime manager Larry Thompson.
Also present for the private service were gospel singer BeBe Winans and singer and songwriter Valerie Simpson, from the duo Ashford & Simpson.
Winans sang “Stand” – which Tyson asked for before he died – while rocker Lenny Kravitz read a letter.
Broadway dancer and choreographer George Faison, activist Faye Wattleton and pianist Joseph Joubert were also seen at the service.
Then, six porters loaded his coffin into a hearse.
Tyson, a native of Harlem, died on January 28 at age 96.
The award-winning actress and model whose career spanned seven decades, was the first black woman to have a recurring role in a dramatic television series, the 1963 drama “East Side, West Side”.
She won two Emmys for playing a 110-year-old ex-slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”.
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