(Best known as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, for which she received two Emmy Award Nominations, Phylicia Rashad is also the first African-American actress to win the Tony Award for best leading Actress for “A Raisin in the Sun.” In 2009 she won the NAACP Image Award for outstanding Actress.)
by Stella Strout
Born on June 19th 1948 in Texas, also known as Juneteenth, the day African-Americans were given Emancipation in Texas, Phylicia Rashad (then Allen) took comfort in the knowledge that she was special, after all, everyone in town celebrated on her birthday.
Poised and confident and beautiful, Rashad’s rich mellow voice commanded the attention of the hundreds of women attending the Smart Talk 2009 Series at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“The sun and the moon followed me wherever I went.” Rashad said of her childhood. It was another proof that she was special. Then one day, when climbing a tree as high as she could go, she fell. Landing in a lower branch, shaped like a hand, she was caught safely. Now she knew, not only was she special… she was invincible!
She and her siblings were encouraged to be creative and value education by their mother, Vivian Ayers. When the children sprinkled baby powder on the living room floor to go ice skating or scattered cornflakes on the porch so that the crunching noise would warn them of a possible intruder, their mother’s only response was, eyes raised to the ceiling, “Mercy.” She never discouraged their “inventions.”
Rashad spoke often of her mother’s advice and lessons throughout the evening. Art, Ayers had explained to her children, is fundamental to human development. Rashad found that it was also her gateway to freedom.
While in grade school, Rashad was chosen as Mistress of Ceremonies in a state school competition. On stage, she would stand in the spotlight and talk to the light, speaking her memorized lines. After the show she heard people talking about her, saying, “Look at that girl. She’s so beautiful.” It was exactly what Rashad wanted to hear.
“When I grow up,” She decided, “I’ll be an actress and play in the light and be beautiful all the time.”
Rashad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University and moved to New York City.
“Shaft was on every corner.” She said. “I was totally unprepared for the city.”
She lived at a YWCA and supported herself typing, a skill her mother taught her when she was just seven years old. Rashad started in community shows and was spotted for a part in “Young, Gifted and Black.” Soon after, Rashad took a part in a musical, and was let go before the show began. Special and invincible no longer applied.
“It felt like the ground disappeared beneath my feet.”
Instilled with a strong work ethic by her parents, Rashad got back to work, married and had a son. She was hired as an understudy in “Dream Girls” on Broadway.
“I saw my son in the morning and then in bed at night when I got home.” When she was passed over as a full time replacement, Rashad quit.
“I told him I wasn’t an understudy. I was a leading lady. He said, ‘You’re right.’ And I left.”
“Sometimes you think you made a wrong turn, but it turns out to be the right one.” She says about that period of her life. Divorced by then, she went on unemployment which gave her time with her son and a chance to rediscover him. Then, joining the cast of “One Life to Live” she could work days and see her son at night.
Soon after her father died, a crushing event for Rashad, she had the opportunity to audition for “The Cosby Show.” Her fame from this show would forever overshadow her other, numerous accomplishments. Rashad does not regret a minute of it and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity.
In 1985, Rashad married former NFL receiver Ahmad Rashad. By then she had two children and had a third child during this marriage. Although the marriage did not last, Rashad speaks of love.
“Love is a constant in life.” She explains, “Love has always been there and always will be. There isn’t a lot else that matters.”
Rashad’s love of her children, her spirituality and her mother’s advice carries her through life. She advises other mothers to “Bring your children everywhere with you. Find a way to make them part of your life.”
When asked what she would do differently in life, Rashad said she had only one regret, not pursuing piano lessons.
