Diana Sands

Diana Patricia Sands was born one of three children in the Bronx, New York City, on August 22, 1934 to Rudolph Sands, a Bahamian carpenter, and Shirley (née Thomas), a milliner. Having attended elementary school in Elmsford, New York, she enrolled in 1949 at the Music & Art High School (now known as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School), where she was a classmate of Diahann Carroll and Billy Dee Williams.[6] While there, Sands received her first role in a school production of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara. After graduating in 1953, she began her professional career as a dancer, touring with a traveling carnival.

As Beneatha Younger with Claudia McNeil and Sidney Poitier in the Broadway version of A Raisin in the Sun, 1959.

In 1959, Sands landed the role of Beneatha Younger in the Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Two years later, she co-starred alongside Claudia McNeil, Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in the film version of the play. Sands later became a member of the Actors Studio.[7]

In 1964, she was in the first production of James Baldwin's Blues for Mister Charlie; her performance was noted as a highlight of the show. Later the same year she starred opposite Alan Alda in the original Broadway production of The Owl and the Pussycat, gaining a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[8] The show ran for a year, after which she spent much of 1966 starring in the play's London production, playing this time opposite Anton Rodgers.[9]

In 1970, Sands co-starred in the film The Landlord, subsequently appearing in Doctors' Wives and Georgia, Georgia. During this time, Sands met musician Bob Dylan, who, in his memoirs, called her "an electrifying actress who I might have been secretly in love with."[10][11] During the fall of 1972, Sands filmed Honeybaby, Honeybaby on location in Beirut, Lebanon, co-starring Calvin Lockhart. According to Lockhart, Sands went to a local hospital during the filming, knowing that she was already seriously ill.[12] Also in 1972, Sands was engaged to provide a track for the Original New York Cast album of Free to Be... You and Me. However, she had died by the time the ABC Afterschool Special began production, and her previously recorded vocal track wasn't used.

In early 1973, Sands appeared in Willie Dynamite, a blaxploitation film co-starring Roscoe Orman. In late August, she began filming Claudine alongside James Earl Jones in the Harlem section of New York City.[13] According to October 1973 articles published in Jet, Sands collapsed a week into filming and was rushed to a local hospital in early September. During surgery, doctors discovered a cancerous growth in Sands' abdomen, which was diagnosed as pancreatic cancer.[14][15] Due to her aggressive illness, Sands was unable to continue and suggested that her longtime friend Diahann Carroll replace her;[16] the film's producers agreed and cast Carroll.