Clarice Taylor, 93, 'Cosby' grandma, dies

Clarice Taylor, a veteran stage actress best known to TV audiences as Cliff Huxtable's mother, Anna, on "The Cosby Show," has died. She was 93.

People.com -- which first reported her passing -- said Wednesday she had died of heart failure.

Taylor's career on TV largely centered on two big roles -- Harriet on "Sesame Street" (also a grandma) and especially Anna on "The Cosby Show," for which she earned an outstanding guest Emmy nomination in 1986 for the episode "Happy Anniversary."

She appeared only intermittently over the years, as sweet, diminutive Grandma Huxtable, wife of musician Russell Huxtable, played by Earle Hyman.

"Happy Anniversary" was an instance of exquisite timing, for this was the episode featuring the family serenading the grandparents to Ray Charles' "The Nighttime is the Right Time" -- one of the more famous scenes in TV history.

Born in Virginia, raised in New York, Taylor was an alumna of the famed Negro Ensemble Company, founded in 1965 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, which launched or nurtured the careers of dozens of prominent black actors, including "The Cosby Show" co-star Phylicia Rashad, who later described Taylor as one of her idols.

Taylor had a handful of movie credits, including "Play Misty for Me," but much of her long career was focused on the New York stage.

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She developed, wrote and starred in a 1987 play titled "Moms" -- about the comedian Jackie "Moms" Mabley, and as Addaperle in "The Wiz" during its 1974-79 run. (Her performance was described as "beautifully tacky" by Newsweek critic Jack Kroll.)

People.com said she is survived by her two sons, William and James, and her five grandchildren.