Clarice Taylor

Born in Virginia and raised in New York City, Clarice Taylor is a veteran African-American actress. In the late 1960s, Taylor helped to found the Negro Ensemble Company, a Manhattan-based organization that would later count many prominent black actors among its ranks. In addition to her many stage roles (most notably Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in "The Wiz"), Taylor appeared in Clint Eastwood's '71 directorial debut, "Play Misty for Me," and "Five on the Black Hand Side," a '73 comedy based on the play of the same name, a production that she also starred in. While Taylor has worked occasionally in film and television during subsequent decades, guest-starring on shows such as "Sanford and Son" and "Spencer: For Hire," she is best known for her two recurring roles as a grandmother-Harriet on "Sesame Street" and Anna, the mother of Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, on "The Cosby Show."