Born Carol Diann Johnson in the Bronx and raised in Harlem, she attended Music and Art High School, modeled for Ebony as a teenager, and began studying sociology at NYU before leaving to pursue entertainment. After winning a televised singing contest in 1954, she debuted on screen in the musical Carmen Jones and on Broadway in House of Flowers, later appearing in Porgy and Bess (1959) and Paris Bl…
