Videos: Diahann Carroll

Diahann Carroll is best known as an African-American actress who appeared in movies in the 1950s and then on TV in the'60s and beyond—most notably on Julia and Dynasty. Julia aired on NBC from 1968 to 1971 and starred Carroll as a widowed nurse who worked in a white doctor's office (Lloyd Nolan). It was the first network TV show to feature an African-American woman in the lead role (Gail Fisher, Mannix's secretary, played a supporting role).

But Carroll also was a highly accomplished singer and entertainer, and she appeared often on TV variety shows and top supper clubs as a pop vocalist. Adults then knew she could sing but not kids, who were tuned into rock and soul. As a result, she's not well known today as a singer among former kids who now are graying adults.

By the early 1960s, she was an A-list celebrity who was invited to JFK's inauguration party in January 1961 and sang for the new president after. Here are videos of Carroll singing over the years:

Here's Diahann Carroll with Judy Garland in Feb. 1964...



Here's Carroll on the same show, singing Quiet Nights...



Here's Carroll in 1967...



Here's Carroll with Tom Jones in 1969...



Here's Carroll with Cher singing Ease on Down the Road in 1976...



And here's Carroll in concert in 2010...