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Her highness was embarrassed.

It was nearly 11 years ago when I talked with Hollywood legend and trailblazer Cicely Tyson, who — in her 80s at the time — was about to be presented with the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor.

The Harlem, New York, native would be the 95th recipient of the citation, which is given for outstanding and notable achievement by an African American.

This was a huge moment.

Ms. Tyson — as she preferred to be called — was walking royalty to generations of Black folks who felt seen because of her amplified presence.

But on this day, Ms. Tyson was embarrassed.

Humbled, to be sure. But also embarrassed.

She drew a deep breath, let out a long sigh and giggled at the idea that the civil rights organization, which she’d long supported, would want to honor her in such a way. And then she spoke to me.

“I tell you,” she said slowly, “I haven’t gotten used to the idea yet. I don’t know when I will, but every day I review it and I haven’t gotten used to it yet.”

But she had no choice. She earned those flowers.

Ms. Tyson died on Thursday afternoon. S

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Cicely Tyson

In 1959 Tyson appeared in Carroll's Off-Broadway revival of the musical The Dark of the Moon, and in a Broadway variety show called Talent '59; she also understudied for Eartha Kitt in the role of Jolly Rivers in Jolly's Progress. Tyson landed a small part in the film Odds Against Tomorrow and a larger one in the courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men, which starred Henry Fonda. When she first auditioned for Twelve Angry Men, Tyson was told she was too chic to play the part of a girl from the slums, and was turned away. "I went home and got myself up in a costume that was out of this world," she recalled to Ms. "I found a skirt that was too big and botched up the hemline. Then I put on a dirty raincoat, sloppy shoes, an old hat, and mussed up my hair." When Tyson returned to the auditions, the office secretary didn't even want to let her in the door, but the casting agent was suitably impressed, and she was hired.

In 1961 Tyson became one of the original cast members of the Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's controversial drama The Blacks. She was in

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Cicely Tyson's Rich and Bountiful Life

In the 32 years Cicely Tyson has lived in the same New York City apartment building, none of her neighbors have paid her much attention or even seemed to know she was there.

Not anymore, says the actress, as she sits in a Beverly Wilshire Hotel suite, red-carpet chic in a lavender satin sheath and black-and-white snakeskin heels, her only embellishment a simple gold cross dangling around her neck.

“I’d just go in and out,” she says with an infectious laugh. “But all of a sudden, people in my building started sending me beautiful notes and flowers. I’m no longer a secret.”

The word finally got out, it seems, with the revival of Horton Foote’s classic, The Trip to Bountiful, which opened on Broadway in April 2013 and ran for more than six months.

Tyson’s triumphant performance earned her a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Award and her first Tony Award for best actress in a play — it even drew First Lady Michelle Obama, who brought daughters Malia and Sasha to the must-see show.

Michael Wilson, a longtime Foote aficionado, directe