Clarice Taylor (b. September 20 1927, Buckingham County, Virginia) is an American actress.

Clarice Taylor is a stage, film and television actress best known for her recurring role on television on The Cosby Show as Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable (Bill Cosby)'s mother, Anna Huxtable. She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1986 for the role.

She was raised in New York City and started working in the theatre—with the American Negro Theatre—at a time when there were few opportunities for African American actors. To support herself she followed in her father's (Leon B. Taylor Sr.) footsteps and went to work for the U.S. Post Office. In the 1960s she got her big break that enabled her to act full time.

Taylor was one of the founding members of the Negro Ensemble Company, headquartered in the East Village on St. Marks Place. It was while working with the NEC that she got her first offer of a movie role in Change of Mind. Her next film role was as "Minnie" in Otto Preminger's Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.

In 1971 she played "Birdie" in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me. In 1973 she brought a role she had pioneered off- Broadway to film playing "Gladys Brooks", who turns and stands up for herself in Five On The Blackhand Side.

Ms. Taylor made it to Broadway in the hit musical The Wiz, where she played "Addaperle, The Good Witch of the North". She has worked steadily since then on stage, screen and TV.

Her most recent performance was in a touring production of her own one-woman show, Moms, for which she won an Obie.

African-American actress for over five decades, performing on stage, radio, television, and in film; co-founder of Harlem's American Negro Theatre.

Involved in a lawsuit in the late 1980s over ownership rights of the play "Moms," based on the life of Chitlin' Circuit comedienne Moms Mabley. Ms. Taylor developed interest in creating a full-length play after portraying Moms in a sketch in an off-off-Broadway production in the early 1980s. Taylor collaborated with friend and Obie-winning writer Alice Childress on the play with Childress receiving sole copyright for her writing of the play, although Taylor provided much of the research material and suggested characters and scenes. Eventually, personal and professional relations broke down between the two, and Taylor produced a new play based on the comedienne. Alleged copyright infringements eventually led to a legal action with Childress emerging victorious.

Best known on TV for playing the recurring role of Harriet (David's grandmother) on "Sesame Street" (1969) and Bill Cosby's mother on "Cosby Show, The" (1984).

Played the role of Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in the musical Wiz, The (1978/II). Later recreated the role in the film version released at the same time as the the film that starred Diana Ross (I), Wiz, The (1978/I), in which the character was known as Miss One.