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Lena Horne (June 30th 1917 – May 9th 2010) was a singer, civil rights activist, dancer and actress who played Glinda in the 1978 film The Wiz. She was also known for her work with civil rights groups and refused to play roles that stereotyped African American women, a stance that many found controversial.

Biography[]

Born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a banker/professional gambler and an actress. Both parents had a mixed heritage of African American, European American and Native American descent.

Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood.

By the end of the 1940s, Horne had sued a variety of restaurants and theaters for discrimination and become an outspoken member of the leftist group Progressive Citizens of America. Horne soon found herself blacklisted, believed to be due in part to her friendship with actor Paul Robeson, who was also blacklisted. She still performed primarily in high end nightclubs around the country as well as Europe and was also able to make some TV appearances. The ban had eased by the mid-1950s, and Horne returned to the screen in the 1956 comedy Meet Me in Las Vegas, though she would not act in another film for more than a decade.

Horne remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, performing at rallies around the country on behalf of the NAACP and the National Council for Negro Women, and she participated in the 1963 March on Washington. During this era, she also released albums like Feelin' Good (1965) and Lena in Hollywood (1966).

In 1970, she co-starred with Harry Belafonte in the hour-long "Harry and Lena" for ABC; in 1973, she co-starred with Tony Bennett in "Tony and Lena". Horne and Bennett subsequently toured the U.S. and U.K. in a show together. In the 1976 program Salutes Richard Rodgers, she sang a lengthy medley of Rodgers songs with Peggy Lee and Vic Damone. Horne also made several appearances on The Flip Wilson Show.

In 1970 and 1971, Horne’s son, father and brother died. Though she toured with Tony Bennett in 1973 and 1974 and made some television appearances, she spent several years in deep mourning and was less visible.

Additionally, Horne played herself on television programs such as The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and Sandford and Son in the 1970s, as well a 1985 performance on The Cosby Show and a 1993 appearance on A Different World. In the summer of 1980, Horne, was intent on retiring from show business, embarked on a two-month series of benefit concerts sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta. These concerts were represented as Horne's farewell tour, yet her retirement lasted less than a year.

In 1981, Horne made a return to Broadway with her one-woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. The acclaimed production ran on Broadway for 14 months, then toured in the United States and abroad. The show won a Drama Desk Award and a special Tony, as well as two Grammys for its soundtrack. In 1994, Horne gave one of her last concerts, at New York’s Supper Club. The performance was recorded and released in 1995 as An Evening With Lena Horne: Live at the Supper Club, which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Horne died on May 9, 2010, in New York City of heart failure. Horne's funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York City.

Filmography[]

Film[]

  • Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party (1935, short subject)
  • The Duke Is Tops (1938)
  • Panama Hattie (1942)
  • Cabin in the Sky (1943)
  • Stormy Weather (1943)
  • Thousands Cheer (1943)
  • I Dood It (1943)
  • Swing Fever (1943)
  • Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944, short subject filmed in 1941)
  • Broadway Rhythm (1944)
  • Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
  • Studio Visit (1946) (short subject; featuring outtake from Cabin in the Sky)
  • Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
  • Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
  • Words and Music (1948)
  • Some of the Best (1949, short subject)
  • Duchess of Idaho (1950)
  • Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
  • The Heart of Show Business (1957, short subject)
  • Now! (1965) (short subject, voice only)
  • Death of a Gunfighter (1969)
  • The Wiz (1978)
  • That's Entertainment! III (1994)
  • Strange Frame (archive footage, 2012)

Television[]

  • What's My Line? (as Mystery Guest, September 27, 1953)
  • Ed Sullivan Show (January 6, 1957)
  • "What's My Line?" (as Mystery Guest, March 2, 1958)
  • The Judy Garland Show (as herself, October 13, 1963)
  • The Perry Como Show (as herself, March 5, 1965)
  • Sesame Street (as herself, Episode #5.1, November 19, 1973)
  • Sanford & Son ("A Visit from Lena Horne" as herself, #2. January 12, 1973)
  • The Muppet Show (as herself, 1976)
  • Sesame Street (as herself, Episode #7.76, March 15, 1976)
  • The Cosby Show ("Cliff's Birthday" as herself, May 9, 1985)
  • A Different World ("A Rock, a River, a Lena" as herself, July 1993)

Discography[]

  • Moanin' Low (RCA Victor, 1942)
  • Classics in Blue (Black & White, 1947)
  • Lena Horne Sings (Tops, 1953)
  • It's Love (RCA Victor, 1955)
  • Lena Horne (Tops, 1956)
  • Jamaica with Ricardo Montalban (RCA Victor, 1957)
  • Stormy Weather (RCA Victor, 1957)
  • Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria (RCA Victor, 1957)
  • Lena and Ivie with Ivie Anderson (Jazztone, 1957)
  • I Feel So Smoochie (Lion, 1958)
  • Give the Lady What She Wants (RCA Victor, 1958)
  • Songs by Burke and Van Heusen (RCA Victor, 1959)
  • Porgy & Bess with Harry Belafonte (RCA Victor, 1959)
  • Lena Horne at the Sands (RCA Victor, 1961)
  • L' inimitable Lena Horne with Phil Moore (Explosive, 1962)
  • Lena...Lovely and Alive (RCA Victor, 1962)
  • Lena on the Blue Side (RCA Victor, 1962)
  • Fabulous! (Baronet, 1962)
  • Here's Lena Now! (20th Century Fox, 1963)
  • Swinging Lena Horne (Coronet, 1963)
  • Lena Horne Sings Your Requests (MGM, 1963)
  • Lena Like Latin (CRC Charter 1963)
  • Gloria Lynne & Lena Horne (Coronet, 1963)
  • The Incomparable Lena Horne (Tops, 1963)
  • Feelin' Good (United Artists, 1965)
  • Merry from Lena (United Artists, 1966)
  • Soul (United Artists, 1966)
  • Lena in Hollywood (United Artists, 1966)
  • The Horne of Plenty (World Record Club 1966)
  • Dinah Washington: A Memorial Tribute with Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan (Coronet, 1967)
  • My Name Is Lena (United Artists, 1967)
  • Lena & Gabor with Gábor Szabó (Skye, 1970)
  • Harry & Lena with Harry Belafonte (RCA, 1970)
  • Nature's Baby (Buddah, 1971)
  • Lena (Ember, 1971)
  • Lena & Michel with Michel Legrand (RCA Victor, 1975)
  • Lena: A New Album (RCA, 1976)
  • The Exciting Lena Horne (Springboard, 1977)
  • Love from Lena (Koala, 1979)
  • Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (Qwest, 1981)
  • A Date with Lena Horne 1944 (Sunbeam, 1981)
  • The One & Only (Polydor, 1982)
  • Standing Room Only (Accord, 1982)
  • The Men in My Life (Three Cherries, 1988)
  • Lena (Prestige, 1990)
  • We'll Be Together Again (Blue Note, 1994)
  • An Evening with Lena Horne (Blue Note, 1995)
  • Cabin in the Sky (TCM, 1996)
  • Wonderful Lena (Sovereign, 1997)
  • Being Myself (Blue Note, 1998)
  • The Complete Black and White Recordings (Simitar, 1999)
  • The Classic Lena Horne (RCA, 2001)
  • Stormy Weather (Bluebird, 2002)
  • Seasons of a Life (Blue Note, 2006)
  • Singles
  • "That's What Love Did to Me"/"I Take to You" (Decca)[57]
  • "Stormy Weather" (1943)
  • "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (1945) No. 21 U.S. Pop
  • "'Deed I Do" (1948) No. 26 U.S. Pop
  • "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955) No. 19 U.S. Pop (Disc Jockey Chart)
  • "Now!" (1963) No. 92 U.S. Pop
  • "Watch What Happens" with Gabor Szabo (1970) No. 119 U.S. Pop

Gallery[]

External Links[]


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