Lena Horne dies at 92..

[HipChick]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/arts/music/10horne.html

Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan.

Ms. Horne and Cab Calloway in “Stormy Weather.” The title song became one of her signatures.

Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.

Ms. Horne might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early, and languished at MGM in the 1940s because of the color of her skin, although she was so light-skinned that, when she was a child, other black children had taunted her, accusing her of having a “white daddy.”

Ms. Horne was stuffed into one “all-star” musical after another — “Thousands Cheer” (1943), “Broadway Rhythm” (1944), “Two Girls and a Sailor” (1944), “Ziegfeld Follies” (1946), “Words and Music” (1948) — to sing a song or two that could easily be snipped from the movie when it played in the South, where the idea of an African-American performer in anything but a subservient role in a movie with an otherwise all-white cast was unthinkable.

“The only time I ever said a word to another actor who was white was Kathryn Grayson in a little segment of ‘Show Boat’ ” included in “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946), a movie about the life of Jerome Kern, Ms. Horne said in an interview in 1990. In that sequence she played Julie, a mulatto forced to flee the showboat because she has married a white man.

But when MGM made “Show Boat” into a movie for the second time, in 1951, the role of Julie was given to a white actress, Ava Gardner, who did not do her own singing. (Ms. Horne was no longer under contract to MGM at the time, and according to James Gavin’s Horne biography, “Stormy Weather,” published last year, she was never seriously considered for the part.) And in 1947, when Ms. Horne herself married a white man — the prominent arranger, conductor and pianist Lennie Hayton, who was for many years both her musical director and MGM’s — the marriage took place in France and was kept secret for three years.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Nooooooo! Not my Girl!

:cry:

Nooooo!

[saltpoint]

2. A great loss. She was a top-drawer vocalist.

Rest in peace, Ms. Horne. And thank you for the musicianship.

[Hekate]

3. Rest in peace, Ms Horne. Your singing gave us so much pleasure. nt

[KingFlorez]

4. An icon that broke down many doors

Unfortunately, her movie career was limited do to the era, but she made a big impact.

[hlthe2b]

5. I had no idea she was 92... She always seemed 10-20 years younger

than her true age. Lovely woman and talented performer. RIP, MS. Horne. You exuded class.

[rpannier]

11. Thought the same thing

But I remembered from Sanford and Son (TV Series) that Fred was always talking about her

And when I was a kid (5-6) she sung the ABC song on Sesame Street (1969-71 somewhere in that period)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. It's sad even though she had a great, long life...

I'm sorry to hear it.

Safe passage to her!

RIP, Lena...you've more than earned it...

[lonestarnot]

7. Ahhh.

Sad. But 92 wow. I'm getting old too.

[saltpoint]

9. I think you're getting younger, lonestarnot. It feels that way from

reading your posts on this site.

I'll miss Ms. Horne. What a stylist. What a sizzler of a star, too.

[LiberalAndProud]

8. Truly a star.

She was talented, beautiful and charismatic. They may have kept her off the big screen, but they could not extinguish her light. Godspeed, Ms. Horne.

[rpannier]

10. Very Very VERY Sad

My kids love her ABC song on Sesame Street (You Tube)

She had a great voice

[eleny]

12. Another icon is gone, so sad

Rest in peace.

[acme journalist]

13. Remember watching Lena on The Muppet Show?

She was awesome. RIP

WATCH: Muppet Show S1 E11 P3 - Lena Horne

[TheDebbieDee]

14. RIP Ms. Horne...........

[KT2000]

15. Oh dear, how sad

A real talent, beauty and breaker of barriers. A life well lived.

[G_j]

16. she was truly great

rest in peace Lena

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. The lady who never got old. Amazing woman.

There was a retrospective of famous musicians on 60 Minutes, and I remember seeing her sing
"I believe in you like I believe in me".

Dynamite lady!!!

:cry: RIP Great lady!

[Dr Morbius]

18. A class act; America loses a treasure. RIP (nt)

[Booster]

19. One of the most memorable concerts I've ever been to. What a

great - no grand- lady Lena was. RIP, beautiful lady.

[dhill926]

20. a glass is raised......a supreme talent........n/t

[fishwax]

21. RIP to an individual of great talent and class

[tainted_chimp]

22. Nooooo!!!

I loved her so much.

My best pal & I saw her do her one woman show when we were oddball teenage kids.



She was crazy brilliant.

Rest in peace, you funny beautiful talented woman....

:cry:

[Kablooie]

23. I'm glad she got to see Obama become president.

[XOKCowboy]

24. Oh no. Such a sweet wonderful voice.

One of my dad's favorite singers.

[AnArmyVeteran]

25. Lena Horne met John F. Kennedy at the White House two days before he was assassinated...

[ConsAreLiars]

26. Barely hinted at by the jackass NYTimes, she was a strong and effective activist all her life.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Horne (which tells only a fraction)

Civil rights activism

Horne also is noteworthy for her contributions to the Civil Rights movement. In 1941, she sang at Cafe Society and worked with Paul Robeson, a singer who also combated American racial discrimination. During World War II, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated audiences or to groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen",<6> according to her Kennedy Center biography. She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi the weekend before Evers was assassinated. She also met President John F. Kennedy at the White House two days before he was assassinated. She was at the March on Washington and spoke and performed on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC and the National Council of Negro Women. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching laws.<7> She was a member of the prominent organization, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

(edit to add, rec'd)

[DearAbby]

27. RIP Pretty lady

we are going to miss you.

[Skidmore]

28. Oh, no. What a loss! Such a great voice and a great lady.

Hope her crossing was peaceful.

[unhappycamper]

29. RIP Lena. Your voice will be missed. n/t