Lena Horne, Singer and Actress, Dies at 92

[babylonsister]

Lena Horne, Singer and Actress, Dies at 92
By ALJEAN HARMETZ
Published: May 9, 2010


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.


Leo Friedman

Lena Horne appeared in “Jamaica,” a musical that ran on Broadway from 1957 to 1959.


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.

more...

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

[Brickbat]

1. How sad; she was awesome. Many of us from a certain generation remember her singing on Sesame

Street:

With Grover, "How Do You Do"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Y0lJ8ELvI&feature=channel

With Kermit, "It's Not That Easy Being Green"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPvZR6DTbq8

With a bunch of Muppets, singing the ABCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0TyUOJfpQo&feature=channel

I remember as a child being impressed with her. I was growing up in a very remote, small, homogeneously white town, and her style of singing and talking was fascinating to me.

She did a lot of work for the civil rights movement. Rest in peace, gallant one.

[malaise]

2. My dad adored Lena Horne

and so did I. R.I.P. great lady. :cry:

[lpbk2713]

3. Ed Bradley's story on Lena was a classic.

Ed was in awe of her, and rightly so.



Link: http://vodpod.com/watch/1178709-ed-bradley-favorite-interview-lena-horne

[Hepburn]

4. I absolutely loved her...

...RIP, Ms. Horne. :cry:

[SoCalDem]

5. What a great, long life she had. and we were lucky to have had her so long

RIP, Lena

[blogslut]

6. Rest in peace

Dear Lady

[freddie mertz]

7. What a great talent.

Loved her. RIP.

[panader0]

8. RIP She was great

[Warpy]

9. I'll have to play my favorite, "Lena Goes Latin," later today

She was a remarkable talent who left us a remarkable legacy of recordings.

Sleep well, fine lady.

[crim son]

10. She was a talented, beautiful woman.

RIP, Ms. Horne.

[NuttyFluffers]

11. i'll miss her, she was great!

:(

rest in peace, dear. O8)

[political_Dem]

12. A lovely woman, a phenomenal talent and a brave trailblazer in show business.

My condolences to her family. Her presence and wonderful voice will be deeply missed. I also thank her for fighting the good fight when it came to bestowing Black people (and Black entertainers) with a sense of dignity in the world at large.

Rest in peace for a job well done.

[lpbk2713]

13. Kick for a great lady

:kick: