Lena Horne (1917-2010) is an American singer and actress from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for singing “Stormy Weather” (1943). She had beauty, talent, grace, courage and was proud to be black. She was one of the best paid black performers of the 1940s but then was blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s.
She was born in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in New York in 1917 – within five years of the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Dorothy Dandridge. Her family was solidly middle-class, having university degrees and important positions in the NAACP and the Urban League.
By 1933 at age 16 she was already dancing at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington looked out for her in a fatherly way. Later she appeared on Broadway and went on the road as a band singer. She was once with a white swing band, but the racism from audiences, hotels and restaurants was too much. (Even after she became famous some white people still called her “nigger” to her face.)
In 1941 she went to Hollywood and in time signed with MGM, making her the first black woman to land a big Hollywood contract. The other black actors hated her because she refused to take stereotyped parts like they did, like maids and African natives. Hollywood did not know what to do with her, so in most films she does not play a character at all but appears as a singer, looking beautiful and graceful. They cut out her parts when they appeared in the American South.
In 1947 she married one of the top white musicians at MGM. In those days California had laws against race mixing, so they got married in Paris. But after that she rarely got parts in films.
In 1951 she tried out for the part of a mixed-race character in “Showboat”. She was light-skinned but she still lost the part to a white actress, Ava Gardner. They darkened Gardner’s appearance and told her to learn to sing like Lena Horne. That allowed them to avoid showing a white man kissing a true black woman.
Soon after Hollywood blacklisted her as someone who favours communism. She was no further to the left than, say, Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was friends with Paul Robeson, who was a communist, and she was for civil rights for blacks.
She left Hollywood to become a singer. She sang in night clubs and became RCA’s top-selling female singer of all time.
In the 1960s she was part of the civil rights movement. She was at the March on Washington and sang at protests for the National Council of Negro Women.
In the 1970s she appeared in television ads, like for Sanka, and was Glinda the Good Witch in “The Wiz” on Broadway and on film.
In the early 1980s she appeared in what became the longest running one-woman show on Broadway. She continued her singing into the 1990s, making her last recording in 2000. She passed away Sunday night.
Rest in peace.
– Abagond, 2010.
See also:
She is a true legend RIP
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Recognize a true legend!
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Fantastic, Abagond, Lena Horne is a special beauty.
So many black entertainers went through so many hardships touring around the USA. To hear their stories of segragation and race hatred is a true baromoter how shamful and bad things were for all black Americans back then .
The jazz age is truly a great example of the American state of mind. Jazz, a black American innovation, was copied by whites who then made most of the success from it. The dances and swing life style were totaly integrated into the Ameican way of life back then and , the black entertainers and innovaters had to face shamful discrimination just for being black
Lena Horne, wonderful woman
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Beautiful post, Abagond. Thanks for this.
Qu’elle repose en paix, indeed.
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Looking at the image I had almost forgotten that she had sung ‘Stormy Weather’ and that it featured the legendary dancer Katherine Dunham.
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Lena Horne is a true gem. She will be missed by all. Rest in peace, Miss Horne.
La Reyna
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i love her. Lena Horne is a true queen and will always be a legend. I remember seeing Showboat w/ Ava Gardner, Lena would have been awesome in that role. Lena Horne, Nina Mae Mckinney and Dorothy Dandridge are my favorite classic black film stars…
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J Thanks for that clip, and mentioning Katherine Dunham. Lena looks so beautiful …
From the 20’s to the 60’s, the amount of incredible talent in black American music was just astounding.
It really was the soul of America coming out.
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[quote]In 1951 she tried out for the part of a mixed-race character in “Showboat”. She was light-skinned but she still lost the part to a white actress, Ava Gardner. They darkened Gardner’s appearance and told her to learn to sing like Lena Horne. That allowed them to avoid showing a white man kissing a true black woman.[/quote]
It goes to show how stupid racist Hollywood was and still is. I mean, the character was mixed-race and yet, Ava Gardner was chosen. If the producers wanted Ava Gardner to sing like Lena, they should have had the real deal. RIP Miss. Horne. You were one of a kind…immensely talented, classy, and beautiful.
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She had an amazing life. RIP
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Great read.
Lena Horne was the epitome of class and dignity.
Many hardly understand the struggles that she endured while becoming the legend she definitely is, and paving the way for future generations.
May she rest in peace.
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I love watching short clips of her on youtube! Its sooo horrid to know about hoe stupid, ignorant and prejudiced. I hate the idea of the producers/directors telling someone else to sing like Lena. How sick and insulting. I am so glad she achieved what she did though, it seemed she was very frank on her opinion of race relations esp after leaving Hollywood.
Lena Horne and others of her time were so classy and poised. I wish current musicians would take some notes. Rumor has it Beyonce will soon play her in a movie. I like Bey n all but she is NOT suitable for that role! No way
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@annaleisha – Beyonce’s name has been banded about for a lot of black actress/singer biopics as of late. Let’s hope this is just a rumor.
But you’re right about our current generation of black stars. Many of them wouldn’t know class if it kicked them in the face.
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I heard that Alicia Keys may play her, I think Alicia would be a better choice than Beyonce. However I think they should look aroung before they start throwing role around.
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@sw6
exactly!
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They should get an unknown to play Lena Horne. Usually the person that gets picked never does the role justice. Only Halle Berry did Dorothy Dandridge justice and that’s because the role was “meant’ for her.
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Who will portray her in a biopic? I hope to God it’s not Beyoncé.
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I love her anecdote about Ava Gardner in her Dark Egyptian. She was a class act.
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In an alternate universe, Lena Horne was Estelle Fletcher:
https://carrington.fandom.com/wiki/Estelle_Fletcher
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