Posted on 05/09/2010 10:17:59 PM PDT by Borges
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 Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan.
Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.
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."
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at hamptonroads.com ...
What a great loss.
Eternal rest...
RIP.
Oh, my goodness. I thought she was timeless. How I loved her; what a sweet diva. Hope her name’s in the Book.
RIP ma’am.
The truly greats are slipping away faster than I care to acknowledge.
Bless you for the gifts and pleasures you gave us, Amen.
bump
bump
Will always remember her from her appearance on Sanford and Son.
What a gift that lady is to the world! That gift will never die.
RIP
I remember that.
Rest in peace.
You know who I always thought she looked like - Jerry Seinfeld.
May she Rest In Peace.
Ohhhh...hate to learn this. She was such a classy, beautiful, and genuine woman. Her talent was unique...so much emotion when she sang. She will be missed.
She almost gave Fred a real heart attack!
Rest in peace, Ms. Horne...
LOL Thanks for posting the photo.
RIP
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