Lena Horne
Biography
Lena Horne (June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010) was a singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist.
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. Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums.
She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000. Horne died on May 9, 2010 in New York City.
During her lifetime, Horne was awarded four Grammys, a Tony, and a NAACP Image Award . She also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1984.
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Full filmography
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self (archive footage)
- The Mike Douglas Show (1961) as Self
- The Cosby Show (1984) as Lena Horne
- Tony Awards (1956) as Self - Host
- Tony Awards (1956) as Self - Recipient / Performer
- Tony Awards (1956) as Self - Presenter
- Tony Awards (1956) as Self - Co-Hostess
- Great Performances (1971) as Self
- American Masters (1986) as Self
- A Different World (1987) as Self
- The Muppet Show (1976) as Self - Special Guest Star / Lola Bramswell
- The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) as Self
- What's My Line? (1950) as Self
- The Oscars (1953) as Self
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) as Self
- Sanford and Son (1972)
- MGM Parade (1955)
- MGM Parade (1955) as Self
- Reading Rainbow (1983) as Self - Narrator (voice)
- The Steve Allen Show (1956) as Self - Singer
- The Kennedy Center Honors (1978) as Self
- The Dean Martin Show (1965)
- Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968) as Self (uncredited)