Birth name Lena Mary Calhoun Horne NationalityUSA Birth 30 june 1917 at New York City (USA) Death 9 may 2010 (at 92 years) at New York City (USA) Awards Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American 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. Because of the Red Scare and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood. Her career spanned over 70 years appearing in film, television and on broadway.
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 she then toured the country in, which earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000.
Biography
Horne married Louis Jordan Jones in January 1937 in Pittsburgh. On December 21, 1937, their daughter, Gail (later known as Gail Lumet Buckley, a writer) was born there. They had a son, Edwin Jones (born February 7, 1940 – September 12, 1970) who died of kidney disease. Horne and Jones separated in 1940 and divorced in 1944.
Horne's second marriage was to Lennie Hayton, who was Music Director and one of the premier musical conductors and arrangers at MGM, in December 1947 in Paris. They separated in the early 1960s, but never divorced; he died in 1971.
In her as-told-to autobiography Lena by Richard Schickel, Horne recounts the enormous pressures she and her husband faced as an interracial couple. She later admitted in an interview in Ebony (May 1980), she had married Hayton to advance her career and cross the "color-line" in show business.
Horne also had a long and close relationship with Billy Strayhorn, whom she said she would have married if he had been heterosexual. He was also an important professional mentor to her.
Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, known for her award-winning screenplay Rachel Getting Married, is Horne's granddaughter, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet and Horne's daughter Gail. Her other grandchildren include Gail's other daughter, Amy Lumet, and her son's three children, Thomas, William, and Lena. Her great-grandchildren include the actor Jake Cannavale.
, 1h38 OriginUSA GenresScience fiction, Action, Animation, Romance ThemesFilms about sexuality, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films ActorsClaudia Black, Tara Strong, Ron Glass, Cree Summer, Tim Curry, Juliet Landau Roles Ethel Andrews (archive footage) Rating72% Set at the end of the 28th century, the human race has long since abandoned a desolate earth, colonizing Jupiter's moons, particularly Ganymede. Most of the refugees fleeing earth did so in exchange for an agreement of indentured servitude, projected to last "at most" one or two generations. However, this proved untrue, and by the 28th century a large portion of the population are in permanent debt bondage from birth. Naia (Tara Strong) is one such debt slave, genetically modified to have enhanced lung capacity in order to survive harsher work environments.
, 1h31 Directed byDon Siegel, Robert Totten OriginUSA GenresAction, Western ActorsRichard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O'Connor, Kent Smith, Jacqueline Scott, John Saxon Roles Claire Quintana Rating62% In the town of Cottonwood Springs, Texas at the turn of the century, Marshal Frank Patch is an Old West style lawman in a community determined to be modern. When Patch kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town decides it is time for the marshal to resign. But Patch refuses, reminding the citizens that when he took he job, the agreement was he could have it as long as he wanted. Afraid of Patch because of his knowledge of their misdeeds in the town's wilder days, the city fathers then decide the only way to remove Patch from office is by violence.
, 1h38 Directed byRobert Z. Leonard OriginUSA GenresComedy, Romantic comedy, Musical, Romance ThemesFilms about music and musicians, Sports films, Musical films ActorsVan Johnson, Esther Williams, John Lund, Paula Raymond, Amanda Blake, Mel Tormé Roles Lena Horne Rating62% Christine Riverton Duncan (Esther Williams) attempts to play matchmaker for her lovelorn friend Ellen (Paula Raymond) by pursuing Douglas J. Morrissen, Jr. (John Lund), the man Ellen loves, all the way to Idaho. There, Christine decides to play a joke on Douglas. After boarding his train to Sun Valley, Christine wins the man's affections and then shocks him with hints that she expects a commitment. Once she's in Sun Valley, however, things become problematic when Christine falls in love with hotel bandleader Dick Layne (Van Johnson). During her time in Sun Valley, Christine wins the title of "Duchess of Idaho" in a dance contest.
, 13minutes OriginUSA GenresMusical ThemesMusical films ActorsLena Horne Rating70% In a nightclub, Teddy Wilson and his orchestra are laying down their last groove for the night. In the audience, Mr. Weathercoop (Russel Morrison) and his date (Virginia Pine) briefly discuss Wilson's band. Back in the kitchen, where Albert Ammons is hanging paper and Pete Johnson tunes a piano, a kitchen maid (Lena Horne) begins to sing about how she would like to perform in a new gown, rather than to wash dishes. Pete Johnson provides an impromptu accompaniment, and then Ammons joins in on a duet; a cutaway informs us that the Weathercoops are paying attention.