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Barbara McNair is a Actor American born on 4 march 1934 at Chicago (USA)
Barbara McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and actress. Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfrey's TV show Talent Scouts, which led to bookings at The Purple Onion and the Cocoanut Grove.
She soon became one of the country's most popular headliners and a guest on such television variety shows as The Steve Allen Show, Hullabaloo, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Hollywood Palace, while recording for the Coral, Signature, Motown, and TEC Recording Studios labels. Among her hits were "You're Gonna Love My Baby" and "Bobby". In the early 1960s, McNair made several musical shorts for Scopitone, a franchise of coin-operated machines that showed what were the forerunners of today's music videos.
In 1967 McNair traveled with Bob Hope to Southeast Asia to perform for U.S. troops during the Vietnam War along with Raquel Welch, Elaine Dunn, Phil Crosby and 1967 Miss World Madeleine Hartog Bell. She said on stage that Hope talked her into going on the tour by promising her she'd get to meet royalty. "He let me walk his dog Prince," she joked. Among the songs she sang was an slowed-down, emotional version of "For Once in My Life."
McNair's acting career began on television, guesting on series such as Dr. Kildare, The Eleventh Hour, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes and McMillan and Wife. McNair posed nude for Playboy in the October 1968 issue. She caught the attention of the movie-going public with her much-publicized nude sequences in the gritty crime drama If He Hollers Let Him Go (1968) opposite Raymond St. Jacques, then donned a nun's habit alongside Mary Tyler Moore for Change of Habit (1969), Elvis Presley's last feature film. She portrayed Sidney Poitier's wife in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and its sequel, The Organization (1971), and George Jefferson's deranged ex-girlfriend Yvonne in The Jeffersons (1984).
McNair's Broadway credits include The Body Beautiful (1958), No Strings (1962), and a revival of The Pajama Game (1973).
McNair starred in her own 1969 television variety series The Barbara McNair Show, one of the first black women to host her own musical variety show. The show, which was produced in Canada by CTV (at CFTO/Toronto) lasted three seasons in first-run syndication in the United States until 1972, at the time she married Frederick Andrew Manzie (Rick Manzie). Manzie managed Barbara McNair and produced the show with Burt Rosen, they formed ABR Entertainment and the rights to the show are owned by the Manzie Family. The show starred A-list guests including Tony Bennett, Sonny and Cher, The Righteous Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Freda Payne, Mahalia Jackson, Della Reese, Lou Rawls, Rich Little, B.B. King, Ethel Waters, Debbie Reynolds, Lionel Hampton and many more entertainers that became superstars.
On December 15, 1976, her husband, Rick Manzie, was murdered, in their Las Vegas Bruce Street Mansion. Mafia boss-turned-FBI-informant Jimmy Fratianno later claimed in his book The Last Mafioso that Manzie had been a Mafia associate who tried to put a contract on the life of a mob-associated tax attorney with whom he had a legal dispute. "Many believe the murder was a mafia hit, although this has never been officially proven". The ensuing publicity did little to help McNair's career.
Her recordings include Livin' End, The Real Barbara McNair, More Today Than Yesterday, Broadway Show Stoppers, A Movie Soundtrack If He Hollers, Let Him Go, I Enjoy Being a Girl, and The Ultimate Motown Collection, a two-CD set with 48 tracks that include her two albums for the label plus a non-album single and B-side and an entire LP that never was released.
Into her seventies, McNair resided in the Los Angeles area, playing tennis and skiing to keep in shape on a regular basis and touring on occasion. She died on February 4, 2007, of throat cancer, in Los Angeles, survived by her husband Charles Blecka, sister Jaquline Gaither, niece Angela Rosenow, and the nephew of her late husband Frederick Manzie, John Thomas and his family.
Source : Wikidata
Barbara McNair
Birth name Barbara Jean McNair
Nationality USA
Birth 4 march 1934 at Chicago (USA)
Death 4 april 2007 (at 73 years) at Los Angeles (USA)
Nationality USA
Birth 4 march 1934 at Chicago (USA)
Death 4 april 2007 (at 73 years) at Los Angeles (USA)
Barbara McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and actress. Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfrey's TV show Talent Scouts, which led to bookings at The Purple Onion and the Cocoanut Grove.
She soon became one of the country's most popular headliners and a guest on such television variety shows as The Steve Allen Show, Hullabaloo, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Hollywood Palace, while recording for the Coral, Signature, Motown, and TEC Recording Studios labels. Among her hits were "You're Gonna Love My Baby" and "Bobby". In the early 1960s, McNair made several musical shorts for Scopitone, a franchise of coin-operated machines that showed what were the forerunners of today's music videos.
In 1967 McNair traveled with Bob Hope to Southeast Asia to perform for U.S. troops during the Vietnam War along with Raquel Welch, Elaine Dunn, Phil Crosby and 1967 Miss World Madeleine Hartog Bell. She said on stage that Hope talked her into going on the tour by promising her she'd get to meet royalty. "He let me walk his dog Prince," she joked. Among the songs she sang was an slowed-down, emotional version of "For Once in My Life."
McNair's acting career began on television, guesting on series such as Dr. Kildare, The Eleventh Hour, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes and McMillan and Wife. McNair posed nude for Playboy in the October 1968 issue. She caught the attention of the movie-going public with her much-publicized nude sequences in the gritty crime drama If He Hollers Let Him Go (1968) opposite Raymond St. Jacques, then donned a nun's habit alongside Mary Tyler Moore for Change of Habit (1969), Elvis Presley's last feature film. She portrayed Sidney Poitier's wife in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) and its sequel, The Organization (1971), and George Jefferson's deranged ex-girlfriend Yvonne in The Jeffersons (1984).
McNair's Broadway credits include The Body Beautiful (1958), No Strings (1962), and a revival of The Pajama Game (1973).
McNair starred in her own 1969 television variety series The Barbara McNair Show, one of the first black women to host her own musical variety show. The show, which was produced in Canada by CTV (at CFTO/Toronto) lasted three seasons in first-run syndication in the United States until 1972, at the time she married Frederick Andrew Manzie (Rick Manzie). Manzie managed Barbara McNair and produced the show with Burt Rosen, they formed ABR Entertainment and the rights to the show are owned by the Manzie Family. The show starred A-list guests including Tony Bennett, Sonny and Cher, The Righteous Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Freda Payne, Mahalia Jackson, Della Reese, Lou Rawls, Rich Little, B.B. King, Ethel Waters, Debbie Reynolds, Lionel Hampton and many more entertainers that became superstars.
On December 15, 1976, her husband, Rick Manzie, was murdered, in their Las Vegas Bruce Street Mansion. Mafia boss-turned-FBI-informant Jimmy Fratianno later claimed in his book The Last Mafioso that Manzie had been a Mafia associate who tried to put a contract on the life of a mob-associated tax attorney with whom he had a legal dispute. "Many believe the murder was a mafia hit, although this has never been officially proven". The ensuing publicity did little to help McNair's career.
Her recordings include Livin' End, The Real Barbara McNair, More Today Than Yesterday, Broadway Show Stoppers, A Movie Soundtrack If He Hollers, Let Him Go, I Enjoy Being a Girl, and The Ultimate Motown Collection, a two-CD set with 48 tracks that include her two albums for the label plus a non-album single and B-side and an entire LP that never was released.
Into her seventies, McNair resided in the Los Angeles area, playing tennis and skiing to keep in shape on a regular basis and touring on occasion. She died on February 4, 2007, of throat cancer, in Los Angeles, survived by her husband Charles Blecka, sister Jaquline Gaither, niece Angela Rosenow, and the nephew of her late husband Frederick Manzie, John Thomas and his family.
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Filmography of Barbara McNair (7 films)
Actress
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The Organization (1971)
, 1h43Directed by Don Medford
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, Sheree North, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Raúl Juliá, Billy "Green" Bush
Roles Valerie Tibbs
Rating60%
After a break-in at the headquarters of a company, the police are called in. One of the executives has been murdered, and the watchman has been bludgeoned. It is not a simple robbery, the man was killed by shots from two different guns, there are several unexplained facts and nothing was stolen.
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
, 1h48Directed by Gordon Douglas
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair, Anthony Zerbe, Edward Asnere, Jeff Corey
Roles Valerie Tibbs
Rating59%
Detective Virgil Tibbs, now a lieutenant with the San Francisco police, is assigned to investigate the murder of a prostitute. A prime suspect is Rev. Logan Sharpe (Martin Landau), a liberal street preacher and political organizer, who insists to Tibbs that he was merely visiting the hooker in a professional capacity, advising her spiritually.
Change of Habit (1969)
, 1h33Directed by William A. Graham
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Musical, Crime, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films about religion, Musical films
Actors Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore, Virginia Vincent, Edward Asnere, Barbara McNair, Timothy Carey
Roles Sister Irene Hawkins
Rating59%
Dr. John Carpenter is a physician in a ghetto clinic who falls for a co-worker, Michelle Gallagher, unaware that she is a nun.
Stiletto (1969)
, 1h38Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about immigration, Mafia films, Seafaring films, Transport films, Gangster films
Actors Alex Cord, Britt Ekland, Patrick O'Neal, Joseph Wiseman, Barbara McNair, John Dehner
Roles Ahn Dessie
Rating51%
A rich, jet-setting playboy has a secret life: he's also a professional Mafia hitman. When he decides it's time to retire from that life, he finds that his former employers don't like the idea that someone who knows so much about them won't be under their control anymore, and decide to send their own hitmen to eliminate him.
Venus in Furs (1969)
, 1h26Directed by Jesús Franco
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Erotic, Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Musical, Erotic thriller
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films, Erotic thriller films
Actors James Darren, Barbara McNair, Maria Rohm, Klaus Kinski, Dennis Price, Margaret Lee
Roles Rita
Rating55%
James Darren plays a jazz musician who becomes obsessed to the point of madness with the mysterious fur-clad Wanda (Maria Rohm), only to find her dead body washed up on the beach.
The Unkissed Bride (1966)
, 1h22Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Tommy Kirk, Anne Helm, Jacques Bergerac, Barbara McNair, Danica d'Hondt, Henny Youngman
Roles Herself
Rating41%
Newlyweds Ted (Kirk) and Margie Hastings (Helm) go on honeymoon at the hotel of Margie's uncle, Jacques Phillipe (Bergerac).
Spencer's Mountain (1963)
, 1h58Directed by Delmer Daves, Robert Totten
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama
Actors Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur, Donald Crisp, Mimsy Farmer, Wally Cox
Roles Graduation Singer (uncredited)
Rating69%
The film centers on the trials and tribulations of the Spencers, a family living in the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming during the early 1960s. As the patriarch of a large and growing family, Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) is fiercely independent, yet dedicated to his family. While he resists the influence of religion, he struggles to remain faithful to his wife Olivia (Maureen O'Hara), to allow his son (James MacArthur) to attend college, and to build a new home for his family.