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Star of stage and screen Lena Horne, credited with breaking both race and gender barriers, died Sunday, May 9th at the age of 92.
From Entertainment Tonight:
In her heyday of the 1940’s, Horne became one of the first black singers to accompany a major white band and the first to earn a billing at the famed Copacabana nightclub. One of her most renowned roles came in 1943 in the all-black musical film ‘Stormy Weather.’
Horne joined hundreds of thousands of activists in 1963 for the historical March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. To chronicle her career and advocacy, she staged a one-woman Broadway show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” earning her a special Tony Award.
Gems of today still recognize how Horne was a pioneer in her era and paved the way for the current generation of performers. While accepting her 2002 Oscar Award and thus becoming the first black woman to be crowned best actress, Halle Berry said in her speech, “This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. … It’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”
My favorite story about Lena Horne is from 1951, when she lost a part in an MGM film because there was a ban on interracial relationships in film. She was obviously upset and angry, but it’s noteworthy that Ava Gardner (who was white received the part in Show Boat) practiced her singing using Horne’s recordings. Talk about a silent victory!
Because of her remarkable trailblazing in terms of race, it’s easy to forget about Horne’s legacy for women. At a time when female roles tended to be supporting and actresses were paid peanuts, she was a great success. That she was able to rise up to both race and gender challenges speaks to her strength … and should be an equal part of her legacy.
To paraphrase from The Wiz (she appeared in as Glinda the Good in 1978), Lena Horne was wise and good enough to help people find what was inside them all the time. That was very much true for her as well.
RIP, Ms. Horne — your legacy will live on forever.
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1
I loved Lena,but she never appeared to be all that black to me,her younger picture even more so.