Lena Horne

Lena Horne

1917-06-30 – 2010-05-09 (age 92) Brooklyn, New York, USA
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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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Known For

That's Entertainment! III
That's Entertainment! III

1994

as Self - Co-Host / Narrator

The Wiz
The Wiz

1978

as Glinda the Good

Swing Fever
Swing Fever

1943

as Herself

That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment!

1974

as (archive footage) (uncredited)

Two Girls and a Sailor
Two Girls and a Sailor

1944

as Specialty

Till the Clouds Roll By
Till the Clouds Roll By

1946

as Julie LaVerne / Lena Horne

Swingtime Jamboree
Swingtime Jamboree

1946

as Herself

Studio Visit
Studio Visit

1946

as Herself

That's Entertainment, Part II
That's Entertainment, Part II

1976

as (archive footage)

Night of 100 Stars II
Now!
Now!

1965

as Self (voice)

Thousands Cheer
Thousands Cheer

1943

as Lena Horne

Aretha Franklin: Duets
Words and Music
Words and Music

1948

as Lena Horne

Death of a Gunfighter
Death of a Gunfighter

1969

as Claire Quintana

Night of 100 Stars
It's Black Entertainment
It's Black Entertainment

2002

as Self (archive footage)

Judy Garland Duets
Judy Garland Duets

2005

as Self (archive footage)

Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies

1945

as Lena Horne (segment "Love")