Singer and Actress Lena Horne Dead at 92

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted May 10th 2010 06:47AM

Legendary jazz singer Lena Horne, who starred in 'Cabin in the Sky' in 1943, died Sunday. She was 92. Horne died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Gloria Chin. Chin would not release any other details. Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley. Horne is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley.

In the 1940s, Horne was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the Copacabana nightclub and among a handful with a Hollywood contract. In 1943, MGM Studios loaned her to 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Selina Rogers in the all-black movie musical 'Stormy Weather.' Her rendition of the title song became a major hit and her signature piece.

"I was always battling the system to try to get to be with my people. Finally, I wouldn't work for places that kept us out ... it was a damn fight everywhere I was, every place I worked, in New York, in Hollywood, all over the world," she said in Brian Lanker's book, 'I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.'

Horne was at home vocally with a wide musical range, from blues and jazz to the sophistication of Rodgers and Hart in songs like 'The Lady Is a Tramp' and 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.'

By the mid-1950s, Horne -- who in 1947 married composer and musical director Lennie Hayton in a secret wedding in Paris, because interracial marriages were illegal in California -- left Hollywood, "bitter," she said, "at the whole Hollywood system," and went on to tremendous success as a stage actress and consummate jazz singer, PEOPLE reports.

In her first big Broadway success, as the star of 'Jamaica' in 1957, reviewer Richard Watts Jr. called her "one of the incomparable performers of our time." Songwriter Buddy de Sylva dubbed her "the best female singer of songs."

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Lena Horne Photos

In an April 30, 1981 file photo singer Lena Horne is shown in a Broadway production 'Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music' in New York. More photos >>

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Lena Horne Photos

** RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED TONING ** FILE -- This is a March 29, 1993 file photo of singer-actress Lena Horne at the 65th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/file)

Lena Horne Photos

(FILES) Undated filed photos taken in the 50s shows Lena Horne (Lena Mary Calhoun Horne ), US actress and Jazz singer, born in 1917 in New York. Jazz singer Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio, died late May 09, 2010 at the age of 92, according to The New York Times. AFP PHOTO/FILES (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Lena Horne Photos

File -- In a March 1954 file photo singer Lena Horne performs at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo)

Lena Horne Photos

file -- In an April 30, 1981 file photo singer Lena Horne is shown in a Broadway production "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music" in New York. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/file)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- In a March 7, 1982 file photo Grammy Award winner Lena Horne, center, is flanked by record producer Quincy Jones, left, holding his Grammy, and Dan Morgenstern, of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, as she displays her award, and the record that earned it, in New York. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm/file)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- In an Oct. 12, 1955 file photo singer and actress Lena Horne and her husband Lennie Hayton are photographed in their hotel room at the Savoy in London, England. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/FILE)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- This is a March 29, 1993 file photo of singer-actress Lena Horne at the 65th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/file)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- In a June 23, 1997 file photo Ginny Mancini, left, and Lena Horne, center, hold the Ella Award which was given to Horne, on Monday, June 23, 1997, during the Society of Singers' Lena Horne 80th Birthday Gala in New York. At right is Liza Minnelli. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/Aubrey Reuben/file)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- This is a June 1995 file portrait of singer and actress Lena Horne. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/File)

Lena Horne Photos

FILE -- This is a April 7, 1994 file photo of singer-actress in New York City. Singer Lena Horne, who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star famed for her velvety rendition of "Stormy Weather," has died at age 92. (AP Photo/Garth Vaughan/file)

Lena Horne Photos

By the 1960s, Horne was one of the most visible celebrities in the civil rights movement, once throwing a lamp at a customer who made a racial slur in a Beverly Hills restaurant and in 1963 joining 250,000 others in the March on Washington when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Horne also spoke at a rally that same year with another civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, just days before his assassination.

In the last decades of her life, she rode a new wave of popularity as a revered icon of American popular music. Her 1981 one-woman Broadway show, 'Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,' won a special Tony Award.

Widowed in 1971, Horne moved to New York City and continued her stage and concert work and even did the occasional movie role, including that of Diana Ross's fairy godmother in the 1978 'The Wiz.'

Horne's other roles included 'I Dood It,' a Red Skelton comedy, 'Thousands Cheer' and 'Swing Fever,' all in 1943; 'Broadway Rhythm' in 1944; and 'Ziegfeld Follies' in 1946.

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Comments

(144)

Monday 10 May

By Lucille Dyson

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To The Family Of Ms. Lena Horne; She is one of the great Black Actors. A fantastic singer to say the least. Ms. Horne will truly be missed by all who have ever seen or heard her. She is now "A STAR AMONG STARS". God bless her and her family. The Dyson Family

By Juana

Lucille, Ms. Horne was not a great "Black" actor, she was a great actor, period. She was a beautiful person inside and out. Enjoy your journey home my sistah

By Praise the Lord

Despite her refrence of wanting to work " with ( her ) people" she married one of my people ( white guy ) so that makes her OUR people; loved and respected by ALL so please don't taint her death with a jealous need to deem her as " Black " actor when this woman busted through color barriers and sex barriers and social barriers! She was without BOUNDS! She was a wonderful and amazing actor, singer and philanthropist to ALL people with an open mind to the fact it's what you leave when you go as opposed to what you liked like along the way! Love and Blessings to Miss Lena's Family and Friends!

By datruthisscary

@ Tom M

Well, Tom, her grandfather was very light and BLUE-EYED. Her fair-skinned grandmother was the daughter of a SLAVE woman and her WHITE owner. Just another situation in which White slave masters RAPED Black female slaves. So, regarding her "European face", I don't think she had a choice in the matter.

By a33usdlvbag

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So what? What does that have to do with anything? look my name

By LaDonna Ellis

I always wanted to be a singer just as glamourous as You.
Because of women like you I Do Believe In Myself!!!!!!!!!
I love you and your style,Pray for me, GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. LADONNA

Tuesday 11 May

By CT

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I have been the victim of racism from white and blacks and that is true for Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt and many millions of other mixed race people, I'm of white, black and Cherokee blood, but my hair is blonde and I'm of very light skin, if you didn't know better you would think I was from Denmark, but legally here in the USA I'm considered Black. You never know what race the stranger next too you really is. hate is an ugly learned lesson!

By richard mack

My only time seeing/hearing this great lady in person was in the 70's...outdoor venue in NJ...she was the small print (the lead act) for, I believe, the Carpenters...Ms Horne stole the show...receiving a standing O after many many hand clappings for each and every piece...by the time the Carpenters went on the audience was spent...I read many years later they, the C's, weren't too happy about such performances...hmmmm, Ms Horne was indeed the best...ranked up there with the truly greats!!! Thanks...rm

By Eli

I remember about 35 years ago, I was in the Minneapolis airport waiting room. I noticed 4 large muscualr men wearing jackets that said Lena Horne on the back. Then I saw Lena horne, sitting right across from me. A beautiful woman. I tried to engage her in conversation, however one of her body guards asked me to leave her alone as she was not feeling well. She winked at me when I told the body guard to let her know a fan hoped she felt better. I will always remember that kind acknowledgement.

By BTDT

This chick could sing.

By Rene

In addition to her legendary talent, Lena Horne was considered to be one of the great beauties (the Halle Berry) of her day.

By Gene

Truely, one of the greatest entertainers of any generation. Her voice will go on forever in her music, and I hope that her struggles for justice will be remembered just as clearly. May God take you into His loving arms and give you eternal peace. God bless you and your family.

By RPM

What a beautiful, sultry singer she was and a lovely lady. She is proof that there is such a thing as good genes. The younger generation will never know what has just been lost to history. Love to Lena

By ronalds872

My lucky one memory was seeing her one summer in St. Louis in the 70's. Her talent in song raised goose bumps every time she sang that night and every time I listened to her after that. I can't think of anyone else who has done that in my life. Singing from the soul does that. My condolences for the family.

By lucy addison

Fred Sandord( Redd Foxx) said it best...'" Don't mess what da Horne." A true trail blazer. RIP

By Hal Pritzker

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Obviously, Horne was an outstanding singer. But consider this: during the 1930's and '40's, when she and Joe Louis were among the very few well-known blacks in America, it was inevitable that they would have an affair. Which they did. It turned out to be very short...and it was Louis who ended it. Why?

"Lena was a beautiful woman, and very talented," he remarked in one of his biographies. "But she had a cesspool for a mouth. After a while, I couldn't tolerate it any more and ended our relationship. I don't think she ever forgot, or forgave me. Where I was concerned, she was always the scorned woman."

By baroness

So she had a dirty mouth, so what!

He sounds like a wimp, crying cause a woman liked to cuss

By Marilyn

Mr. Pritzker: So she had a fowl month I am sure she is not the only woman or person with a fresh month. That does not take away from what she was. She was a beautiful woman and a great singer and very talented. We enjoyed her music and her movies. She was successful when the motion picture business didn't want to acknowledge black people. They did this by belittling us in movies. Let us express ourselves in a respectful way. We don't have to talk about the bad but the good.
I send my sincere sympathy to her family. As was stated she is a star with the stars. God Bless you Ms. Horne you will be missed.

By sharon

He probably brought the bad mouth out in her.

By Julie

A person has died and you have this garbage to bring up? Are you sure that this is true? What's your point? For the sake of argument we'll say what you have written is true - isn't it possible that people can change for the better? Why the need to slam someone? Are you jealous? Sounds like it to me.

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