R.I.P. Legendary Singer & Actress Lena Horne Passes Away.
The legendary actresss & Lena Horne passed away in New York City last night. Horne was a trailblazer for black women in Hollywood. Horne was best known for being a singer, she was also a civil rights activist.
Lena Horne was born in New York City in the year 1917, she was from a prominent upper class black family. In fact, the civil rights activist and founder of the N.A.A.C.P. W.E.B. Du Bois was a friend of her family.
Horne’s parents divorced when she was young and she was raised by her grandparents. At the age of sixteen Lena dropped out of school and started to perform in night clubs.
In the year 1941, Lena moved to Hollywood and started to get small singing roles in films. Lena Horne’s breakthrough performances was in the movies “Cabin In The Sky” and “Stormy Weather.”
Ms. Horne first fought against racism during World War II. For instance, Horne refused to perform for the soliders because the German prisoners of war were placed in the front row ahead of the African-American troops. Ms. Horne was outspoken, she said she would not perform unless the African-American troops were treated with respect.
Although Horne was incredibly beautiful and light-skinned, she still had many battles with racism in Hollywood. Horne said she felt Hollywood only used her due to being a light skinned black woman. Horne said “I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept,” she once said. “I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.”
For instance, Ms. Horne lost the role for the 1951 film “Show Boat” to the white actress Ava Gardiner despite her talent. Horne was the first black actress to have a major contract with a Hollywood studio. I remember watching Lena Horne on “The Cosby Show” when I was a kid in the 1980s. Lena Horne was an amazing woman and she will be missed.
In fact, in Hollywood the power brokers wanted Ms. Horne to “pass” as a Latin American woman but she refused. Some African-Americans accused Ms. Horne for trying to “pass” because she married a white man Lennie Hayton in 1947 in Paris.
Ms.Horne kept her interracial marriage to Hayton a secret for three years. Horne said her marriage to Hayton was strategic, she thought a white husband could advance her career better than a black man could in the 1940s and 1950s. Horne said she eventually, did “love” Hayton. Hayton died in 1971 and this devastated Horne she secluded herself in her apartment due to depression.
In the year 1981, Lena Horne made an incredible comeback on Broadway with her show ” Lena Horne: The Lady and her Music” .
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