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Horne, Lena
African American singer and actress whose refusal to be cast in stereotypical roles helped transform the popular image of black women.Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father left home when she was only three, and her mother departed to pursue an acting career, leaving the child in the care of her paternal grandmother, a civil rights activist and suffragist in Brooklyn.Horne's mother returned to take her daughter on tour with her. Eventually, her mother remarried and the family returned to New York, where Horne attended high school. But financial difficulties forced her to quit school and obtain a position as a chorus dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. She was hired for her beauty, but she worked diligently to improve her singing by taking lessons, and she became known for her sultry voice. Horne then accepted a role on Broadway in Dance with Your Gods (1934) and afterward left the club to sing with Noble Sissle's Society Orchestra in Philadelphia.In Philadelphia she was reunited with her father, who subsequently played an important role in her life and career until his death in 1970. Through her father, Horne met Louis Jones, whom she married in 1937. The couple had two children, Gail and Teddy, but divorced in 1941. Horne performed on Broadway in Blackbirds of 1939 and became lead singer in Charlie Barnett's band in 1940. In 1941 she was a featured performer at the Café Society Downtown, where she became acquainted with singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson and with Walter White, an important figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).Horne left New York to perform at the Trocadero Club in California. Within a short time, she signed a Hollywood movie contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She insisted her contract stipulate that she would not be cast in stereotypical black roles, and with her elegance and glamour, she became known for transforming the image of the black woman in film. Her first role in 1942, like many that followed, was a guest spot number in Panama Hattie, but the same year she played a leading part in Cabin in the Sky. In 1943 she was in three films: I Dood It, Thousands Cheer, and Stormy Weather, the title song of which became her trademark. On the set of Stormy Weather Horne met white musician Lennie Hayton. Although the couple married in 1947, the controversial interracial marriage was not publicly announced until 1950. She appeared in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Ziegfeld Follies of 1945 and 1946, The Duchess of Idaho (1950), and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), her first speaking part. She also starred in the Broadway show Jamaica (1957) and appeared on several television shows in the 1950s.Horne won many honors for her performances, including two Grammy Awards. The first of these was for the album based on her award-winning show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which began in 1981 and became the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history. Horne received the Kennedy Center Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (1984), and honorary doctorates from Howard University and Spelman College. She also received an Image Award and a Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, as well as a Paul Robeson Award.See also Film, Blacks in American; Television and African Americans.
Bibliography
- Buckley, Gail Lumet. The Hornes: An American Family. Knopf, 1986.
