Lena Horne
American singer, actress, dancer and activist (1917–2010)
AI overview
Lena Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer, and activist who performed from the early 20th century until her death in 2010. She matters because she was a prominent entertainer who also used her platform to advocate for civil rights during a time of significant racial inequality in the United States.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1917-06-30
- Died
- 2010-05-09
- Works
- 8
Top works
- The Hornes
- The men in my life
- Jamaica
- New Product Development In Textiles Innovation And Production
- In person, Lena Horne
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Brooklyn, New York, USA
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…
Known for
- Hollywood Black — Self (archive footage)2024
- How It Feels to Be Free — Self (archival footage)2021
- Sid & Judy — Self (archive footage)2019
- The Green Book: Guide to Freedom — Self - Singer (archive footage)2019
- Storm in My Heart — Self (archive footage)2018
Article
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television and theater.
Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving on to Hollywood and Broadway. A groundbreaking Black American performer, Horne advocated for civil rights and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963. Later she returned to her roots as a nightclub performer and continued to work 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 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, withdrawing from the public eye in 2000.
Gallery (8)
Connections
Categories
1917 births2010 deaths20th-century African-American actresses20th-century African-American women singers20th-century American actresses20th-century American singers20th-century American women singers21st-century American singers21st-century American women singersActivists for African-American civil rightsActresses from BrooklynActresses from Queens, New York