Description
Combining talent, beauty, and steely determination, singer and actress Lena Horne challenged racial barriers to emerge as one of the most popular entertainers of her generation. Following her debut as a dancer at Harlem's Cotton Club, Horne found work as a big-band vocalist. Her subsequent success as a nightclub singer led to a Hollywood audition, and she became the first African American to secure a long-term contract when she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1942. After starring in the all-black musicals Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, Horne found her screen opportunities limited when she refused to accept stereotypical roles. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era, she succeeded in rebuilding her career and went on to take an active part in the civil rights movement. Horne's crowning achievement came in 1981, when her critically acclaimed one-woman show earned a special Tony Award.
Image
Gelatin Silver Print
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Record Contributed By
National Portrait GalleryRecord Harvested From
Smithsonian InstitutionKeywords
- Activist
- Activists
- Actor
- Actors And Actresses
- Civil Rights
- Civil Rights Activist
- Design
- Entertainers
- Female
- Halsman, Philippe
- Home Furnishings
- Horne, Lena Calhoun
- Interior
- Interior Decoration
- Lamp
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- Lena Calhoun Horne
- Lighting Devices
- Motion Pictures
- Movie
- Musician
- Musicians
- Performer
- Performing Arts
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- Society And Social Change
- Television
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