One of the greatest American artists of all time, for most of her life, Lena Horne endured “Stormy Weather” as the title of her 1943 film and sultry signature song implied. Yet the chanteuse and actress – who possessed one of the most lush voices in the history of recorded music – broke down barriers not only with performances of heartbreaking songs like “Stormy Weather” and Black Coffee,” but also for speaking out about the prejudice she experienced during her early years at MGM. The recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 1984, the elegant and wise Horne was a legend with a cause. A life so many – regardless of their race – looked up to, Horne sang her pain, acted through intolerance, and fought long and hard to erase color lines.
Lena Calhoun Horne was born in Brooklyn, NY on June 30, 1917 to Edna Scottron and Edwin “Teddy” Horne. After her parents separated, the young Horne moved in with her paternal grandparents and uncle. She was exposed as a child to the fight for civil and women’s rights as her grandmother Cora Calhoun Horne was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Urban League, and Suffragette organizations and it was she who often brought her granddaughter to meetings.
Horne’s fair-skinned mother Edna was a singer and dancer in various drama troupes, and started bringing her daughter on tour when she was six. They moved around frequently due to Edna’s career, and Horne often stayed with relatives or family friends, such as two women from Macon, GA who taught her southern style cooking as well as instructing in the Bible. The star reunited with her father Teddy while she was living in Fort Valley with her uncle. When she was 12, after years of going from city to city, Horne and her mother settled back to New York.
Four years after moving back to the Big Apple, Horne began her entertainment career as a dancer at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club, earning $25 a week. There, she was introduced to the growing community of jazz performers, including Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Harold Arlen, who wrote her biggest hit, “Stormy Weather.” She also found her vocal talent was on par with professional performers, so it was not long before the young girl made her recording debut with Noble Sissle’s band in 1936. Horne made history in 1940 when she toured with Charlie Barnet’s band – the first African-American to do so with an all-white band. While changing the face of the music industry, Horne also made waves as a theatrical performer. She made her first Broadway appearance in the 1939 musical “Blackbirds” and received her best reviews for her performance in a 1957 production of “Jamaica.”
In 1942, two years after she toured with Barnet’s band, Horne rewrote history again when she became the first black performer to receive a contract from a major film studio. Discovered by a talent agent while performing at the Cotton Club, MGM studio gave the talented songstress various musical projects, including “Panama Hattie” (1942), where she had an uncredited role as a nightclub singer. Horne’s brief appearance, however, was widely regarded as the best part of the entire film. This lead to MGM giving her a bigger role in the all-star revue “Thousands Cheer” (1943), where Horne sang another one of her most famous numbers, “Honeysuckle Rose.”
Even though she was signed to the most revered and powerful movie studio at that time, Horne’s skin color was still not widely accepted by most of the country. Her film roles were often kept to minor characters or shot separately, so she was edited out for versions shows to prejudiced Southern moviegoers who could not accept black performers playing anything other than servants or sidekicks. Getting edited out in certain versions of her films was the lesser of two evils for the beautiful and talented Horne, who stipulated in her MGM contract that she would not get such stereotypical roles.
The studio capitalized on Horne’s skin color much more than recognizing her true talent. Iconic makeup company Max Factor even invented the “Little Egyptian” makeup line for the star to highlight her dark features. MGM also loaned the actress to another studio – 20th Century Fox – for its all-star, all-black musical “Stormy Weather” in 1943. Singing the title song gave Horne her signature number in the movie. It was also her first real acting role. “In every other film I just sang a song or two,” Horne said. “’Stormy Weather’ and ‘Cabin In the Sky’ were the only movies in which I played a character who was involved in the plot.”
By the mid-1940s, Horne was the highest paid black performer in the country. Her renditions of “Deed I Do,” “As Long as I Live,” and Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things” became instant classics. Thousands of black soldiers abroad during World War II had Horne’s photo pinned up in their bunks. She had one last film appearance, singing “Baby Come Out of the Clouds” in “Duchess of Idaho” (1950), before Horne became a target of that era’s biggest political and cultural dilemma.
Hollywood and politics clashed in the early 1950s when the Joseph McCarthy hearings in the U.S. Congress resulted in the blacklisting of several performers, including Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and Gypsy Rose Lee. Horne, who had been politically active since she was a young girl accompanying her grandmother to NAACP meetings, was blacklisted for her participation in what was then considered “Communist” actions, and her film career was put on hold. This did not stop the hardworking entertainer, who spent her time singing in nightclubs and cabarets instead.
It would take six years for Horne to return to Hollywood. After the decline of McCarthyism, the star appeared as herself in the comedy musical “Meet Me in Las Vegas” (1956). Her political involvement – particularly for civil rights – did not end, however, and Horne continued to be an active member of the NAACP. On Aug. 28, 1963, she joined 250,000 others in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the historic day when Dr. 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.
Tired of always being offered throwaway cameo roles rather than starring vehicles in films, Horne decided she was done with Hollywood. She focused on her music and television appearances, where she was a favorite guest star in the talk and variety circuit, including “The Ed Sullivan Show” (CBS, 1948-1971) and “The Perry Como Show” (CBS, 1948-1963). Horne also appeared in TV specials hosted by her A-list friends such as Judy Garland, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, as well as the comedy hour “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” (NBC, 1968-1973).
Music was always synonymous with Horne, and it was where she left her greatest mark. Her 1957 recording Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria became the best-selling album by any female artist in RCA Victor’s history. Family was also a big part of the artist’s life – especially her two children Gail and Edwin from her first husband Louis Jones (they married in 1937 and divorced in 1944). She married arranger and composer Lennie Hayton in 1947. The early 1970s proved challenging for Horne, who lost her father, son, and husband in the span of 12 months. She retreated from public life for a certain time, only to perform in CBS’ all-star entertainment revues “That’s Entertainment” (1974) and “That’s Entertainment II” (1976). Horne also appeared as Glinda the Good in the 1978 film “The Wiz,” an African-Americanized version of “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. It was the final film in her career.
One of Horne’s proudest achievements occurred outside the entertainment industry. After having turned down numerous offers, the artist received an honorary doctorate from Howard University in 1980. “I had turned them down because I hadn't been to college,” she said. “But by the time Howard presented the doctorate to me, I knew I had graduated from the school of life, and I was ready to accept it." Horne made a triumphant return to Broadway in 1984 with her comeback show “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.” The Brooklyn native saw her name in the bright lights of Broadway once again as the one-woman-star of the autobiographical production that included her signature songs such as “Stormy Weather” and “The Lady Is a Tramp.” The show won a Drama Desk Award, a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards (for its soundtrack), and a rave review from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.
Fifty-two years after getting her MGM contract, Horne finally spoke out about the overt prejudice she experienced with the studio. She was asked to co-host the 1994 special “That’s Entertainment III,” and she accepted – but only if she could comment on her early years with MGM. That same year, she reunited with “Old Blue Eyes” in “Sinatra Duets” (CBS), and filmed her own special “An Evening with Lena Horne.” In 2004, she appeared as herself in the celebration of MGM’s golden years, “The Masters Behind the Musicals.”