Lena Horne was one of the few African American faces on motion picture screens during the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, when MGM held a party featured on film of all of their stars, she was the lone black face in the crowd. It was something was used to …
A World War II pinup girl, the glamorous Horne in 1944 became the first black to appear on the cover of a movie magazine, Motion Picture. "Anybody who was not madly in love with Lena Horne should report to his undertaker immediately and turn himself …
For MGM and the NAACP, it was that special “thing” that separates the attractive from the star. Her films included 1943's black screen musicals Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather (the latter's title song became her anthem), though she was denied the role she long coveted: the mulatto saloon singer Julie in MGM's 1950 Show Boat." She went on to tremendous success as a stage actress and consummate jazz singer. Of her early life in Hollywood: ""I was a test case," she said. "They didn't know what to do with me.  May she rest in peace.'" Horne is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley. Lena Horne's beauty, talent and race helped pave the way for generations of African-American stars. Though she never played a maid, Horne was also denied leading-lady roles. That role instead went to her friend Ava.
