Lena Horne: Last News

Marva Hicks, a Broadway actress and recording artist, has passed away.

Aramide Tinubu Diversity in Hollywood exists in cycles of booms and busts. There are moments of abundance when Black people are particularly visible on the big and small screens, with the Blaxploitation era in the 1970s and the reign of Black auteurs in the 1990s as prime examples of this.

A newcomer will be easing on down the road next year.

The Broadway-bound revival of The Wiz, which will launch a national tour in Baltimore this fall, has cast Kyle Ramar Freeman (A Strange Loop) as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson (Apple+’s Sharper) as the Tinman, and former The Voice contestant Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

Martin Luther King Jr. (including speaking at the 1963 March on Washington) and other pivotal faces of the civil rights movement, standing up for migrant farmworkers, working in support of LGBTQ, or becoming a voice in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, Belafonte forged a strong commitment to activism. In fact, in 1968, Belafonte became the first Black person to helm a late-night talk show when he hosted for a week.

Stage, film and musical icon Lena Horne will officially become the first Black woman to have a Broadway theater named for her when The Nederlander Organization rechristens the Brooks Atkinson Theatre next month and unveils a new marquee.

Encouraging her fans and fellow Broadway-goers to spread the hashtag “The Majestic Is Fit For A Prince,” TV and stage icon Carol Burnett has launched a social media campaign to get Broadway’s Majestic Theatre renamed for legendary producer and director Harold Prince.

Marva Hicks, the singer and actor who made her Broadway debut in 1981’s Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and most recently appeared in 2013’s Motown The Musical, died in New York City on Sept. 16.

Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 is not to be missed. Not only does the exhibition celebrate Black representation in film, it serves as an important reminder and lesson about the contributions of Black filmmakers and stars to the world of cinema.Opening Aug. 21, seven galleries make up the exhibit exploring Oscar Micheaux’s low-budget dramas in the silent-film era to the works of Melvin Van Peebles.The exhibition also introduces audiences to stars largely unknown to mainstream moviegoers — Ralph Cooper, Clarence Brooks and Francine Everett — alongside iconic screen legends Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Lena Horne.

Michaela Zee editorThe Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is celebrating 73 years of Black film artistry with the new exhibit titled Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971.Curated by the Academy Museum’s Doris Berger and Rhea Combs of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the first-of-its-kind exhibition features seven galleries exploring Black representation in film, from portraits of icons like Ruby Dee and Nina Mae McKinney to home videos of the Nicholas Brothers and Cab Calloway. “It’s really exciting for us to be able to help expand the conversation around American cinema, essentially, by bringing forward these important contributions by Black filmmakers as well as performers and other artisans and technicians,” Combs tells Variety.  Since 2017, Berger and Combs have been acquiring a vast collection of costumes, scripts, drawings and other historical materials for “Regeneration” by digging through multiple archives at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library and even traveling to Berlin and Paris. The co-curators located myriad never-before-shown pieces, including a sequined evening gown worn by Lena Horne in 1943’s “Stormy Weather” and a copy of the rediscovered 1939 film “Reform School,” which they restored in time for the exhibition.About last night…Lena Horne’s gown from 1943’s “Stormy Weather” at the @AcademyMuseum pic.twitter.com/2Dfbvi9lh3— Marc Malkin (@marcmalkin) August 19, 2022Through “Regeneration,” Berger and Combs aim to capture the nuances of Black performance and film creation from the start of the motion picture industry to the rise of the Blaxploitation era of the early 1970s. “I really hope that it creates the opportunity for public dialogue and intergenerational dialogue,” Combs says.

Broadway is about to make history. On Thursday, the Nederlander Organization announced it will rename the Brooks Atkinson Theatre after legendary performer Lena Horne, who died in 2010 at 92.

In a historic first, the Nederlander Organization will rename one of its Broadway theaters to honor the great performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, the company announced today. The venue, currently the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, will be the first Broadway venue named for a Black woman.

made history in 2002 when she became the first black woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress.However, two decades on, no other African-American lady has scored the prize.The “X-Men” star, 55, looked back on the evening and admitted that she doesn’t think much progress has been made for actresses of color.“Back in those days, if you didn’t win the Globe, you really didn’t get the Academy Award,” Berry told the New York Times recently.She added, “So I’d pretty much resigned myself to believing, ‘It’s great to be here, but I’m not going to win.'”Sissy Spacek won the Golden Globe that year for her turn in the film “In the Bedroom.” Berry received the Academy Award in 2002 for the drama “Monster’s Ball,” a gripping tale of a grieving mother and widow.“It didn’t open the door,” Berry continued. “The fact that there’s no one standing next to me is heartbreaking.”The “Swordfish” star said, “We can’t always judge success or progress by how many awards we have.”“Awards are the icing on the cake — they’re your peers saying you were exceptionally excellent this year,” she told the outlet.

Lena Horne lives on. Music icon Dionne Warwick and Horne's granddaughter, Jenny Lumet, are opening up to ET about the stage and screen star's indelible mark on show business.«Lena Horne was one of my major mentors,» Warwick told ET's Kevin Frazier during a recent interview via video chat. «I called her Mama, she called me daughter.

Radio Times magazine, of her Desert Island Discs appearance in 1987.“I was so scared and I knew nothing about anything.“I shouldn’t have done it then.“I wasn’t ready,” she added.During her appearance on the show, Elaine chose a song from one of her favourite musicals.She picked Something’s Coming from West Side Story, sung by Barbra Streisand.Her other selections included tracks from The Beatles (Here Comes The Sun), The Everly Brothers (All I Have To Do Is Dream) and Paul Simon (Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes).She also included two classical pieces of music.George Frideric Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s aria Der Hölle Rache (from The Magic Flute).Her final choices were Lena Horne with I Got A

HBO’s felt a little more fabulous than usual, it may have had something to do with an appearance by esteemed drag queen Shangela, who opens up to ET about serving Lena Horne realness and acting alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest names. In what was the hit horror series’ most ambitious and provocative episode yet, Shangela (also known as D.J. Pierce outside of drag) appeared as one of several drag queens that are preparing for a pageant at local underground Black queer club, where Montrose (Michael K.