Lena Horne Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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

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.

passed away in May 2010.This will mark the first time a Broadway theater has been named for a Black woman. The theater, which opened in 1926 as the Mansfield, in 1961 became the first venue named for a theater critic, the longtime New York Times reviewer Brooks Atkinson.

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.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Michael Renzi, who during a storied musical career worked with Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Lena Horne and some of the other biggest names in jazz and pop, and who for years was also the musical director of “Sesame Street,” has died.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticMelvin Van Peebles, who died Sept. 21 at 89, was not the inventor of Black cinema, but it’s no exaggeration to say that he smashed open the door to Black cinema as we know it.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNearly two years after the last BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn concert, the series launched again on Saturday night at the weeks-long festival’s longtime home at the bandshell in the borough’s Prospect Park. As if renaming the bandshell in honor of the great singer-actress-activist Lena Horne weren’t special enough, headliner Ari Lennox brought out superstar rapper J.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn 2002, when Halle Berry won the Oscar for her performance in “Monster’s Ball,” becoming the first African American woman to take home the Academy Award for best actress, after 30 seconds of convulsive tears she said, “This moment is so much bigger than me.

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.

Editor’s note: Yoruba Richen is the director and Mehret Mandefro and Lacey Schwartz Delgado are executive producers of American Masters: How It Feels to Be Free, a documentary that looks at the historical importance and overlooked contributions of Black performers. Focusing on Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier, the docu — also executive produced by Alicia Keys — airs tonight on PBS in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

Ramin Setoodeh New York Bureau ChiefHalle Berry’s 2002 win at the Academy Awards was a historic moment.When presenter Russell Crowe opened the envelope and read Berry’s name for her performance in “Monster’s Ball,” she became the first Black woman to win an Oscar for best actress.

Peter White Television EditorPopstar Alicia Keys is to exec produce a feature-length documentary about six iconic African American female entertainers for PBS.American Masters: How It Feels To Be Free will tell the story of Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier and how they challenged an entertainment industry deeply complicit in perpetuating racist stereotypes, and transformed themselves and their audiences in the process.The doc, which will air in

Also Read: Limited Series About Entertainer and Activist Lena Horne in the Works at ShowtimeIt aired its last episode in March.“Kidding” reunited Carrey with Michel Gondry, who directed Carrey in 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Gondry is an executive producer on the show and directed several episodes, including the premiere. Other executive producers include Carrey, Michael Aguilar, Roberto Benabib, Raffi Adlan, Jason Batemanand Jim Garavente.

Lena Horne will be the focus of a new limited series at Showtime.

Peter White Television EditorThe life of entertainer and activist Lena Horne is to be turned into a limited series by Showtime with Alex Kurtzman and her granddaughter Jenny Lumet.The ViacomCBS-backed cable network is developing Blackbird: Lena Horne and America and will tell her story from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom of the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement and her triumphant return to Broadway.It will explore her relationships

By Amanda N'Duka

On Friday night, Solange accepted the first-ever Lena Horne Prize for Artists Creating Social Impact at the Town Hall in New York City.