Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

Lena Horne

Singer/actress

Born - 30 June 1917, New York, USA
Died - 9 May 2010

Dynamic vocalist with soul-stirring voice, the first woman of colour to sign a long-term contract with a studio, MGM, who alas, treated her as a bird in a gilded cage, permitted only to do all-black films, plus vocal cameos in their top musicals. Referring to her light skin, she once said sarcastically that 'I was the kind of black that white people could accept.' Later she became a noted activist for civil rights. It was in an all-black musical, The Duke is Tops that she made her film debut in 1938. Later, under MGM's wing, she made Panama Hattie (1942), Thousands Cheer, Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather (all 1943, the latter giving her her signature song), Ziegfeld Follies (1944), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), Words and Music (1948), Duchess of Idaho (1950) and Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956). Later she tried a straight acting role in Death of a Gunfighter (1969) and made appearances in The Wiz (1978) and That's Entertainment III (1994). She died from heart failure.