Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Katharine Hepburn
birth date	May 12, 1907
birth place	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
death date	June 29, 2003
death place	Fenwick, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, U.S.
occupation	Actress
years active	1928–94
birth name
spouse	Ludlow Ogden Smith(1928–34)
partner	Spencer Tracy(1941–67, his death)
religion	Atheist }}

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907June 29, 2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned eight decades of the 20th century, she was known for her headstrong independence and feisty spirit - qualities that she transferred to both dramatic and comedic roles. In 1999, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema.

Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn turned to acting after graduation from Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her feature debut, 1932's A Bill of Divorcement, was a success and turned her into an instant star. Within 18 months, she had won an Academy Award for Morning Glory. This initial success, however, was followed by a series of flops. Her brash personality and unconventional behavior (such as wearing trousers) began to turn audiences away, and in time she was labeled "Box Office Poison". Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying the film rights to The Philadelphia Story and only selling them on the condition that she be the star. The movie was a huge hit, and Hepburn would be in high demand from then on. Alongside her movie career, she regularly appeared on the stage, including numerous Shakespeare performances and a starring role in a Broadway musical. She maintained an active career into old age, making her final movie appearance in 1994.

Throughout her career, Hepburn co-starred with screen legends such as Cary Grant, James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier and Henry Fonda. Her most famous pairing was with Spencer Tracy, with whom she made nine pictures over a 25 year period and had an enduring love affair.

Hepburn won more Academy Awards than any other actor or actress, with four wins out of 12 nominations. She also won an Emmy Award, two BAFTAs, a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

Early life and background

Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of suffragette Katharine Martha Houghton (1878–1951), and Dr. Thomas Norval Hepburn (1879–1962), a successful urologist and surgeon from Virginia. The second of six children, her siblings were Thomas Houghton Hepburn (1905–21), Richard Houghton Hepburn (1911–2000), Robert Houghton Hepburn (1913–2007), Marion Houghton Hepburn Grant (1918–86), and Margaret Houghton Hepburn Perry (1920–2006). Hepburn's genealogy has been traced through the Whittier line back to King Louis IX of France. She is also listed as a descendant of the Mayflower compact author William Brewster. In 1910, the Hepburn family lived at 133 Hawthorne Street in Hartford. Eight years later, they moved to 352 Laurel Street, also in Hartford. By the time of Marion's birth, the family had moved to a large eight bedroom house at 201 Bloomfield Avenue in West Hartford.

Hepburn idolized her parents enormously, describing them as "perfect parents", and often credited them with giving her the belief and conditions with which she was able to make herself a success. Her mother was an active feminist, who taught the young Katharine never to give in, to be independent and fight for your future, and that women were equal to men. As a child, Hepburn joined her mother - the head of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association - on several 'Votes For Women' demonstrations. Her father, meanwhile, was pivotal in establishing the New England Social Hygiene Association, which aimed to educate the public about venereal disease. Hepburn realized from a young age that she was the product of "two very remarkable parents", and never forgot her luck at "being born out of love and to live in an atmosphere of warmth and interest." She was close with her siblings her whole life, and said "I could not have been me without them."

The young Hepburn was a tomboy, who would shave her head and call herself Jimmy, and got a thrill out of breaking into people's houses. Her father was a very good athlete, and taught and encouraged the children to swim, dive, ride, wrestle, learn gymnastics and play golf and tennis. Golf became a passion - she took daily lessons, could hit the ball a mile and score in the low eighties, and reached the semifinal of the Connecticut Young Women's Golf Championship. Hepburn loved swimming, and took daily dips in the cold waters that fronted her bayfront Connecticut home, generally believing that "the bitterer the medicine, the better it was for you." She was a fan of movies from a young age, and would go to the movies every Saturday night.

On April 3, 1921, while visiting friends in Greenwich Village, Hepburn found her "adored" older brother Tom dead from an apparent suicide. According to the coroner's report, Tom tied one end of a sheet around his neck, the other to a post, and effectively strangled himself. The Hepburn family denied it was suicide and insisted Tom's death must have been an experiment that had gone wrong. Profoundly effected by this, Hepburn shied away from other children, dropped out of Oxford School (now Kingswood-Oxford School), and began receiving private tutoring. For many years, she used Tom's birthday (November 8) as her own. It was not until her 1991 autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life, that Hepburn revealed her true birth date of May 12, 1907.

Hepburn gained a place at Bryn Mawr College, her mother's alma mater. It was the first time she had been in school for several years, and she was self-conscious and uncomfortable with her classmates. She would purposely wake up early to avoid them and never went to the dinner hall. By her second year she had formed a group of friends, and gained in confidence. Hepburn was drawn to acting but roles in plays were conditional on good grades. After initial struggles with her studies, she achieved her goals. She began acting, appearing in The Truth about Blayds, The Cradle Song and the starring role in a big production of The Woman in the Moon. She was once suspended for breaking curfew and smoking in her room. Decades later, Hepburn also confirmed that she would sometimes swim naked in the college's fountain after dark. She received a degree in history and philosophy in 1928, the same year she made her debut on Broadway.

Career

Broadway (1928 - 1932)

Hepburn left Bryn Mawr filled with ambition, determined to become an actress. A friend put her in touch with Edwin Knopf, who ran a successful theatre company in Baltimore. She went to see Knopf in person, taking her father's advice that 'if you want to get something - don't write, don't telephone, be there yourself'. Following an audition, Hepburn was cast in The Czarina with Mary Boland. She was touched when a fellow cast member allowed her to have the best costume, believing Hepburn deserved it because she was going to be a big star, and never forgot this act of kindness. Hepburn received good notices for her small role, with the Printed Word describing her as "arresting." She was given a part in the next week's show, The Torch Bearers, but here Hepburn was less accomplished. She struggled to control her voice, which would get high-pitched when she was nervous. She left Baltimore after only two weeks to study voice with Frances Robinson-Duff in New York City.

thumb|Hepburn in the role that bought her to the attention of Hollywood, 1932's A Warrior's Husband. The Knopf Stock Company decided to try a New York production of The Big Pond, with Kenneth MacKenna, and called for Hepburn to be the understudy to the leading lady. She had only been in the theatre for four weeks. One night during rehearsals, she was asked to read a scene. The leading lady was fired and replaced with Hepburn. On opening night, the terrified Hepburn turned up late and spoke her lines too high and fast to be comprehensible. She was promptly fired, and the original leading lady rehired. Undeterred, Hepburn joined forces with producer Arthur Hopkins, and accepted the role of a schoolgirl in These Days. The play opened in New Haven, then moved to the Cort Theatre on Broadway. Hepburn was praised, but reviews for the show were poor and it quickly closed. Within days, Hopkins hired Hepburn as the understudy to Hope Williams in Philip Barry's play Holiday. It was a big New York hit. After only two weeks, Hepburn quit to be married, with the plan of leaving the theatre behind. It took a very short time for her to miss the work, however, and she was quickly back in the role which she held for six months.

In 1929, Hepburn turned down a role in Meteor with the Theatre Guild to play the lead in Death Takes a Holiday. She felt the role was perfect and could not resist it. But she was again fired for problems with her voice. Hepburn went straight back to the Guild and took an understudy role for minimum pay in A Month in the Country. In the spring of 1930, Hepburn went to Stockbridge, Massachusetts and joined the Alexander Kirkland & Strickland Company. The first play with the company was The Admirable Chrichton, then The Romantic Young Lady. She soon returned to New York to continue studying with Duff to improve her voice. In early 1931, she was cast in Art and Mrs. Bottle. After being released from the role and then rehired, Hepburn was a hit with both the audiences and critics.

Hepburn appeared in a number of plays with a stock company in Ivoryton, Connecticut, including The Man Who Came Back and The Cat and the Canary. During the summer of 1931, she was requested by Philip Barry to appear in his new play, The Animal Kingdom, alongside Leslie Howard. They began rehearsals in November, with Hepburn sure this was the role to make her a star. But Howard took a disliking to her, and Hepburn was again released. When asking Barry why this was, he responded, "Well, to be brutally frank, you weren't very good." This threw the self-assured Hepburn, but she continued to look for work. She accepted a small role in Alice Sit-by-the-Fire, with Laurette Taylor, but as rehearsals began she received an offer to read for a Broadway version of The Warrior's Husband. She got the part.

The Warrior's Husband proved to be Hepburn's break-out role. The play was a greek fable about the love affair between Antiope and Theseus, with Hepburn playing the lead. It opened in March 1932 at the Morosco Theatre, New York. Hepburn's entrance was down a narrow stairway with a stag over her shoulder, wearing a very short silver tunic. The show ran for three months, and Hepburn received excellent reviews.

Hollywood (1932 - 1938)

A scout for Leland Hayward spotted Hepburn's appearance in The Warrior's Husband, and asked her to test for the part of Sydney Fairfield in the upcoming RKO film A Bill of Divorcement. Hepburn was unhappy with her test scene, and sent material from her performance in Holiday instead. She also did a test for Paramount. Knowing that she was popular, Hepburn demanded $1,500 per week for film work (at the time she was earning $75 per week). This was a huge amount for a first role, but after seeing her screen test director George Cukor became convinced that Hepburn was perfect for the role of Sydney and encouraged the studio to accept her demands. They signed Hepburn to a temporary contract with a three week guarantee. Hepburn arrived in California on July 4th, 1932. She starred in the film alongside noted actors John Barrymore and Billie Burke. At 5 feet, 7 inches (1.71 m), she was one of the tallest leading ladies of the day. George Cukor became a lifetime friend and colleague: they would make a total of 11 films together.

The reception for A Bill of Divorcement was overwhelmingly positive, and Hepburn received rave reviews. The New York Times described her performance as "exceptionally fine...Miss Hepburn's characterization is one of the finest seen on the screen". Variety wrote, "Standout here is the smash impression made by Katharine Hepburn in her first picture assignment. She has a vital something that sets her apart from the picture galaxy." RKO signed Hepburn to a contract. Her second film was Christopher Strong (1933), the story of an aviatrix and her affair with a married man. The picture was not very successful. But for her next feature, Morning Glory (1933), Hepburn won an Academy Award. The role was aspiring actress Eva Lovelace, with whom Hepburn identified personally. She had seen the script on the desk of producer Pandro Berman and insisted she play the part. That same year, Hepburn played Jo in the screen adaptation of Little Women (1933). It broke theatre attendance records during its first week, and Hepburn won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival. The film was one of Hepburn's personal favorites.

The start to Hepburn's movie career had been an enormous success. One journalist predicted that "Someday...Katharine Hepburn will be our greatest actress." Intoxicated by this success, Hepburn - who had insisted on a theatre clause in her contract - wanted to return to the stage. Her old friend Jed Harris, one of the most successful theatre producers of the 1920s, asked her to appear in The Lake. Hepburn agreed, thinking she would be doing Harris a favor. The play opened in Washington. Harris' poor direction had eroded Hepburn's confidence, and she struggled with the performance. Nevertheless, Harris moved the play to New York without further rehearsal. The play was a disaster, and Hepburn was roasted by the critics. Dorothy Parker quipped, "Go to the Martin Beck Theatre and see Katharine Hepburn run the gamut of emotions from A to B." The actress had already signed a ten week contract, and had to endure the embarrassment of rapidly declining box office sales. She worked to improve the performance, but when Jed Harris decided to take the show to Chicago, Hepburn refused to let it happen. She paid Harris every penny she had in the bank, $13,675, to close the production instead. Hepburn later claimed this experience was important in teaching her to take responsibility for her career.

Back in Hollywood, Hepburn struggled to find memorable roles. Spitfire (1934), The Little Minister (1934) and Break of Hearts (1935) made little impact. She had one success in 1935 with Alice Adams, the story of a girl's desperation to climb the social ladder. It was directed by George Stephens, and gave Hepburn her second Oscar nomination. But this was followed by four more forgettable pictures. Sylvia Scarlett (1935) was her first pairing with Cary Grant. Hepburn's character pretended to be a boy in the movie, and Hepburn cut her hair short for the role. It flopped at the box office. She played Mary Stuart in John Ford's Mary of Scotland (1936), but the project was also a failure. A Woman Rebels (1936) and Quality Street (1937) both had a period setting, and neither was a hit.

From December 1936 to April 1937, Hepburn toured in a theatrical adaptation of Jane Eyre, playing the title role. Around this time, Hepburn vied for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind, but was deemed inappropriate for the part by RKO producer Pandro S. Berman.

Alongside a series of unpopular films, problems arose from Hepburn's attitude. Her non-conformist, anti-Hollywood behavior off screen put her at odds with studio executives. During a time when studios managed every aspect of a star's career, Hepburn's self-possession was viewed as a liability. The public also found her difficult to digest: outspoken and intellectual with an acerbic tongue, she defied the era's conventions, preferring to wear pantsuits and minimal makeup. She had a famously difficult relationship with the press, turning down most interviews, and denied requests for autographs. On movie sets, she was eager to learn the technicalities of the business, and befriended crew members. Even so, her refusal to sign autographs and answer personal questions earned her the nickname "Katharine of Arrogance" (an allusion to Catherine of Aragon). Towards the end of the decade, even the release of critically praised movies failed to bring audiences.

thumb|left|With Cary Grant in the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938).Stage Door (1937) paired Hepburn with Ginger Rogers, and she was praised for a role that held parallels to her own life. Next came the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938), co-starring Cary Grant and directed by Howard Hawks. It was popular with critics, and Hepburn was praised for her comedic talents, but it did not do well at the box office. It was the last picture Hepburn did at RKO. By this point she had been voted "box office poison" in a poll taken by movie theatre owners. RKO, who were anxious to be rid of her, offered Hepburn a role in the film Mother Carey's Chickens. She turned it down, knowing it would be a horrible role, and instead opted to buy herself out of her contract for $75,000. She signed on to do Holiday (1938) with Columbia Pictures, another comedy with Grant. It was also well received by critics, but it was too late to compensate for the previous flops and overcome the negative publicity. The next script Hepburn received, from Paramount, offered a salary of only $10,000 (down from $150,000 for Holiday).

Revival (1938 - 1951)

rigt|thumb|Hepburn and James Stewart in [[The Philadelphia Story (film)|The Philadelphia Story (1940), the film that regenerated Hepburn's career.]]Hepburn decided she needed to create her own comeback vehicle. She asked friend Philip Barry, soon after she had starred in the film version of his play Holiday, to write a play especially for her. The result was The Philadelphia Story. The play opened in New York in 1938 and was an instant hit, running for 417 performances. Hepburn invested financially in the play and, with the help of ex-lover Howard Hughes, acquired the film rights and sold them to MGM, ensuring that she be the star. As part of the deal she also received the director of her choice, George Cukor, but the co-stars she wanted, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, were both unavailable. Louis B. Mayer promised her James Stewart and $150,000 "for anyone else you want or can get." Katharine chose her friend and previous co-star, Cary Grant. The resulting film was one of the biggest hits of 1940, breaking all records at the Radio City Music Hall. For her role as spoiled but misunderstood socialite Tracy Lord, Hepburn was nominated for her third Academy Award for Best Actress and won the New York Film Critics award. Her career was revived almost overnight.

Hepburn's was also responsible for the development of her next project, the romantic comedy Woman of the Year (1942). The idea for the film was proposed to her by friend Garson Kanin. Hepburn then passed the outline on to Joseph L. Mankiewicz at MGM and said the price was $250,000 (half for her, half for the script). He liked it and agreed to produce the movie. Hepburn contributed significantly to the script - reading it, suggesting cuts and word changes, and generally providing helpful enthusiasm for the project. Per Hepburn's request, Spencer Tracy was cast as her co-star and George Stephens directed. In preparation, Tracy and Hepburn studied each other's films extensively. Tracy was initially wary of Katharine, thinking she had dirty fingernails and was probably a lesbian. But the pair soon established a connection, and would go on to make a further eight films together. Woman of the Year was another success for Hepburn, and she received her fourth Academy Award nomination for playing independent career-woman Tess Harding. The film set the template for the 'battle of the sexes' theme that ran through much of the Tracy-Hepburn oeuvre. Forty years later it was turned into a successful musical starring Hepburn's friend Lauren Bacall.

In 1942, Hepburn returned to Broadway to appear in another Philip Barry play, Without Love. Her next film was another with Tracy. The success of Woman of the Year meant MGM was eager to produce a new movie with the duo, but Keeper of the Flame (1942) was of stark contrast to the previous hit. A dark mystery with a propaganda message about the dangers of fascism, it had none of the comedy and little of the romance of Woman of the Year. It was unpopular, with Time Magazine calling it "a significant failure". The only appearance Hepburn made in 1943 was a cameo appearance in the musical Stage Door Canteen, playing herself.

Hepburn struggled to find a hit for the next few years, appearing in a series of unremarkable films. She played a Chinese peasant in the drama Dragon Seed (1944), which was met with a tepid response. She then reunited with Tracy for the film version of Without Love (1945), which failed to make an impact at the box office. Undercurrent (1946), a film noir with Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum, then followed. In 1947 she portrayed pianist Clara Wieck Schumann in Song of Love. There were two more pictures with Tracy in 1947 and 1948, The Sea of Grass, a period drama set in the American Old West, and Frank Capra's political drama State of the Union.

right|thumb|Tracy and Hepburn in the classic film Adam's Rib (1949).The subsequent pictures with Tracy had failed to repeat the success of Woman of the Year. But the 1949 film Adam's Rib, their sixth pairing, was a return to similar territory. Another 'battle of the sexes' comedy, it was written specifically for the duo, by close friends Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, and Hepburn described it as "perfect for [Tracy] and me". Hepburn had seen Judy Holliday in Kanin's Broadway show of Born Yesterday, and felt she would be perfect in the film. She encouraged Holliday to sign on for the part, which kickstarted her Hollywood career. Adam's Rib turned out to be a big hit. Critic Bosley Crowther was full of praise for the film, and noted Tracy and Hepburn's "perfect compatibility".

The following year, Hepburn made her first venture into Shakespeare, playing Rosalind in As You Like It. The production began at the Cort Theatre in New York, where it was virtually sold out for 148 performances, and then toured the United States.

In 1950, Hepburn filmed The African Queen, her first technicolor movie. The role was Rose Sayer, a prim spinster missionary in Africa (around the time of World War I), who convinces Humphrey Bogart's character, a hard-drinking riverboat captain, to use his boat to destroy a German ship. The African Queen was shot mostly on location in the Congo, where almost all the cast and crew suffered from malaria and dysentery, except director John Huston and Bogart, neither of whom ever drank any water. Hepburn disapproved of the two men's heavy alcohol consumption and drank nothing but water to spite them. She became so sick with dysentery that, even months after she returned home, the actress was still ill. The film was released in 1951 to great acclaim, and gave Hepburn her fifth Best Actress nomination. She lost to Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire. The trip was so significant to Hepburn that later in life she wrote a book about it: The Making of The African Queen: Or, How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, which made her a best-selling author at the age of 77.

Mid career (1952 - 1968)

Hepburn's next project after The African Queen was the sports comedy Pat and Mike (1952). It was the second film written specifically as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle by the husband and wife team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. It occurred to Kanin, a close friend of the couple, that Hepburn's audience were missing an important aspect of her personality - her athleticism. Thus the character of Pat Pemberton was written - a talented sports woman who is coached by hard-boiled promoter Mike Conovan (Tracy). Hepburn performed all the sports footage in the film herself, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The same year, she appeared in London's West End in George Bernard Shaw's The Millionairess. She was an enormous success. The production moved to New York for a further ten weeks, and the Shubert Theatre sold out for the whole run. Hepburn would later try hard to get the play adapted into a film, to be written and directed by Preston Sturges, but the project was turned down.

thumb|Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi in David Lean's [[Summertime (1955 film)|Summertime (1955).]]In 1955, Hepburn toured Australia for six months with the Old Vic theatre company. She played Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew and Isabella in Measure for Measure. It was a great success. The same year, Hepburn starred in David Lean's romantic drama Summertime. It was loosely based on the play The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents, and was filmed entirely on location in Venice. Hepburn played a lonely spinster who has a love affair with Rossano Brazzi. She described it as "a very emotional part", and found it fascinating to work with Lean. Hepburn performed the stunt where she falls into a canal herself, and developed a chronic eye infection as a result. The performance earned her another Academy Award nomination, and is regarded as some of her finest work. David Lean later said it was his personal favorite of the films he made.

Hepburn received an Academy Award nomination for the second year running, again for playing a lonely women empowered by a love affair, for her work opposite Burt Lancaster in The Rainmaker (1956). Less success that year came from The Iron Petticoat (1956), a reworking of the classic comedy Ninotchka, with Bob Hope. The film was poorly received and has been called Hepburn's worst performance. In 1957 she returned to Shakespeare. Appearing in Stratford, Connecticut at the American Shakespeare Theatre, she repeated her Portia in The Merchant of Venice and played Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.

For her next two films, the theme of playing spinsters - which had proven successful for Hepburn - continued. First in Desk Set (1957), an office-based comedy with Spencer Tracy, and then in an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. The movie was filmed in London, and Hepburn clashed with director Joseph L. Mankiewicz during filming over his treatment of Clift. The actor was in poor shape, and Mankiewicz wanted to replace him until Hepburn stepped in to defend the star. On the last day of filming, when everything was complete, Hepburn spat at Mankiewicz and producer Sam Spiegel to show her disgust at their behavior. Her work as Violet Venable gave Hepburn her eighth Oscar nomination. Williams was extremely pleased with the performance, and later wrote, "Kate is a playwright's dream actress. She makes dialogue sound better than it is by a matchless beauty and clarity of diction, and by a fineness of intelligence and sensibility that illuminates every shade of meaning in every line she speaks." He wrote The Night of the Iguana (1961) with Hepburn in mind, but the actress - although flattered - felt the play was wrong for her and declined the part (which went to Bette Davis).

Hepburn reappeared in Stratford in 1960 to play Viola in Twelfth Night and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (with Robert Ryan playing Antony). Theatre enthusiast Garson Kanin believed she was one of the few actresses to succeed completely as Cleopatra. Hepburn herself was proud of the role. Her repertoire was further improved when she appeared in Sidney Lumet's film version of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962). It was a low-budget production, and Hepburn appeared in the film for a tenth of her established salary. The complex role of morphine addicted Mary Tyrone earned Hepburn an Oscar nomination and a Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival.

thumb|left|Hepburn's award winning performance of Eleanor of Aquitaine in [[The Lion in Winter (1968 film)|The Lion in Winter (1968).]]At this point, Hepburn took a break in her career to care for the sickly Spencer Tracy. She would not appear in a film again until 1967's Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. It was a triumphant return for Hepburn, as she received her second Academy Award for Best Actress, 34 years after winning her first. The film dealt with the controversial subject of interracial marriage, with Hepburn's niece, Katharine Houghton, playing her daughter who wants to marry Sydney Poitier. It was the final Tracy-Hepburn outing: Tracy died just three weeks after completion.

Hepburn's next role was Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion In Winter (1968). She read extensively in preparation for the role, where she starred opposite Peter O'Toole. It was filmed in Montmajour Abbey, the south of France, which Hepburn enjoyed immensely. For the second year running, Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress (tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl). The following year, she starred in the Broadway musical Coco, about the life of Coco Chanel. Reviews for the production were mediocre, but Hepburn herself was praised and the show was popular with the public. Hepburn would typically receive a standing ovation at the end of the night, and the show's run was twice extended. Hepburn received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, losing to close friend Lauren Bacall.

Late career (1969 - 1994)

Hepburn's next film role was in The Madwomen of Chaillot (1969), a flop, followed by a film version of Euripides' The Trojan Women (1971). This was also unsuccessful at the box office, but did win Hepburn an award for Best Actress from the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards. Next was an adaptation of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (1973), directed by Tony Richardson. Hepburn then ventured into television for the first time, appearing in a TV Movie of The Glass Menagerie (1973) and Love Among the Ruins (1975), a London-based period drama with Laurence Olivier, for which she won an Emmy Award. In 1975, Hepburn starred with John Wayne in the Western Rooster Cogburn, a sequel to his Oscar-winning film True Grit. Hepburn's role was very similar to that which she had played in The African Queen - a deeply religious spinster who teams up with a masculine loner to avenge a family member's death. The movie received mediocre reviews.

thumb|left|For her work with Henry Fonda in [[On Golden Pond (1981 film)|On Golden Pond (1981), Hepburn won a record-breaking fourth Oscar.]]In 1976, Hepburn returned to the stage for A Matter of Gravity. Her next film role came in 1978, when starred in the adventure comedy Olly Olly Oxen Free. It was one of the least successful films of Hepburn's career. The TV Movie The Corn Is Green (1979) followed, which was filmed in Wales. It was Hepburn's last of 11 films she made with George Cukor, and gained her an Emmy nomination. Her next feature paired her with Henry Fonda to play an elderly couple in On Golden Pond (1981). It was a big success, and won Hepburn a record-winning fourth Oscar at the age of 74. The same year she also received a Tony Award nomination for her work on The West Side Waltz.

[[File:Katharine Hepburn in Love Affair.jpg|thumb|Katharine Hepburn's final movie appearance, ''[[Love Affair (1994 film)|Love Affair]] (1994).]]Hepburn remained active into her eighties, despite having a very visible essential tremor. She starred in the dark comedy Grace Quigley (1984), about an elderly women who begins blackmailing a hitman. In 1985, Hepburn presented a documentary about the life and career of Spencer Tracy. The majority of Hepburn's roles from this point were in TV movies. Mrs Delafield Wants To Marry (1986) had her playing an upperclass window who falls in love with a Jewish man, despite objection from her children. She received an Emmy nomination for her work. Laura Lansing Slept Here (1987) was a comedy about a famous author challenged to live with a 'normal family' for one week. In 1991 she released her autobiography, Me: Stories of my Life, which was a best seller. A Golden Globe nomination came for The Man Upstairs (1992) with Ryan O'Neal. She worked opposite Anthony Quinn in This Can't Be Love, (1994) which was largely based on Hepburn's own life, with numerous references to her personality and career. Her next TV movie - and the final role she ever filmed - was One Christmas'' (1994), based on a short story by Truman Capote. Hepburn received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Hepburn's final appearance in a theatrically-released film was 1994's Love Affair where, at 87 years old, she played a small role alongside Annette Benning and Warren Beatty. Roger Ebert noted that it was the first time Hepburn had looked frail, but that the "magnificent spirit" was still there and said her scenes "steal the show".

Personal life

Hepburn married socialite businessman Ludlow Ogden Smith in December, 1928. The couple had met while Hepburn was a student at Bryn Mawr. The relationship was strained, as Hepburn pursued her career on the stage and traveled. The move to Hollywood in 1932 cemented their estrangement, and in 1934, Hepburn travelled to Mexico to get a quick divorce. The couple had no children. Fearing that the Mexican divorce was not legal, Ludlow obtained a second divorce in the United States in 1942 and a few days later he remarried. Hepburn often expressed her gratitude toward Ludlow for his financial and moral support in the early days of her career, and took full blame for the breakdown of their relationship. "Luddy" continued to be a lifelong friend to her and the rest of the Hepburn family. After her marriage, Hepburn had long-term relationships with her agent Leland Hayward and with entrepreneur Howard Hughes.

It was with Spencer Tracy that Hepburn claimed to find true love, saying in her autobiography: "It was a unique feeling that I had for [Tracy]. I would have done anything for him." Meeting on the set of Woman of the Year, she said she "knew right away that I found him irresistible." The relationship between Hepburn and Tracy was complicated. Although Tracy and his wife had been separated since the 1930s, he continued to think of himself as a family man and neither party ever pursued a divorce. Hepburn did not interfere and never fought for marriage. To avoid controversy, Hepburn and Tracy chose to keep their relationship private. It was often strained by Tracy's alcoholism, and there were periods in the 1950s where they were apart. While filming Plymouth Adventure, Tracy had an affair with his co-star Gene Tierney. Tracy's health declined significantly in the 1960s, and Hepburn took a break in her career, following completion of Long Day's Journey Into Night, to care for him. The couple lived together during this period, and Hepburn was with Tracy when he died on June 10, 1967. Out of consideration for Tracy's family, Hepburn did not attend his funeral. She never watched Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, saying it would be too painful. It was only after Louise Tracy's death, in 1983, that Hepburn began to speak publicly about her feelings for Tracy. In response to the question of why she stayed with him for so long, despite the nature of their relationship, she said "I don't know. I just know I never could have left him."

Regarding religion, Hepburn stated in her 1973 interview with Dick Cavett that although she agreed with Christian principles, and thought highly of Jesus Christ, she did not believe in religion or the afterlife. She told a journalist in October 1991 "I'm an atheist and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people."

Hepburn was politically liberal. At the height of the pre-McCarthy stages of the post-war Second Red Scare, Hepburn's progressive social views became a target of anti-communist hysteria. Myron Fagan, the right-wing writer, producer and director at the center of Hollywood's anti-communist witch-hunting, denounced Hepburn after she publicly spoke up for members of her industry facing the blacklist of the 1940s. Despite Hepburn's lack of actual membership in, or any formal links to, the American Communist Party, Fagan named Hepburn as an example, making the claim that "Katharine Hepburn's love for Joe Stalin is no secret." Although there was no concrete basis for it, George Orwell listed Hepburn as a crypto-communist, along with 34 others, in a letter to his friend Celia Kirwan on May 2, 1949. Hepburn lent her name to various liberal causes, particularly family planning. In 1985, she received the Humanist Arts Award of the American Humanist Association, presented by her friend Corliss Lamont.

Hepburn's primary hobbies outside acting were sports and painting. Throughout her life she played tennis daily, swam regularly, frequently took long walks, cycled, and at one point was one of the best female golfers in the United States. Even in her eighties she was still playing tennis every day, as seen in her 1991 documentary All About Me. She took up painting in the 1930s, and fully embraced it in the 1960s. Despite being talented, she never sold any of her work. A small bust she made of Spencer Tracy's head was featured in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.

Hepburn's family beach home, in Old Saybrook, was destroyed in the 1938 New England Hurricane (September 21, 1938). Hepburn, her mother, brother, and servants narrowly escaped before the house was lifted off its foundations and washed away. Her 1932–1933 Best Actress Oscar was lost in the storm but later found intact.

Hepburn was one of only two witnesses (the other being Garson Kanin) to the wedding of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

In later years, Hepburn developed essential tremor, a chronic neurological condition that causes involuntary shaking of the head, hands, and feet.

Death and legacy

Katharine Hepburn died on June 29, 2003 at Fenwick, the Hepburn family home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was 96 years old and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, in the family plot. Hepburn requested that there be no memorial service. In honor of her extensive theater work, the lights of Broadway were dimmed for one minute.

In 2004, in accordance with Hepburn's wishes, her belongings were put up for auction with Sotheby's in New York. It included personal items, such as a bust of Spencer Tracy she sculpted herself (used as a prop in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) and her own oil paintings, and a large collection of material relating to her career. The auction garnered $5.8 million, which Hepburn willed mostly to her family and close friends, including television journalist Cynthia McFadden.

Hepburn is considered one of history's most influential and iconic actresses, a 'true Hollywood legend'. She is remembered for her independent and forthright personality, with Turner Classic Movies reflecting on the actress as "arguably the most interesting, difficult, challenging woman in the history of American pictures."

She has been honored in a several ways since her death: A theatre was built in Hepburn's name in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Hepburn's family beach home had been in the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, a place that she loved and visited regularly throughout her life. In October 2007, the town received $200,000 from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Historic Restoration Grant for the theatre, totaling $1,000,000 received in grants for the project. During the spring of 2009, the state-of-the-art Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theater was opened. It is fondly known as 'The Kate', which was Hepburn's nickname among friends. On September 8 and 9, 2006, Bryn Mawr College, Hepburn's alma mater, launched the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center, dedicated to both the actress and her mother. The center challenges women to lead publicly engaged lives and to take on important and timely issues affecting women. The center awards the annual Katharine Hepburn Medal, which 'recognizes women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning actress'. Previous recipents include Lauren Bacall and Blythe Danner. Hepburn, who resided for decades in a brownstone at 244 East 49th Street in Manhattan, New York City, was posthumously honored by her neighbors in the Turtle Bay area. First, a garden near her home was dedicated in her name in 2004. The garden contains 12 stepping stones (representing her 12 Oscar nominations) each inscribed with quotes. One reads: "I remember when walking as a child, it was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition." In addition to the garden, the intersection of East 49th Street and 2nd Avenue has been renamed Katharine Hepburn Place (see picture) by the city.

To mark the 100th anniversary of her birth, in May 2007 cable channel Turner Classic Movies dedicated a week of its evening broadcast hours to her films and documentaries on her life. Warner Brothers Home video also celebrated the 100th anniversary of her birth by releasing a box set of movies not previously available on DVD – Morning Glory (1933), Sylvia Scarlett (1936), Dragon Seed (1944), Without Love (1945), Undercurrent (1946), and the TV movie The Corn Is Green (1979).

In 2009, the New York Public Library held an exhibition of materials relating to Hepburn called 'Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files'. It ran from June to October, and showcased photos of her well-known roles, several of Hepburn’s play transcripts, candid backstage photos, and annotated rehearsal notes. Hepburn was honored in the "Legends of Hollywood" stamp series as the sixteenth star to earn her own stamp. These commemorative stamps were unveiled in Old Saybrook, CT and became available for sale in U.S. post offices on May 12, 2010, which would have been her 103rd birthday.

Hepburn was portrayed by Cate Blanchett in Martin Scorsese's 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, The Aviator. Blanchett won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, marking the first instance where an Academy Award–winning actress was turned into an Academy Award–winning role.

Hepburn's professional legacy is carried on within her family. Her niece is actress Katharine Houghton, who featured as her daughter in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Hepburn's grandniece is actress Schuyler Grant, who appeared with Hepburn in Laura Lansing Slept Here, and had roles in Anne of Green Gables and All My Children.

Awards

1933: Academy Award for Best Actress Morning Glory

1934: Volpi Cup for Best Actress, Venice Film Festival for Little Women

1935: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for Alice Adams

1940: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for The Philadelphia Story

1940: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for The Philadelphia Story

1942: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for Woman of the Year

1951: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for The African Queen

1952: BAFTA Best Foreign Actress, nomination for Pat and Mike

1953: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, nomination for Pat and Mike

1955: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for Summertime

1955: BAFTA Best Foreign Actress, nomination for Summertime

1956: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for The Rainmaker

1957: BAFTA Best Foreign Actress, nomination for The Rainmaker

1957: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, nomination for The Rainmaker

1959: Academy Award for Best Actress, nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer

1960: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, nomination for Suddenly, Last Summer

1962: Academy Award for Best Actress nomination, for Long Day's Journey into Night

1962: Best Actress Award, Cannes Film Festival for ''Long Day's Journey into Night

1963: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, nomination for Long Day's Journey into Night

1967: Academy Award for Best Actress Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1968: Academy Award for Best Actress The Lion in Winter

1968: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, nomination for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1968: BAFTA, Best Actress for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1968: BAFTA, Best Actress for The Lion in Winter

1969: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, nomination for The Lion in Winter

1969 Tony, Best Actress in a Musical, nomination for Coco

1974: Emmy, Best Actress in a Drama, nomination for The Glass Menagerie

1975: Emmy, Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Love Among the Ruins

1979: Emmy, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Special nomination for The Corn is Green

1980: Screen Actors Guild Award, Lifetime Achievement Award

1981: Academy Award for Best Actress On Golden Pond

1982: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama nomination for On Golden Pond

1982: BAFTA, Best Actress for On Golden Pond

1981: Tony, Best Actress in a Play, nomination for The West Side Waltz

1986: Emmy, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Special, nomination for Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry

1989: American Comedy Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy

1993: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, nomination for The Man Upstairs

1994: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie, nomination for One Christmas

Work

Stage

The Czarina (1928)

The Torch Bearers (1928)

These Days (1928)

Holiday (1929)

A Month in the Country (1929)

The Admirable Chricton (1930)

The Romantic Young Lady (1930)

Art and Mrs. Bottle (1931)

The Man Who Came Back (1931)

The Cat and the Canary (1931)

The Warrior's Husband (1932)

The Bride the Sun Shines On (1932)

The Lake (1934)

Jane Eyre (1936–1937)

The Philadelphia Story (1938-1939)

Without Love (1942)

As You Like It (1950)

The Millionairess (1952)

The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, and The Taming of the Shrew (1955) — On tour in Australia with the Old Vic

The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing (1957) — American Shakespeare Theatre

Antony and Cleopatra and Twelfth Night (1960 )— American Shakespeare Theatre

Coco (1969)

A Matter of Gravity (1976)

The West Side Waltz (1981)

Filmography

Select filmography:

Little Women (1933)

Stage Door (1937)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Holiday (1938)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Woman of the Year (1942)

Adam's Rib (1949)

The African Queen (1951)

Summertime (1955)

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

The Lion in Winter (1968)

On Golden Pond (1981)

Books

Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (1987)

Me: Stories of My Life (1991)

References

Bibliography

External links

BBC Obituary

An Uncommon Woman: Katharine Hepburn (article from Premiere magazine)

"One Life: Kate, A Centennial Celebration". Online exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Katharine Hepburn Papers, circa 1854-1997 and undated, Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Category:1907 births Category:2003 deaths Category:People from Hartford, Connecticut Category:People from Middlesex County, Connecticut Category:American atheists Category:American film actors Category:American memoirists Category:20th-century actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American radio actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Feminist artists Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut) Category:Actors from Connecticut Category:Connecticut Democrats

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Cary Grant
birth name	Archibald Alexander Leach
birth date	January 18, 1904
birth place	Bristol, England, United Kingdom
death date	November 29, 1986
death place	Davenport, Iowa, United States
other names	Archie Leach
occupation	Actor
years active	1932–66
spouse	Virginia Cherrill (1934–1935)Barbara Hutton (1942–1945)Betsy Drake (1949–1962)Dyan Cannon (1965–1967)Barbara Harris (1981–1986)
partner	Maureen Donaldson (1973–1977)
children	Jennifer Grant, born on February 26, 1966
relations	Cary Benjamin Grant, born on August 12, 2008
Awards	Academy Honorary Award1970 For his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues. }}

Archibald Alexander Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men.

He was named the second Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Noted for his dramatic roles as well as screwball comedy, Grant's best-known films include Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gunga Din (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Penny Serenade (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), None but the Lonely Heart (1944), Notorious (1946), To Catch A Thief (1955), An Affair to Remember (1957), and North by Northwest (1959).

Nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor and five times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Grant was continually passed over, and in 1970 was given an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards. Frank Sinatra presented Grant with the award, "for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues".

Early life and career

Archibald Alexander Leach was born in Horfield, Bristol, to Elsie Maria Kingdon (1877–1973) and Elias James Leach (1873–1935). An only child, Leach had an unhappy upbringing, attending Bishop Road Primary School. His mother had suffered from depression since the death of a previous child. Her husband placed her in a mental institution, and told his nine-year-old son only that she had gone away on a "long holiday"; it was not until he was 31 that Grant discovered her alive, in an institutionalized care facility.

He was expelled from the Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918. After joining the "Bob Pender stage troupe", Leach performed as a stilt walker and travelled with the group to the United States in 1920 at the age of 16, on a two-year tour of the country. He was processed at Ellis Island on July 28, 1920. When the troupe returned to the UK, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career. During this time, he became a part of the vaudeville world and toured with Parker, Rand and Leach. Still using his birth name, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931); Music in May (1931); Nina Rosa (1931); Rio Rita (1931); Street Singer (1931); The Three Musketeers (1931); and Wonderful Night (1931). Leach's experience on stage as a stilt walker, acrobat, juggler, and mime taught him "phenomenal physical grace and exquisite comic timing" and the value of teamwork, skills which would benefit him in Hollywood.

Hollywood stardom

After the light Broadway comedies, Grant went to Hollywood in 1931. When told to change his name, he proposed "Cary Lockwood," his character's name in a recent play called Nikki, based upon the recent film The Last Flight. He signed with Paramount Pictures, but while studio bosses were impressed with him, they were less than impressed with his adopted stage name. They decided that the name Cary was acceptable, but Lockwood had to go due to a similarity with another actor's name. It was after browsing through a list of the studio's preferred surnames that "Cary Grant" was born. Grant chose the name because the initials C and G had already proved lucky for Clark Gable and Gary Cooper, two of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. Already having appeared as leading man opposite Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus (1932), his stardom was given a further boost by Mae West when she chose him for her leading man in two of her most successful films, She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel (both 1933). I'm No Angel was a tremendous financial success and, along with She Done Him Wrong, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Paramount put Grant in a series of unsuccessful films until 1936, when he signed with Columbia Pictures. His first major comedy hit was when he was loaned to Hal Roach's studio for the 1937 Topper (which was distributed by MGM).

Under the tutelage of director Leo McCarey, his role in The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne was the pivotal film in the establishment of Grant's screen persona; as he later wrote, "I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point." Grant's sophisticated light comedy persona first evident in The Awful Truth was largely concocted by McCarey, with Grant also copying many of McCarey's mannerisms. Along with the similarity in their names, McCarey and Cary Grant shared a close physical resemblance, making mimicking McCarey's intonations and expressions even easier for Grant. As writer/director Peter Bogdanovich notes, "After The Awful Truth, when it came to light comedy, there was Cary Grant and then everyone else was an also-ran."

The Awful Truth began "what would be the most spectacular run ever for an actor in American pictures"; during the next four years, Grant made the screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby and the romantic comedy Holiday (1938) with Katharine Hepburn; the adventures Gunga Din and Only Angels Have Wings (1939); His Girl Friday (1940) with Rosalind Russell; The Philadelphia Story (1940), with Hepburn and James Stewart; My Favorite Wife (1940) and Penny Serenade (1941) with Irene Dunne; and Suspicion (1941), the first of four with Alfred Hitchcock.

Grant remained one of Hollywood's top box-office attractions for almost 30 years. Howard Hawks said that Grant was "so far the best that there isn't anybody to be compared to him". David Thomson called him "the best and most important actor in the history of the cinema".

Grant was a favorite of Hitchcock, who called him "the only actor I ever loved in my whole life". Besides Suspicion, Grant appeared in the Hitchcock classics Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959). Biographer Patrick McGilligan wrote that, in 1965, Hitchcock asked Grant to star in Torn Curtain (1966), only to learn that Grant had decided to retire after making one more film, Walk, Don't Run (1966); Paul Newman was cast instead, opposite Julie Andrews.

In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Granart Productions, and produced a number of movies distributed by Universal, such as Operation Petticoat (1959), Indiscreet (1958), That Touch of Mink (co-starring with Doris Day, 1962), and Father Goose (1964). In 1963, he appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963). His last feature film was Walk, Don't Run with Samantha Eggar and Jim Hutton.

Grant was the first actor to "go independent" by not renewing his studio contract, effectively leaving the studio system, which almost completely controlled what an actor could or could not do. In this way, Grant was able to control every aspect of his career, at the risk of not working because no particular studio had an interest in his career long term. He decided which movies he was going to appear in, he often had personal choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times even negotiated a share of the gross, something uncommon at the time.

Grant was nominated for two Academy Awards in the 1940s, and received a special Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970. In 1981, he was accorded the Kennedy Center Honors. Never self-absorbed, Grant poked fun at himself with statements such as, "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant—even I want to be Cary Grant". After seeing a telegram from a magazine editor to his agent asking "HOW OLD CARY GRANT?", Grant reportedly responded with "OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?"

Retirement and death

Although Grant had retired from the screen, he remained active in other areas. In the late 1960s, he accepted a position on the board of directors at Fabergé. By all accounts this position was not honorary, as some had assumed, Grant regularly attended meetings and his mere appearance at a product launch would almost certainly guarantee its success. The position also permitted use of a private plane, which Grant could use to fly to see his daughter wherever her mother, Dyan Cannon, was working. He later joined the boards of Hollywood Park, The Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle, Hollywood, CA) Western Airlines (now Delta Air Lines), and MGM.

In the last few years of his life, Grant undertook tours of the United States in a one-man show. It was called "A Conversation with Cary Grant", in which he would show clips from his films and answer audience questions. Grant was preparing for a performance at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa on the afternoon of November 29, 1986 when he sustained a cerebral hemorrhage. He had previously suffered a stroke in October 1984. He died at 11:22 pm in St. Luke's Hospital at the age of 82.

In 2001 a statue of Grant was erected in Millennium Square, a regenerated area next to the harbour in his city of birth, Bristol, England.

In November 2005, Grant came in first in the "The 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" list by Premiere Magazine. Richard Schickel, the film critic, said about Grant: "He's the best star actor there ever was in the movies."

Personal life

Grant was married five times. He wed Virginia Cherrill on February 10, 1934. She divorced him on March 26, 1935, following charges that Grant had hit her. In 1942 he married Barbara Hutton, one of the wealthiest women in the world, and became a father figure to her son, Lance Reventlow. The couple was derisively nicknamed "Cash and Cary", although in an extensive prenuptial agreement Grant refused any financial settlement in the event of a divorce. After divorcing in 1945, they remained lifelong friends. Grant always bristled at the accusation that he married for money: "I may not have married for very sound reasons, but money was never one of them."

On December 25, 1949, Grant married Betsy Drake. He appeared with her in two films. This would prove to be his longest marriage, ending on August 14, 1962. Drake introduced Grant to LSD, and in the early 1960s he related how treatment with the hallucinogenic drug —legal at the time— at a prestigious California clinic had finally brought him inner peace after yoga, hypnotism, and mysticism had proved ineffective. (In 1932, Grant had also met the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba.) Grant and Drake divorced in 1962.

He eloped with Dyan Cannon on July 22, 1965, in Las Vegas. Their daughter, Jennifer Grant, was born prematurely on February 26, 1966. He frequently called her his "best production" and regretted that he had not had children sooner. The marriage was troubled from the beginning, and Cannon left him in December 1966, claiming that Grant flew into frequent rages and spanked her when she "disobeyed" him. The divorce, finalized in 1968, was bitter and public, and custody fights over their daughter went on for nearly ten years.

On April 11, 1981, Grant married long-time companion Barbara Harris, a British hotel public relations agent, who was 47 years his junior. They renewed their vows on their fifth wedding anniversary. (Fifteen years after Grant's death, Harris married former Kansas Jayhawks All-American quarterback David Jaynes in 2001.)

Some, including Hedda Hopper and screenwriter Arthur Laurents have said, that Grant was bisexual, the latter writing that Grant "told me he threw pebbles at my window one night but was luckless". Grant allegedly was involved with costume designer Orry-Kelly when he first moved to Manhattan, and lived with Randolph Scott off and on for twelve years. Richard Blackwell wrote that Grant and Scott were "deeply, madly in love", and alleged eyewitness accounts of their physical affection have been published. However, Grant did admit in an interview that his first two wives had accused him of being homosexual. Betsy Drake commented: "Why would I believe that Cary was homosexual when we were busy fucking?"

Politics

Grant did not think movie stars should publicly make political declarations. Grant described his politics and his reticence about them this way:

Throughout his life, Grant maintained personal friendships with colleagues of varying political stripes, and his few political activities seemed to be shaped by personal friendships. Repulsed by the human costs to many in Hollywood, Grant publicly condemned McCarthyism in 1953, and when his friend Charlie Chaplin, was blacklisted, Grant insisted that the actor's artistic value outweighed political concerns. Grant was also a friend of the Kennedy brothers and Robert Kennedy's press secretary Frank Mankiewicz. He hosted one of Robert Kennedy's first political fundraisers at his home. He made one of his rare statements on public issues following the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, calling for gun control.

In 1976, after his retirement from movies, Grant made his one overtly partisan appearance, introducing his friend Betty Ford, the First Lady, at the Republican National Convention, but even in this he maintained some distance from partisanship, speaking of "your" party, rather than "ours" in his remarks.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" |- ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- | rowspan=8|1932 | This Is the Night | Stephen | With Lili Damita, Charles Ruggles, and Thelma Todd |- | Sinners in the Sun | Ridgeway | With Carole Lombard and Chester Morris |- | Singapore Sue | First Sailor | Musical Comedy short subject |- | Merrily We Go to Hell | Charlie Baxter | UK title: Merrily We Go to _____ With Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March |- | Devil and the Deep | Lieutenant Jaeckel | With Tallulah Bankhead and Gary Cooper |- | Blonde Venus | Nick Townsend | With Marlene Dietrich |- | Hot Saturday | Romer Sheffield | With Nancy Carroll and Edward Woods |- | Madame Butterfly | Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton | With Sylvia Sidney and Charles Ruggles |- | rowspan=6|1933 | She Done Him Wrong | Capt. Cummings | With Mae West and Noah Beery, Sr. |- | The Woman Accused | Jeffrey Baxter | With Nancy Carroll |- | The Eagle and the Hawk | Henry Crocker | With Fredric March and Carole Lombard |- | Gambling Ship | Ace Corbin | With Jack La Rue and Glenda Farrell |- | I'm No Angel | Jack Clayton | With Mae West |- | Alice in Wonderland | The Mock Turtle | With W. C. Fields and Gary Cooper |- | rowspan=4|1934 | Thirty Day Princess | Porter Madison III | With Sylvia Sidney and Edward Arnold |- | Born to Be Bad | Malcolm Trevor | With Loretta Young (Heavily censored by the Hayes Office) |- | Kiss and Make-Up | Dr. Maurice Lamar | With Helen Mack and the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1934 |- | Ladies Should Listen | Julian De Lussac | With Francis Drake and Edward Everett Horton |- | rowspan=4|1935 | Enter Madame | Gerald Fitzgerald | With top-billed Elissa Landi |- | Wings in the Dark | Ken Gordon | With Myrna Loy |- | The Last Outpost | Michael Andrews | With Claude Rains |- | Sylvia Scarlett | Jimmy Monkley | Directed by George Cukor With Katharine Hepburn |- | rowspan=4|1936 | Big Brown Eyes | Det. Sgt. Danny Barr | With Joan Bennett and Walter Pidgeon |- | Suzy | Andre | With Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone |- | The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss | Ernest Bliss | US title: Romance and Riches Alt title: The Amazing Adventure |- | Wedding Present | Charlie | With Joan Bennett |- | rowspan=4|1937 | When You're in Love | Jimmy Hudson | UK title: For You Alone With Grace Moore |- | Topper | George Kerby | With Constance Bennett |- | The Toast of New York | Nicholas "Nick" Boyd | With Edward Arnold and Jack Oakie |- | The Awful Truth | Jerry Warriner | Directed by Leo McCareyWith Irene DunneIntroduced the "Cary Grant persona" |- | rowspan=2|1938 | Bringing up Baby | Dr. David Huxley | Directed by Howard HawksWith Katharine Hepburn and Charles Ruggles |- | Holiday | John "Johnny" Case | Directed by George CukorWith Katharine HepburnUK title: Free to Live |- | rowspan=3|1939 | Gunga Din | Sgt. Archibald Cutter | Directed by George StevensWith Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. |- | Only Angels Have Wings | Geoff Carter | Directed by Howard HawksWith Jean Arthur, Thomas Mitchell, and Rita Hayworth |- | In Name Only | Alec Walker | With Carole Lombard and Charles Coburn |- | rowspan=4|1940 | His Girl Friday | Walter Burns | Directed by Howard HawksRemake of The Front PageWith Rosalind Russell |- | My Favorite Wife | Nick | Co-written by Leo McCarey Directed by Garson KaninWith Irene Dunne and Gail Patrick |- | The Howards of Virginia | Matt Howard |UK title: The Tree of Liberty With Martha Scott |- | The Philadelphia Story | C.K. Dexter Haven | With Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart |- | rowspan=2|1941 | Penny Serenade | Roger Adams | Nominated – Academy Award for Best ActorDirected by George StevensWith Irene Dunne and Edgar Buchanan |- | Suspicion | Johnnie | Directed by Alfred HitchcockWith Joan Fontaine |- | rowspan=2|1942 | The Talk of the Town | Leopold Dilg aka Joseph | With Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur |- | Once Upon a Honeymoon | Patrick "Pat" O'Toole | Directed by Leo McCareyWith Ginger Rogers |- | rowspan=2|1943 | Mr. Lucky | Joe Adams/Joe Bascopolous | With Laraine Day and Charles Bickford |- | Destination Tokyo | Capt. Cassidy | With John Garfield and Dane Clark |- | rowspan=3|1944 | Once Upon a Time | Jerry Flynn | With Janet Blair |- | Arsenic and Old Lace | Mortimer Brewster | With Priscilla Lane and Peter Lorre |- | None But the Lonely Heart | Ernie Mott | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor Written and directed by Clifford OdetsWith Ethel Barrymore |- | rowspan=3|1946 | Without Reservations | Himself (cameo) | With Claudette Colbert and John Wayne |- | Night and Day | Cole Porter | Directed by Michael Curtiz |- | Notorious | T.R. Devlin |Directed by Alfred HitchcockWith Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains |- | rowspan=2|1947 | The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer | Dick | UK title: Bachelor Knight With Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple |- | The Bishop's Wife | Dudley | With Loretta Young and David Niven |- | rowspan=2|1948 | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Jim Blandings | With Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas |- | Every Girl Should Be Married | Dr. Madison W. Brown | With Betsy Drake |- | 1949 | I Was a Male War Bride | Capt. Henri Rochard | UK title: You Can't Sleep HereWith Ann Sheridan |- | 1950 | Crisis | Dr. Eugene Norland Ferguson | With Jose Ferrer |- | 1951 | People Will Talk | Dr. Noah Praetorius | With Jeanne Crain |- | rowspan=2|1952 | Room for One More | George "Poppy" Rose | With Betsy Drake |- | Monkey Business | Dr. Barnaby Fulton | Directed by Howard HawksWith Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe |- | 1953 | Dream Wife | Clemson Reade | With Deborah Kerr and Walter Pidgeon |- | 1955 | To Catch a Thief | John Robie |Directed by Alfred HitchcockWith Grace Kelly |- | rowspan=3|1957 | The Pride and the Passion | Anthony | With Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren |- | An Affair to Remember | Nickie Ferrante |A same-script remake of Love Affair (1939 film), both directed by Leo McCarey With Deborah Kerr |- | Kiss Them for Me | Cmdr. Andy Crewson | Directed by Stanley DonenWith Jayne Mansfield and Suzy Parker |- | rowspan=2|1958 | Indiscreet | Philip Adams | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyDirected by Stanley DonenWith Ingrid Bergman |- | Houseboat | Tom Winters | With Sophia Loren |- | rowspan=2|1959 | North by Northwest | Roger O. Thornhill |Directed by Alfred Hitchcock With Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Martin Landau |- | Operation Petticoat | Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyWith Dina Merrill and Arthur O'Connell |- | 1960 | The Grass Is Greener | Victor Rhyall, Earl | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Directed by Stanley DonenWith Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons |- | 1962 | That Touch of Mink | Philip Shayne | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyDirected by Delbert MannWith Doris Day and Gig Young |- | 1963 | Charade | Peter Joshua / Carson Dyle / Alexander Dyle / Adam Canfield / Brian Cruikshank | Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Foreign ActorNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyDirected by Stanley DonenWith Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, and James Coburn |- | 1964 | Father Goose | Walter Christopher Eckland | Directed by Ralph NelsonWith Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard |- | 1966 | Walk, Don't Run | Sir William Rutland | With Samantha Eggar Remake of The More the Merrier |}

References

Notes

Bibliography of cited references

Bogdanovich, Peter. Who the Hell's in It: Portraits and Conversations. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. ISBN 0-37540-010-9.

Eliot, Marc. Cary Grant: The Biography. New York: Aurum Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84513-073-1.

Higham, Charles and Roy Moseley. Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart. London: Thompson Learning, 1997. ISBN 0-15115-787-1.

Johannson, Warren and William A. Percy. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence.. Kirkwood, New York: Harrington Park Press, 1994, pp. 146–147.

Kael, Pauline. "The Man from Dream City – Cary Grant" – The New Yorker – July 14, 1975 – (reprinted in: Pauline Kael: For Keeps – 30 Years at the Movies. New York: Dutton, 1994.)

Laurents, Arthur. Original Story by: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corp, 2001. ISBN 1-55783-467-9.

Mann, William J. Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910–1969. New York: Viking, 2001. ISBN 0-67003-017-1.

McCann, Graham. Cary Grant: A Class Apart. London: Fourth Estate, 1997. ISBN 1-85702-574-1.

McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. New York: Regan Books, 2003. ISBN 0-06039-322-X.

Morecambe, Gary; Sterling, Martin. Cary Grant: In Name Alone. London: Robson Books, 2001. ISBN 1-86105-466-1.

Nelson, Nancy and Cary Grant. Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections In His Own Words and By Those Who Loved Him Best. Thorndike, Maine: Thorndike Press, 1992. ISBN 1-56054-342-6.

Russo, Vito. The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies [revised edition]. New York: Harrow & Row, 1987. ISBN 0-06096-132-5.

Wansell, Geoffrey. Cary Grant: Dark Angel. London: Arcade, 1997. ISBN 1-55970-369-5.

External links

Becoming Cary Grant (in Atlantic Magazine)

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:For the Canadian radio personality with the same name, see Billie Holiday (broadcaster)

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Billie Holiday
background	solo_singer
birth name	Eleanora Fagan
alias	Lady Day
birth date	April 07, 1915
birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
death date	July 17, 1959
death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
origin	Harlem, New York, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing
occupation	Singer, songwriter
years active	1933–1959
label	Brunswick, Vocalion, Okeh, Bluebird, Commodore, Capitol, Decca, Aladdin, Verve, Columbia, MGM
associated acts	Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne
website	Billie Holiday Official Site }}

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan, April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.

Early life and education

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan (née Harris). Her father, Clarence Halliday (Holiday), a musician, did not marry or live with her mother. Her mother had moved to Philadelphia when thirteen, after being ejected from her parents' home in Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore for becoming pregnant. With no support from her own parents, Holiday's mother arranged for the young Holiday to stay with her older married half sister, Eva Miller, who lived in Baltimore. Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, her mother often took what were then known as "transportation jobs", serving on the passenger railroads. Holiday was left to be raised largely by Eva Miller's mother-in-law, Martha Miller, and suffered from her mother's absences and leaving her in others' care for much of the first ten years of her life. (Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, first published in 1956, was sketchy about details of her early life, but much was confirmed by Stuart Nicholson in his 1995 biography of the singer.)

Some historians have disputed Holiday's paternity, as a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives lists the father as "Frank DeViese". Other historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker. Frank DeViese lived in Philadelphia and Sadie Harris may have known him through her work.

Sadie Harris, then known as Sadie Fagan, married Philip Gough, but the marriage was over in two years. Holiday was left with Martha Miller again while her mother took further transportation jobs. Holiday frequently skipped school and her truancy resulted in her being brought before the juvenile court on January 5, 1925 when she was not yet 10. She was sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school. She was baptized there on March 19, 1925 and after nine months in care, was "paroled" on October 3, 1925 to her mother, who had opened a restaurant called the East Side Grill, where she and Holiday worked long hours. By the age of 11, the girl had dropped out of school.

Holiday's mother returned to their home on December 24, 1926, to discover a neighbor, Wilbur Rich, raping Holiday. Rich was arrested. Officials placed the girl at the House of the Good Shepherd in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case. Holiday was released in February 1927, nearly 12. Holiday and her mother wound up living with and working for a madam. During this time, Holiday first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. By the end of 1928, Holiday's mother decided to try her luck in Harlem, New York and left Holiday again with Martha Miller.

Early singing career

During her final period of separation from her mother, Holiday began to perform the songs she learned while working in the brothel. By early 1929, Holiday joined her mother in Harlem. Their landlady was a sharply dressed woman named Florence Williams, who ran a whorehouse at 151 West 140th Street. In order to live, Holiday's mother became a prostitute and, within a matter of days of arriving in New York, Holiday, who had not yet turned fourteen, also became a prostitute for $5 a time. On May 2, 1929, the house was raided, and Holiday and her mother were sent to prison. After spending some time in a workhouse, her mother was released in July, followed by Holiday in October, at the age of 14.

Holiday took her professional pseudonym from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and the musician Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name Halliday, the birth-surname of her father, but eventually changed it to Holiday, his performing name. The young singer teamed up with a neighbor, tenor sax player Kenneth Hollan. From 1929 to 1931, they were a team, performing at clubs such as the Grey Dawn, Pod's and Jerry's, and the Brooklyn Elks' Club. Benny Goodman recalled hearing Holiday in 1931 at The Bright Spot. As her reputation grew, Holiday played at many clubs, including Mexico's and The Alhambra Bar and Grill where Charles Linton, a vocalist who later worked with Chick Webb, first met her. It was also during this period that she connected with her father, who was playing with Fletcher Henderson's band.

By the end of 1932 at the age of 17, Billie Holiday replaced the singer Monette Moore at a club called Covan's on West 132nd Street. The producer John Hammond, who loved Monette Moore's singing and had come to hear her, first heard Holiday in early 1933. Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut, at age 18, in November 1933 with Benny Goodman, singing two songs: "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch", the latter being her first major hit. "Son-in-Law" sold 300 copies, but "Riffin' the Scotch," released on November 11, sold 5,000 copies.

Holiday returned to the studio in 1935 with Goodman and a group led by pianist Teddy Wilson. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," and "Miss Brown To You." The record label did not favor the recording session, because producers wanted Holiday to sound more like Cleo Brown, an established jazz singer. After "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" garnered success, however, the company began considering Holiday an artist in her own right. She began recording under her own name a year later (on the 35 cent Vocalion label), producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the swing era's finest musicians. In 1935, Billie Holiday had a small role as a woman being abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's short Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life. In her scene, she sang the song "Saddest Tale."

Holiday was signed to Brunswick Records by John Hammond to record current pop tunes with Teddy Wilson in the new "swing" style for the growing jukebox trade. They were given free rein to improvise the material. Holiday's improvisation of the melody line to fit the emotion was revolutionary. With their arrangements, Wilson and Holiday took pedestrian pop tunes, such as "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" (#6 Pop) or "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town", and turned them into jazz classics. Most of Holiday's recordings with Wilson or under her own name during the 1930s and early 1940s are regarded as important parts of the jazz vocal library. She was then in her early to late 20s.

Another frequent accompanist was the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom Holiday had a special rapport. He said,

"Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that."

Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez". She did a three-month residency at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in New York in 1937. In the late 1930s, Holiday had brief stints as a big band vocalist with Count Basie (1937) and Artie Shaw (1938). The latter association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an unusual arrangement for the times.

By the late 1930s, Billie Holiday had toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw, scored a string of radio and retail hits with Teddy Wilson, and became an established artist in the recording industry. Her songs "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Easy Living" were being imitated by singers across America and were quickly becoming jazz standards. In 1938, Holiday's single "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" ranked 6th as the most-played song for September of that year. Her record label Vocalion listed the single as its fourth best seller for the same month. "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" peaked at number 2 on the pop charts according to Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories: 1890-1954" book.

Commodore recordings and mainstream success (1939)

Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to "Strange Fruit", a song based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. Meeropol used the pseudonym "Lewis Allan" for the poem, which was set to music and performed at teachers' union meetings. It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday. She performed it at the club in 1939, with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation. Holiday later said that the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father's death and that this played a role in her resistance to performing it.

When Holiday's producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his Commodore Records. That was done on April 20, 1939, and "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for twenty years. She later recorded it again for Verve. While the Commodore release did not get any airplay, the controversial song sold well, though Gabler attributed that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit. "The version I did for Commodore," Holiday said of "Strange Fruit", "became my biggest selling record." "Strange Fruit" was the equivalent of a top twenty hit in the 1930s.

For her performance of "Strange Fruit" at the Café Society, she had waiters silence the crowd when the song began. During the song's long introduction, the lights dimmed and all movement had to cease. As Holiday began singing, only a small spotlight of light illuminated her face. On the final note, all lights in the club went out and when they came back on, Holiday was gone.

Holiday said her father Clarence Holiday was denied treatment for a fatal lung disorder because of prejudice and that singing "Strange Fruit" reminded her of the incident. "It reminds me of how pop died, but I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because twenty years after Pop died the things that killed him are still happening in the south," she said in her autobiography.

Holiday's popularity increased after recording "Strange Fruit". She received a mention in Time magazine. "I open Café Society as an unknown," Holiday said. "I left two years later as a star. I needed the prestige and publicity all right, but you can't pay rent with it." Holiday demanded her manager Joe Glaser give her a raise shortly after.

Holiday soon returned Commodore in 1944, recording songs she made with Teddy Wilson in the 1930s like "I Cover The Waterfront", "I'll Get By", and "He's Funny That Way". She also recorded new songs that were popular at the time, including, "My Old Flame", "How Am I To Know?", "I'm Yours", and "I'll Be Seeing You", a Bing Crosby number one hit. She also recorded her version of "Embraceable You", which would later be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005.

During her time at Commodore, Billie Holiday also babysat the young Billy Crystal; his father being Jack Crystal and uncle being Milt Gabler, the co-founders of Commodore Records.

Successes (1940–1947)

Holiday's mother Sadie Fagan, nicknamed "The Duchess," started her own restaurant called Mom Holiday's. Fagan used the money her daughter earned while shooting dice with members of the Count Basie band, whom she was on tour with in the late 1930s. "It kept mom busy and happy and stopped her from worrying and watching over me," Holiday said. Soon, Fagan began borrowing large amounts of money from Holiday because the restaurant wasn't turning a profit. Holiday obliged, but soon fell upon hard times herself. "I needed some money one night and I knew Mom was sure to have some," Holiday said. "So I walked in the restaurant like a stockholder and asked. Mom turned me down flat. She wouldn't give me a cent." The two argued and then, Holiday, in a rage, hollered "God bless the child that's got his own," and stormed out of the restaurant. With help from Arthur Herzog, Jr., a pianist, the two wrote a song based on the line "God Bless the Child" and added music.

"God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and covered record. It reached number 25 on the record charts in 1941 and ranked third in Billboard's top songs of the year, selling over a million records. In 1976, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Herzog later claimed that Holiday contributed little to the lyrics of her music, adding only a few lines. He also stated that Holiday came up with the line "God Bless the Child" from a dinner conversation the two had.

On June 24, 1942, Holiday recorded "Trav'lin Light" with Paul Whiteman. Because she was still under contract with Columbia records, she couldn't release the song under her own name and instead used the pseudonym "Lady Day." The song was a minor success on the pop charts, reaching number 23, but hit number one on the R&B; charts, which were called the Harlem Hit Parade at the time.

In September 1943, Life magazine complimented Holiday on her work. They wrote, "she has the most distinct style of any popular vocalist and is imitated by other vocalists."

Milt Gabler eventually became an A&R; man for Decca Records, in addition to owning Commodore Records, and he signed Holiday to the label on August 7, 1944, when Holiday was 29. Her first recording for Decca was "Lover Man" (#16 Pop, #5 R&B;), one of her biggest hits. The success and wide distribution of the song made Holiday a staple in the pop community, allowing her to have her own solo concerts, a rarity for jazz singers in the late 40s. Gabler commented on the song's success, saying, "I made Billie a real pop singer. That was right in her. Billie loved those songs." Jimmy Davis and Roger "Ram" Ramirez, "Lover Man"'s songwriters, tried to get Holiday interested in recording the song in 1941, but she didn't take interest. In 1943, a flamboyant male torch singer by the name of Willie Dukes began singing "Lover Man" on 52nd Street. Because of Duke's success with the song, Holiday decided to add it to her live shows. The song's B-side is "No More", a song Holiday considered one of her favorites.

When it came time to record the song, Holiday begged Gabler for strings, which were associated with big name acts like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, to accompany her in the background. "I went on my knees to him," Holiday said. "I didn't want to do it with the ordinary six pieces. I begged Milt and told him I had to have strings behind me." On October 4, 1944, Holiday walked into the recording studio to record "Lover Man" and saw the string ensemble and walked out. The musical director for the session, Toots Camarata said she was overwhelmed with joy. Another reason for Holiday wanting to use strings may have been to dodge the comparisons made between her commercially successful early work with Teddy Wilson and everything produced afterward. Her 1930s sides with Wilson used a small jazz combo. Her recordings with Decca often involved string ensembles and presented her voice in a new light.

A month later, in November, Billie Holiday returned to the Decca studio to record three songs, "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Big Stuff", and "Don't Explain". Holiday wrote "Don't Explain" after she caught her husband, Jimmy Monroe, with lipstick on his collar.

After the recording session, Holiday did not return to the studio until August 1945. She recorded "Don't Explain", "Big Stuff", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", and "You Better Go Now". Ella Fitzgerald declared "You Better Go Now" as her favorite Billie Holiday recording. "Big Stuff" and "Don't Explain" were recorded again but with additional strings and a viola.

In 1946, Holiday recorded one of her most covered and critically acclaimed songs, "Good Morning Heartache". Although the song failed to chart, it remained a staple in her live shows with three known live recordings of the song.

In September 1946, Holiday began work on what would be her only major film New Orleans. She starred opposite Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman. Plagued by racism and McCarthyism, producer Jules Levey and script writer Herbert Biberman were pressured to lessen Holiday and Armstrong's role in the film as to not give the impression that black people created jazz. Their attempts failed because in 1947 Biberman was listed as one of the Hollywood Ten and sent to jail.

Holiday was not pleased that her role was reduced to that of a maid: "I thought I was going to play myself in it," she said. "I thought I was going to be Billie Holiday doing a couple of songs in a nightclub setting and that would be that. I should have known better. When I saw the script, I did." Before filming, Holiday was assigned a dramatic coach who coached her on how to properly say "Miss Marylee", the lead character's name. "So this coach was trying to get the right kind of tom feeling into this thing," Holiday said. At one point, after feeling cornered and unable to walk off the set, she burst out into tears. Louis Armstrong tried comforting her. "Better look out," he said. "I know Lady, and when she starts crying, the next thing she's going to do is start fighting." Several scenes were deleted from the film. "They had taken miles of footage of music and scenes," Holiday said, "[and] none of it was left in the picture. And very damn little of me. I know I wore a white dress for a number I did... and that was cut out of the picture." She recorded the track "The Blues Are Brewin'", for the film's soundtrack. Other songs included in the movie are "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" and "Farewell to Storyville".

Holiday's drug addictions were a growing problem on the set. She earned more than a thousand dollars a week from her club ventures at the time, but spent most of it on heroin. Her lover Joe Guy traveled to Hollywood while Holiday was filming and supplied her with drugs. When discovered by Joe Glaser, Holiday's manager, Guy was banned from the set.

By the late 1940s, Holiday had begun recording a number of slow, sentimental ballads. The magazine Metronome expressed its concerns in 1946 about "Good Morning Heartache," saying "there's a danger that Billie's present formula will wear thin, but up to now it's wearing well."

Legal troubles, Carnegie Hall Concert (1947–1952)

On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt," Holiday recalled. During the trial, Holiday received notice that her lawyer was not interested in coming down to the trial and representing her. "In plain English that meant no one in the world was interested in looking out for me," Holiday said. Dehydrated and unable to hold down any food, she pled guilty and asked to be sent to the hospital. The D.A. spoke up in her defense, saying, "If your honor please, this is a case of a drug addict, but more serious, however, than most of our cases, Miss Holiday is a professional entertainer and among the higher rank as far as income was concerned." By 1947, Holiday was at her commercial peak, having made a quarter of a million dollars in the three years prior. Holiday placed second in the Down Beat poll for 1946 and 1947, her highest ranking in the poll. In Billboard's July 6 issue on 1947, Holiday ranked 5 on its annual college poll of "girl singers". Jo Stafford topped the poll. In 1946, Holiday won the Metronome Magazine popularity poll.

At the end of the trial, Holiday was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, more popularly known as "Camp Cupcake". Other notable celebrities to serve time at Alderson are Martha Stewart, Sara Jane Moore (who tried to assassinate President Ford), and Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme of the Charles Manson family of murderers.

Luckily for Holiday, she was released early (March 16, 1948) because of good behavior. When she arrived at Newark, her pianist Bobby Tucker and her dog Mister were waiting for her. The dog leaped at Holiday, knocking off her hat, and tackled her to the ground. "He began lapping me and loving me like crazy," she said. A woman overheard the commotion and thought the dog was attacking Holiday. She started screaming and soon a crowd gathered and then the press showed up. "I might just as well have wheeled into Penn Station and had a quiet little get-together with the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service," Holiday said.

Ed Fishman (who fought with Joe Glaser to be Holiday's manager) thought of the idea to throw a comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. Holiday hesitated, unsure whether audiences were ready to accept her after the arrest. She eventually gave in, and agreed to the concert.

On March 27, 1948, Holiday played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. There were 2,700 tickets sold in advance, a record at the time for the venue. Her popularity at the time was unusual in that she didn't have a current hit record. Holiday's last song to chart was "Lover Man" in 1945, which would be her final placement on the record charts during her lifetime. Holiday did 32 songs at the Carnegie concert by her count, some of which included Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and her 30s hit "Strange Fruit". During the show, someone sent Holiday a box of gardenias. "My old trademark," Holiday said. "I took them out of box and fastened them smack to the side of my head without even looking twice." There was a hatpin in the gardenias and Holiday, unknowingly, stuck the needle deep into the side of her head. "I didn't feel anything until the blood started rushing down in my eyes and ears," she said. After the third curtain call, Holiday passed out.

On April 27, 1948, Bob Sylvester and her promoter Al Wilde arranged for Billie Holiday to do a Broadway show. Titled Holiday on Broadway, it sold out and was a success for a while. "The regular music critics and drama critics came and treated us like we were legit," Holiday said. Despite the success, the show closed after three weeks.

Holiday was arrested again on January 22, 1949, inside her room at San Francisco's Hotel Mark Twain.

Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe, she became romantically involved with trumpeter Joe Guy, who was also her drug dealer, and eventually became his common-law wife. She finally divorced Monroe in 1947 and also split with Guy.

In October 1949, Holiday recorded "Crazy He Calls Me", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. Gabler said the song was a hit, likely making it her most successful recording for Decca after "Lover Man". The record charts of the 1940s did not list songs outside the top 30, making it impossible to recognize minor pop hits. Also, by the late 1940s, despite her popularity and concert drawing power, Holiday's singles received little radio airplay. This may have been because of the bad reputation she had up to that point.

Because of her 1947 conviction, Holiday's New York City Cabaret Card was revoked, which kept her from working anywhere that sold alcohol for the remaining 12 years of her life.

The Cabaret system started in 1940 and was designed to prevent people of "bad character" from working on licensed premises. A performer had to renew his or her license every two years. This system lasted until 1967. Clubs that sold alcohol in New York were among the highest paying venues in the country. Club owners knew blacklisted performers had limited work options, so they would offer them a smaller salary. This greatly reduced Holiday's earning power. She hadn't been receiving proper royalties for her work until she signed with Decca, so her main source of revenue were her club concerts. The problem worsened when Holiday's records went out of print in the 1950s. She seldom received any money from royalties in her latter years. For instance, in 1958 Holiday received a royalty check of only 11 dollars. Also, Holiday's lawyer during the late 1950s, Earle Warren Zaidins, failed to register with BMI on all but two songs she had written or co-written, costing her potential revenue.

In 1948, Holiday played at the Ebony Club, which, because she lost her cabaret card, was against the law. Her manager at the time, John Levy, was convinced he could get her card back and allowed her to open without one. "I opened scared," Holiday said, "[I was] expecting the cops to come in any chorus and carry me off. But nothing happened. I was a huge success."

Also in 1948, Holiday recorded Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy". The single was heard by up and coming act Nina Simone. Simone covered the tune 1958, and it ended up becoming her sole top 40 hit in America.

In 1950, Holiday appeared in the Universal-International short film 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet, where she sang "God Bless the Child" and "Now, Baby or Never".

Lady Sings The Blues (1952–1959)

By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. She appeared on the ABC reality series The Comeback Story to discuss attempts to overcome her misfortunes. Her later recordings showed the effects of declining health on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected its former vibrancy.

On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer, who like most of the men in her life was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murray dance schools.

Holiday's late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive.

Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, was ghostwritten by William Dufty and published in 1956. Dufty, a New York Post writer and editor then married to Holiday's close friend Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of conversations with the singer in the Duftys' 93rd Street apartment. He drew on the work of earlier interviewers as well and intended to let Holiday tell her story in her own way.

To accompany her autobiography, Holiday released an LP in June 1956 titled Lady Sings the Blues. The album did not have any new material other than the title track, "Too Marvelous For Words", "Willow Weep for Me", and "I Thought About You", but had new recordings of Holiday's biggest hits. These included "Trav'lin' Light" "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child". On December 22, 1956, Billboard magazine reviewed Lady Sings the Blues, calling it a worthy musical complement to her autobiography. "Holiday is in good voice now," said the reviewer, "and these new readings will be much appreciated by her following." "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" were called classics, and "Good Morning Heartache", another reissued track in the LP, was also noted positively.

On November 10, 1956, Holiday performed two concerts before packed audiences at Carnegie Hall, a major accomplishment for any artist, especially a black artist of the segregated period of American history. Live recordings of the second Carnegie Hall concert were released on a Verve/HMV album in the UK in late 1961 called The Essential Billie Holiday. The thirteen tracks included on this album featured her own songs, "I Love My Man", "Don't Explain" and "Fine And Mellow", together with other songs closely associated with her, including "Body and Soul", "My Man", and "Lady Sings the Blues" (her lyrics accompanied a tune by pianist Herbie Nichols).

The liner notes on this album were written partly by Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who, according to these notes, served as narrator in the Carnegie Hall concerts. Interspersed among Holiday's songs, Millstein read aloud four lengthy passages from her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues. He later wrote:

Millstein continued:

The critic Nat Hentoff of Down Beat magazine, who attended the Carnegie Hall concert, wrote the remainder of the sleeve notes on the 1961 album. He wrote of Holiday's performance:

Hentoff continued:

Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young. Both were less than two years from death.

Holiday first toured Europe in 1954 as part of a Leonard Feather package that also included Buddy DeFranco and Red Norvo. When she returned almost five years later, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's Chelsea at Nine in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGM in 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on Columbia's Lady in Satin album the previous year—see below. The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as Last Recordings.

Although childless, Billie Holiday had two godchildren: singer Billie Lorraine Feather, daughter of Leonard Feather, and Bevan Dufty, son of William Dufty.

Death

On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in New York City.

Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday (see above), described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes:

Voice

Her distinctive delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. A master of improvisation, Billie's well-trained ear more than compensated for her lack of music education. Her voice lacked range and was somewhat thin, plus years of excessive drug use eventually altered its texture and gave it a prepossessing fragility. The emotion with which she imbued each song remained not only intact but also profound. Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:

Frank Sinatra admired Holiday, having been influenced by her performances on 52nd Street as a young man. He told Ebony magazine in 1958 about her impact:

Hit records

In 1986, Joel Whitburn's Record Research, Inc. company compiled information on the popularity of record releases from the pre-rock and roll era and created pop charts dating all the way back to the beginning of the commercial recording industry. The company's findings were published in the book Pop Memories 1890–1954. Several of Holiday's records are listed on the pop charts Whitburn created.

Billie Holiday began her recording career on a high note with her first major release "Riffin' the Scotch" selling 5,000 copies. The song was released under the band name "Benny Goodman & his Orchestra." accompanied Holiday more than any other musician. He and Holiday have 95 recordings together.

In July 1936, Holiday began releasing sides under her own name. These songs were released under the band name "Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra." Most noteworthy, the popular jazz standard "Summertime," sold well and was listed on the available pop charts at the time at number 12, the first time the jazz standard charted under any artist. Only Billy Stewart's R&B; version of "Summertime" reached a higher chart placement than Holiday's, charting at number 10 thirty years later in 1966.

Holiday had 16 best selling songs in 1937, making the year her most commercially successful. It was in this year that Holiday scored her sole number one hit as a featured vocalist on the available pop charts of the 1930s, "Carelessly". The hit "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm", was also recorded by Ray Noble, Glen Gray and Fred Astaire whose rendering was a best seller for weeks. Holiday's version ranked 6 on the year-end single chart available for 1937.

In 1939, Holiday recorded her biggest selling record, "Strange Fruit" for Commodore, charting at number 16 on the available pop charts for the 1930s.

In 1940, Billboard began publishing its modern pop charts, which included the Best Selling Retail Records chart, the precursor to the Hot 100. None of Holiday's songs placed on the modern pop charts, partly because Billboard only published the first ten slots of the charts in some issues. Minor hits and independent releases had no way of being spotlighted.

"God Bless the Child", which went on to sell over a million copies, ranked number 3 on Billboard's year-end top songs of 1941.

On October 24, 1942, Billboard began issuing its R&B; charts. Two of Holiday's songs placed on the chart, "Trav'lin' Light" with Paul Whiteman, which topped the chart, and "Lover Man", which reached number 5.

"Trav'lin' Light" also reached 18 on Billboard's year-end chart.

Discography

Billie Holiday recorded extensively for four labels: Columbia Records, issued on its subsidiary labels Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records, and OKeh Records, from 1933 through 1942; Commodore Records in 1939 and 1944; Decca Records from 1944 through 1950; briefly for Aladdin Records in 1951; Verve Records and on its earlier imprint Clef Records; from 1952 through 1957, then again for Columbia Records from 1957 to 1958 and finally for MGM Records in 1959. Many of Holiday's recordings appeared on 78 rpm records prior to the long-playing vinyl record era, and only Clef, Verve, and Columbia issued Holiday albums during her lifetime that were not compilations of previously released material. Many compilations have been issued since her death; as well as comprehensive box sets and live recordings.

Albums

{|class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Title ! Label and Number |- | 1946 | Billie Holiday (four 78rpm records) | Commodore CR-2 |- | 1947 | Billie Holiday – Teddy Wilson (four 78rpm records) | Columbia C-61 |- | 1947 | A Hot Jazz Classic Set, Vol.1 (four 78rpm records) | Columbia-135 |- | 1947 | Distinctive Song Stylings (four 78rpm records) | Decca A-652 |- | 1949 | Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra Featuring Billie Holiday (10") | Columbia CL-6040 |- | 1950 | An Evening With Eddie Heywood and Billie Holiday (10") | Commodore FL 30001 |- | 1950 | Ella, Lena and Billie (10") | Columbia CL 2531 |- | 1950 | Billie Holiday Sings (10") | Columbia CL 6129 |- | 1950 | Billie Holiday Volume One (10") | Commodore 20005 |- | 1950 | Billie Holiday Volume Two (10") | Commodore 20006 |- | 1951 | Favorites (10") | Columbia CL 6163 |- | 1951 | Lover Man (10") | Decca DL 5345 |- | 1951 (released 1964) | A Rare Live Recording Of Billie Holiday (Storyville) | M2001 |- | 1952 | Billie Holiday Sings | Clef MGC 118 (10" version) Mercury 89002 (four 78rpm records version) |- | 1953 | An Evening with Billie Holiday | Clef MGC 144 (10" version) Mercury 89028 (four 78rpm records version) |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday | Clef MGC 161 (10" version) Mercury 89045 (four 78rpm records version) |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday at JATP | Clef MGC 169 (10" version) Mercury 89053 (four 78rpm records version) |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson Orchestras | Columbia 33 S 1034 |- | 1954 | Lady Day | Columbia CL 637 |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday Volume One | Jolly Roger 5020 |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday Volume Two | Jolly Roger 5021 |- | 1954 | Billie Holiday Volume Three | Jolly Roger 5022 |- | 1955 | A Collection Of Classic Jazz Interpretations By Billie Holiday (10") | Columbia B-1949 |- | 1955 (released in 1958) | Stay with Me | Verve MGV 8302 |- | 1955 | Music For Torching | Clef MGC 669 / Verve MV 2595 |- | 1956 | Recital By Billie Holiday | Clef MGC 686 |- | 1956 | Solitude | Clef MGC 690 / Verve V6-8074 |- | 1956 | Hall Of Fame Series (7") | Columbia B-2534 |- | 1956 | Velvet Mood | Clef MGC 713 |- | 1956 | Billie Holiday at JATP | Verve MGC 718 |- | 1956 | The Lady Sings | Decca DL 8215 |- | 1956 | Lady Sings the Blues | Clef MGC 721 / Verve MV 2047 |- | 1956 (released in 1959) | All or Nothing at All | Verve MGV 8329 |- | 1956 (released 1961) | Carnegie Hall Concert | Verve V6-8410 |- | 1957 (released 1958) | Songs for Distingué Lovers | Verve MGV 8257 / Verve 2352 085 |- | 1957 (released 1960) | Body and Soul | Verve MGV 8197 |- | 1957 | Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport | Verve MGV 8234 |- | 1957 (released 1999) | A Midsummer Night's Jazz at Stratford '57 | Baldwin Street 308 |- | 1957 | Sound of Jazz | Columbia CL 1098 |- | 1958 | Lady in Satin | Columbia CL 1157 |- | 1958 | The Blues Are Brewin` | Decca DL 8701 |- | 1958 | Lover Man | Decca DL 8702 |- | 1958 | Billie Holiday | Commodore 30008 |- | 1958 (released 1986) | At Monterey | Blackhawk 50701 |- | 1959 | Seven Ages of Jazz | Metrojazz 1009 |- | 1959 | Billie Holiday | MGM 3764 |}

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions
		! style="width:40px;"	! style="width:40px;"
1934		6
		12
	6
	12
		18
	5
	17
	9
	12
	9
	18
	3
	4
	20
	5
		3
	4
	13
	8
	1
	12
	11
	12
	7
	15
	16
	11
	10
	10
	18
	14
		12
	20
	2
1939		16
1941		25
1942		23	1
1945		16	5

Compositions

1936: "Billie's Blues aka I Love My Man"

1939: "Our Love Is Different"

1939: "Long Gone Blues"

1939: "Fine and Mellow"

1939: "Everything Happens For The Best"

1940: "Tell Me More and More and Then Some"

1941: "God Bless the Child"

1944: "Don't Explain"

1949: "Somebody's On My Mind"

1949: "Now or Never"

1954: "Stormy Blues"

1956: "Lady Sings the Blues"

Never Recorded:

1939: "Lost At the Crossroads of Love"

1940: "Say I'm Yours Again"

1949: "Close Dem Eyes My Darlin'"

1952: "Please Don't Do It In Here"

1952: "You'd Do It Anyway"

1955: "Preacher Boy"

1957: "I'm Left Alone"

1957: "Who Needs You (Baby)"

Awards and honors

Grammy Hall of Fame

Billie Holiday was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| Billie Holiday: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted ! Notes |- align=center | 1949 | "Crazy He Calls Me" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 2010 | |- align=center | 1944 | "Embraceable You" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 2005 | |- align=center | 1958 | Lady in Satin | Jazz (album) | Columbia | 2000 | |- align=center | 1945 | "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 1989 | |- align=center | 1939 | "Strange Fruit" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 1978 | Listed also in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002 |- align=center | 1941 | "God Bless the Child" | Jazz (single) | Okeh | 1976 | |}

Grammy Best Historical Album

The Grammy Award for Best Historical Album has been presented since 1979.

{| class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Title ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 2002 | Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday | Columbia 1933–1944 | Winner |- align=center | 1994 | The Complete Billie Holiday | Verve 1945–1959 | Winner |- align=center | 1992 | Billie Holiday — The Complete Decca Recordings | Verve 1944–1950 | Winner |- align=center | 1980 | Billie Holiday — Giants of Jazz | Time-Life | Winner |}

Other honors

{| class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Award ! Honors ! Notes |- align=center | 2004 | Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame | Inducted | Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York |- align=center | 2000 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | Inducted | Category: "Early Influence" |- align=center | 1997 | ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame |Inducted | |- align=center | 1947 | Esquire Magazine Gold Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |- align=center | 1946 | Esquire Magazine Silver Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |- align=center | 1945 | Esquire Magazine Silver Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |- align=center | 1944 | Esquire Magazine Gold Award | Best Leading Female Vocalist | Jazz award |}

Tributes

1972, Diana Ross portrayed Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues, which is loosely based on the 1956 autobiography of the same name. The film earned Ross a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She was portrayed by Ernestine Jackson in the play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson.

Paula Jai Parker portrayed Holiday in a Season 7 episode of the TV series Touched by an Angel, entitled "God Bless the Child," the title derived from a song which Holiday had written and performed.

Jazz pianist Mal Waldron performed as Holiday's accompanist and released several tribute albums including:

* Left Alone (Bethlehem, 1959)

* Blues for Lady Day (Black Lion, 1972)

* Left Alone '86 with Jackie McLean (Paddle Wheel, 1986)

* No More Tears (For Lady Day) (Timeless, 1989)

Honors

1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

1993, R&B; singer Miki Howard released an album dedicated to Holiday titled Miki Sings Billie.

1994, the United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp.

1999, Holiday ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll.

2000, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Over the years, there have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died," a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara.

In 1988 the group U2 released "Angel of Harlem" in her honor.

Arthur Phillips features Holiday's 1953 concert in New York in his novel The Song is You (2009).

"My Only Friend" by The Magnetic Fields is a tribute to Billie Holiday.

Filmography

1959: Chelsea at Nine

1957: The Sound of Jazz, CBS Television, December 8, 1957

1950: 'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet

1947: New Orleans

1935: "Symphony in Black", short (with Duke Ellington)

1933: The Emperor Jones, appeared as an extra

Television appearances

{|class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Program ! Host ! Songs |- | 1949 | Adventures in Jazz | Fred Robbins | Unknown Songs |- | 8/27/1949 | Arlene Francis Show, NY (1) | Arlene Francis | The Man I Love, All of Me, Lover Man |- | 8/27/1949 | Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1) | Eddie Condon | I Love My Man, Keeps on Rainin', Lover Man |- | 9/3/1949 | Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY (1) | Eddie Condon | Fine & Mellow, Porgy, Them There Eyes, I Love My Man |- | 9/10/1949 | Art Ford Show, NY (1) | Art Ford | Lover Man, I Cover the Waterfront, Two Minute Interview, All of Me |- | 10/15/1949 | Art Ford Show, NY (1) | Art Ford | Them There Eyes, Detour Ahead, Now or Never |- | 1/7/1950 | Eddie Condon's Floor Show, NY | Eddie Condon | Unknown |- | 5/24/1950 | Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) | - | You're My Thrill |- | 7/25/1951 | Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) | - | My Man |- | 12/10/1952 | Apollo Theatre Show, NY (1) | Count Basie | Tenderly |- | 10/16/1953 | The Comeback Story, NY (1) | George Jessel | Twenty Minute Interview, God Bless the Child |- | 2/8/1955 | The Tonight Show, NY (1) | Steve Allen | My Man, Them There Eyes, Lover Man |- | 2/10/1956 | The Tonight Show, NY (1) | Steve Allen | Please Don't Talk About Me, Two Minute Interview, Ghost of a Chance |- | 8/19/1956 | Star's of Jazz, LA, CA (2) | Bobby Troup | Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, Billie's Blues, My Man |- | 10/29/1956 | Bandstand USA, NY (1) | Bert Parks | Willow Weep for Me, I Only Have Eyes for You, My Man, Please Don't Talk About Me |- | 11/7/1956 | Night Beat, NY (1) | Mike Wallace | Fifteen Minute Interview |- | 11/8/1956 | Peacock Alley, NY (1) | Tex McCleary | Twenty Minute Interview |- | 11/8/1956 | The Tonight Show, NY (1) | Steve Allen | Porgy |- | 3/11/1957 | Live Broadcast from Mr. Kelly's, Chicago (1) | - | Good Morning Heartache, You Better Go Now |- | 12/8/1957 | The Seven Lively Arts: The Sound of Jazz, LA (2) | - | Fine & Mellow |- | 4/12/1958 | Club Oasis, NY (1) | Martha Raye | You've Changed, My Man |- | 5/26/1958 | Telethon, NY | Dean Martin | Unknown Songs |- | 5/29/1958 | Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) | Art Ford | You've Changed, I Love My Man, When Your Lover Has Gone |- | 6/5/1958 | Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY | Art Ford | All of Me, Good Morning Heartache, Travelin’ Light |- | 7/10/1958 | Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) | Art Ford | What a Little Moonlight Can Do, Foolin' Myself, It's Easy to Remember |- | 7/17/1958 | Art Ford's Jazz Party, NY (2) | Art Ford | Moanin' Low, Don't Explain, When Your Lover Has Gone |- | 9/25/1958 | Today Show | Dave Garroway | My Funny Valentine |- | 11/18/1958 | Mars Club, Music Hall Parade Voyons Un Peu, Paris France (2) | - | I Only Have Eyes for You, Travelin’ Light |- | 11/20/1958 | Gilles Margaritis Programme, Paris France | Gilles Margaritis | I Only Have Eyes For You, Trav'lin' Light |- | 1/7/1959 | Timex All-Star Jazz Show IV, NY | Jackie Gleason | Unknown |- | 2/23/1959 | Chelsea at Nine, London, England (2) | Robert Beatty | Porgy, Please Don't Talk About Me, Strange Fruit |}

(1) = Available on Audio (2) = Available on DVD

Notes

References

External links

Official Billie Holiday at Sony BMG

Billie Holiday discography

Biography and song samples at PBS

"Twelve Essential Billie Holiday Recordings" by Stuart Nicholson, Jazz.com

Photograph of Holiday's gravestone

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1915 births Category:1959 deaths Category:African American female singers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:Alcohol-related deaths in New York Category:American buskers Category:American jazz singers Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Classic female blues singers Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from cirrhosis Category:Decca Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Musicians from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Swing singers Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Women in jazz

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Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950) was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his most well known work The Threepenny Opera, a Marxist critique of capitalism, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill was a socialist who held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall, as well as several Judaism themed pieces.

Personal life

Kurt Julian Weill was born on March 2, 1900, the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867–1950) and Emma Weill née Ackermann (1872–1955). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau, Germany, where his father was a cantor. At the age of twelve, Kurt Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled Mi Addir. Jewish Wedding Song.

In 1915, Weill started taking private lessons with Albert Bing, Kapellmeister at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous Lieder to the lyrics of poets such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Arno Holz, and Anna Ritter, as well as a cycle of five songs titled Ofrahs Lieder to a German translation of a text by Yehuda Halevi.

Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at the age of 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck, conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, and also attended philosophy lectures by Max Dessoir and Ernst Cassirer. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor).

Early work and compositions

Weill's family experienced financial hardship in the aftermath of World War I, and in July 1919, Weill abandoned his studies and returned to Dessau, where he was employed as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under the direction of the new Kapellmeister, Hans Knappertsbusch. During this time, he composed an orchestral suite in E-flat major, a symphonic poem of Rainer Maria Rilke's The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke as well as Schilflieder, a cycle of five songs to poems by Nikolaus Lenau. In December 1919, through the help of Humperdinck, Weill was appointed as Kapellmeister at the newly founded Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid, where he directed opera, operetta, and singspiel for five months, and also composed a cello sonata and Ninon de Lenclos, a now lost one-act operatic adaptation of a play by Ernst Hardt. From May to September 1920, Weill spent a couple of months in Leipzig, where his father had become the new director of a Jewish orphanage. Before he returned to Berlin, in September 1920, he composed Sulamith, a choral fantasy for soprano, female choir, and orchestra.

Studies with Busoni

Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. In order to support his family in Leipzig, he also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In spring of 1922, Weill joined the November Group's music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.

Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were Claudio Arrau, Maurice Abravanel, Henry (then known as Heinz) Jolles, and Nikos Skalkottas. Arrau, Abravenel, and Jolles, at least, would remain members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter, and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly. Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included Quodlibet, an orchestral suite version of Die Zaubernacht, Frauentanz, seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, and Recordare for choir and children's choir to words from the Book of Lamentations. Further premieres that year included a performance of his Divertimento for Orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Heinz Unger on April 10, 1923, and the Hindemith-Amar Quartet's rendering of Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.

Success in the 1920s and early-1930s

In 1922 he joined the ‘Novembergruppe’, a group of leftist Berlin artists that included Hanns Eisler and Stefan Wolpe. In February 1924 the conductor Fritz Busch introduced him to the dramatist Georg Kaiser, with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas. At Kaiser's house in Grünheide, Weill also first met the actress and future wife Lotte Lenya in summer 1924. The couple got married twice: In 1926 and again in 1937 (following their divorce in 1933). Lenya took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to increase awareness of his music, forming the Kurt Weill Foundation.

From November 1924 to May 1929, Weill wrote hundreds of reviews for the influential and comprehensive radio program guide Der deutsche Rundfunk. Hans Siebert von Heister had already worked with Weill in the November Group, and offered Weill the job shortly after becoming editor-in-chief.

Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8 or the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Weill tended more and more to vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular with the wider public in Germany at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky, but it was also criticised by others: by Schoenberg, who later revised his opinion, and by Anton Webern.

His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Engel directed the original production of The Threepenny Opera in 1928. It contains Weill's most famous song, "Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"). The stage success was filmed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicised lawsuit that Weill won and Brecht lost. Weill's working association with Brecht, although successful, came to an end over politics in 1930. Although Weill associated with socialism, after Brecht tried to push the play even further into a left wing direction, Weill commented, according to his wife Lenya, that he was unable to "set the communist party manifesto to music."

Paris, London and New York

Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933. A prominent and popular Jewish composer, Weill was officially denounced for his socialist views and populist sympathies, and became a target of the Nazi authorities, who criticized and interfered with performances of his later stage works, such as Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, 1930), Die Bürgschaft (1932), and Der Silbersee (1933). With no option but to leave Germany, he went first to Paris, where he worked once more with Brecht (after a project with Jean Cocteau failed) on the ballet The Seven Deadly Sins.

On April 13, 1933 his musical The Threepenny Opera was given its premiere on Broadway, but closed after 13 performances to mixed reviews. In 1934 he completed his Symphony No.2, his last purely orchestral work, conducted in Amsterdam and New York by Bruno Walter, and also the music for Jacques Deval's play, Marie Galante.

A production of his operetta Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow) took him to London in 1935, and later that year he went to the United States in connection with The Eternal Road, a "Biblical Drama" by Franz Werfel that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the Manhattan Opera House, running for 153 performances.

Weill and his wife rented a house during the summer near Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut, the summer home of the Group Theatre, while working on Johnny Johnson (musical). Some of the other artists who summered there were; Elia Kazan, Harry Morgan, John Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Will Geer, Clifford Odets, Howard Da Silva and Irwin Shaw

He and his wife moved to New York City on September 10, 1935, living first at the St. Moritz Hotel before moving on to an apartment at 231 East 62nd Street between Third and Second Avenues. Weill believed that most of his work had been destroyed. He seldom (and reluctantly) spoke or wrote German again, with rare exception (for example, letters to his parents who had escaped to Palestine).

Rather than continue to write in the same style that had characterized his European compositions, Weill made a study of American popular and stage music, and his American output, though held by some to be inferior, nonetheless contains individual songs and entire shows that not only became highly respected and admired, but have been seen as seminal works in the development of the American musical. Unique among Broadway composers of the time, Weill insisted on writing his own orchestrations (with some very few exceptions, such as the dance music in Street Scene). He worked with writers such as Maxwell Anderson and Ira Gershwin, and wrote a film score for Fritz Lang (You and Me, 1938). Weill himself strove to find a new way of creating an American opera that would be both commercially and artistically successful. The most interesting attempt in this direction is Street Scene, based on a play by Elmer Rice, with lyrics by Langston Hughes. For his work on Street Scene Weill was awarded the inaugural Tony Award for Best Original Score.

In the 1940s Weill lived in Downstate New York near the New Jersey border and made frequent trips both to New York City and to Hollywood for his work for theatre and film. Weill was active in political movements encouraging American entry into World War II, and after America joined the war in 1941, Weill enthusiastically collaborated in numerous artistic projects supporting the war effort both abroad and on the home front. He and Maxwell Anderson also joined the volunteer civil service by working as air raid wardens on High Tor Mountain between their homes in New City, New York and Haverstraw, New York in Rockland County. Weill became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943.

Weill had ideals of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. In the US, he wrote Down in the Valley, an opera including the song of the same name and other American folk songs. He also wrote a number of songs in support of the American war effort, including the satirical "Schickelgruber" (with lyrics by Howard Dietz), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (with Oscar Hammerstein) and – with Brecht again as in his earlier career – the "Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" ("Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?"). Intended for broadcast to Germany, the song chronicled the progress of the Nazi war machine through the gifts sent to the proud wife at home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil.

Apart from "Mack the Knife" and "Pirate Jenny" from The Threepenny Opera, his most famous songs include "Alabama Song" (from Mahagonny), "Surabaya Johnny" (from Happy End), "Speak Low" (from One Touch of Venus), "Lost in the Stars" (from the musical of that name), "My Ship" (from Lady in the Dark), and "September Song" (from Knickerbocker Holiday).

Death

Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950 in New York City. He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York. The text and music on his gravestone come from the song "A Bird of Passage" from Lost in the Stars, itself adapted from a quotation from the Venerable Bede: ::This is the life of men on earth: ::Out of darkness we come at birth ::Into a lamplit room, and then – ::Go forward into dark again.

:::(lyric: Maxwell Anderson)

An excerpt from Maxwell Anderson's eulogy for Weill read:

"I wish, of course, that he had been lucky enough to have had a little more time for his work. I could wish the times in which he lived had been less troubled. But these things were as they were – and Kurt managed to make thousands of beautiful things during the short and troubled time he had…"

Influence

Sixty years after his death, Weill's music continues to be performed both in popular and classical contexts. In Weill's lifetime, his work was most associated with the voice of his wife, Lotte Lenya, but shortly after his death "Mack the Knife" was established by Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin as a jazz standard. His music has since been recorded by many performers, ranging from The Doors, Judy Collins, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, John Zorn, Dagmar Krause, and PJ Harvey to New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Singers as varied as Teresa Stratas, Ute Lemper, Gisela May, Anne Sofie von Otter, Max Raabe, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Marianne Faithfull have recorded entire albums of his music.

Amanda Palmer, singer/pianist of the 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' duo The Dresden Dolls, has Kurt Weill's name on the front of her keyboard (a pun with the name of the instrument maker Kurzweil) as a tribute to the composer. In 1991, seminal Swiss Industrial music band The Young Gods released their album of Kurt Weill songs, The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill. In 2008, Weill's songs were performed by Canadian musicians (including Sarah Slean and Mary Margaret O'Hara) in a tribute concert as part of the first annual Canwest Cabaret Festival in Toronto. In 2009 Duke Special released an EP, entitled Huckleberry Finn, of five songs from an unfinished musical by Kurt Weill based on the novel by Mark Twain.

Compositions

Stage works

See List of works for the stage by Weill

Concert works

Cantatas

1920 : Sulamith, choral fantasy for soprano, female chorus and orchestra (lost)

1927 : Der neue Orpheus, cantata for soprano, solo violin and orchestra, op.16 (text: Yvan Goll)

1927 : Der Tod im Wald, cantata for bass and band (originally belonged to Das Berliner Requiem)

1928 : Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus (or three male voices) and wind orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht)

1929 : Der Lindberghflug, cantata for tenor, baritone and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht, first version with music by Paul Hindemith and Weill, second version, also 1929, with music exclusively by Weill)

1940 : The Ballad of Magna Carta, cantata for tenor and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Maxwell Anderson)

Chamber music

1918 : String Quartet in B minor (without opus number)

1923 : String Quartet op. 8

1919–1921 : Sonata for Cello and Piano

Piano music

1917 : Intermezzo

1937 : Albumblatt for Erika (transcription of the pastorale from Der Weg der Verheissung)

Orchestral works

1919 : Suite for orchestra

1919 : Die Weise von Liebe and Tod, symphonic poem for orchestra after Rainer Maria Rilke (lost)

1921 : Symphony No.1 in one movement for orchestra

1922 : Divertimento for orchestra, op.5 (unfinished, reconstructed by David Drew)

1922 : Sinfonia Sacra, Fantasia, Passacaglia and Hymnus for orchestra, op. 6 (unfinished)

1923 : Quodlibet, suite for orchestra from the pantomime Zaubernacht, op. 9

1925 : Concerto for violin and wind orchestra, op. 12

1927 : Bastille Musik, suite for wind orchestra (arranged by David Drew, 1975) from the stage music to Gustav III, by August Strindberg

1929 : Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite from Die Dreigroschenoper for wind orchestra, piano and percussion, (premiere conducted by Otto Klemperer)

1934 : Suite panaméenne for chamber orchestra, (from Marie Galante)

1934 : Symphony No. 2 in three movements for orchestra, (premiere by Royal Concertgebouw orchestra under Bruno Walter)

1947 : Hatikvah, arrangement of the Israeli National Anthem for orchestra

Lieder, Lieder cycles, songs and chansons

1919 : Die stille Stadt, for voice and piano, text: Richard Dehmel

1923 : Frauentanz op.10, Lieder cycle for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon (after medieval poems)

1923 : Stundenbuch, Lieder cycle for baritone and orchestra, text: Rainer Maria Rilke

1925 : Klopslied, for high voice, two piccolos and bassoon ('Ick sitze da un' esse Klops'/Berliner Lied)

1927 : Vom Tod im Wald (Death in the Forest), Op. 23, ballad for bass solo and ten wind instruments, text: Bertolt Brecht

1928 : Berlin im Licht-Song, slow-fox, text: Kurt Weill; composed for the exhibition Berlin im Licht, first performance in Wittenbergplatz (with orchestra) on October 13, and on October 16 in the Kroll Opera (with voice and piano)

1928 : Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song, slow-fox, text: Felix Gasbarra for the play by Leo Lania, Konjunktur

1928 : Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen (In Potsdam under the Oak Trees), song for voice and piano, alternatively male chorus a cappella, text: Bertolt Brecht

1928 : Das Lied von den braunen Inseln, text: Lion Feuchtwanger, from the play by same author, Petroleum Inseln

1933 : Der Abschiedsbrief, text: Erich Kästner, intended for Marlene Dietrich

1933 : La complainte de Fantômas, text: Robert Desnos; for a broadcast of Fantômas in November 1933 (the music was lost, and later reconstructed by Jacques Loussier for Catherine Sauvage)

1933 : Es regnet, text: Jean Cocteau (direct into German)

1934 : Je ne t'aime pas, text: Maurice Magre for the soprano Lys Gauty

1934 : J'attends un navire, text: Jacques Deval, from Marie Galante ; as an independent song for Lys Gauty; used for the Hymne der Resistance during the Second World War

1934 : Youkali (originally the Tango habanera, instrumental movement in Marie Galante), Text: Roger Fernay

1934 : Complainte de la Seine, text: Maurice Magre

1939 : Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, song for voice and piano, text: Robert Frost (unfinished)

1942 : Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, patriotic song arrangements for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra, of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (text: Julia Ward Howe), The Star-Spangled Banner (text: Francis Scott Key), America (text: Samuel Francis Smith) and Beat! Beat! Drums! (text: Walt Whitman)

1942–44 : Propaganda Songs, for voice and piano; written for the Lunch Hours Follies performed for the workers of a shipbuilding workshop in New York, then broadcast:

*1942 : Buddy on the Nightshift, text: Oscar Hammerstein

*1942 : Schickelgruber, text: Howard Dietz

1942 : Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (And what was sent to the soldier's wife?), ballad for voice and piano, text: Bertolt Brecht

1942–47 : Three Walt Whitman Songs, later Four Walt Whitman Songs for voice and piano (or orchestra), text: Walt Whitman

1944 : Wie lange noch?, text: Walter Mehring; premiere: Lotte Lenya

Film music

1938 : You and Me

1945 : Where Do We Go From Here? text: Ira Gershwin

Select discography

Orchestral, chamber, choral and other works

Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12 / Vom Tod im Walde. Ensemble Musique Oblique/ Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, 1997)

Kleine Dreigroschenmusik / Mahagonny Songspiel / Happy End / Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12. /Ballade vom Tod im Walde op.23 /Pantomime I (from Der Protagonist op.14) London Sinfonietta, David Atherton, Nona Liddell (violin), Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano), Mary Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Philip Langridge (tenor), Ian Partridge (tenor), Benjamin Luxon (baritone), Michael Rippon (bass), (Deutsche Grammophon 4594422, 1999)

Kurt Weill à Paris, Marie Galante and other works. Loes Luca, Ensemble Dreigroschen, directed by Giorgio Bernasconi, assai, 2000

Melodie Kurta Weill'a i coś ponadto Kazik Staszewski (SP Records, 2001)

Complete String Quartets. Leipziger Streichquartett (MDG 307 1071-2)

Symphonies 1 & 2. BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gary Bertini (EMI, 1968)

Song collections

Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs (Sony 1997)

Speak Low – Songs by Kurt Weill – Anne Sofie von Otter, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon 1995)

Youkali: Art Songs by Satie, Poulenc and Weill. Patricia O'Callaghan (Marquis, 2003)

The Unknown Kurt Weill (Nonesuch LP D-79019, 1981) – Teresa Stratas, soprano, Richard Woitach, piano. Track list: "Nanna's Lied" (1939), "Complainte de la Seine" (1934), "Klops-Lied" (1925), "Berlin im Licht-song" (1928), "Und was Bekam des Soldaten Weib?" (1943), "Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song" (1928), "Wie Lange Noch?" (1944), "Youkali: Tango Habanera" (1935?), "Der Abschiedsbrief" (1933?), "Es Regnet" (1933), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (1942), "Schickelgruber" (1942), "Je ne t'aime pas" (1934), "Das Lied von den Braunen Inseln" (1928)

Tributes

Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill – Produced by Hal Wilner, with performances by various pop (Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Sting, Marianne Faithfull) and jazz (Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, John Zorn) artists. (A&M; Records, 1987)

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (performed by Elvis Costello, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, and author William S. Burroughs, among others) (Sony Music, 1997)

Gianluigi Trovesi/Gianni Coscia: Round About Weill (ECM, 2005)

The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill (Pias, April 1991), Studio recording of the songs performed live in 1989.

Ben Bagley's Kurt Weill Revisited and Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2 on the Painted Smiles label boasts rare titles of his, sung by all-star casts, including Chita Rivera, Ann Miller, Estelle Parsons, John Reardon, Tammy Grimes, Nell Carter, Arthur Siegel, and Jo Sullivan, among others.

See also

Paul Hindemith

A Kurt Weill Cabaret

LoveMusik

Bertolt Brecht

Bibliography

David Drew. Kurt Weill: A Handbook (Berkeley, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1987). ISBN 0-520-05839-9.

Kim H. Kowalke. A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1986). ISBN 0-300-03514-4.

Ronald Sanders. The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill (New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980). ISBN 0-03-019411-3.

Donald Spoto. Lenya A Life (Little, Brown and Company 1989)

Lys Symonette & Kim H. Kowalke (ed. & trans.) Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (University of California Press 1996)

David Drew (Editor), Über Kurt Weill (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1975) Excellent collection of texts, including an introduction by David Drew and including texts by Theodor W. Adorno Jürgen Schebera, Kurt Weill (Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000)

References

External links

Kurt Weill Foundation, including a detailed list of works

Schott Music

The OREL Foundation- Kurt Weill's biography and links to bibliography, discography and media.

Program note to Kurt Weill's Symphony No. 2 from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

Yale University's Gilmore Music Library has an important collection of Kurt Weill's Papers and Music, especially from his years in America

Finding aid to Universal Edition-Kurt Weill Archives – Manuscripts on deposit at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department, Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester

Category:1900 births Category:1950 deaths Category:People from Dessau-Roßlau Category:German Jews Category:German composers Category:American composers Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Opera composers Category:Modernist composers Category:American musical theatre composers Category:German musical theatre composers Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish composers and songwriters Category:People from Anhalt Category:German Jews who emigrated to the United States to escape Nazism Category:American musicians of German descent Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Tony Award winners Category:People from Rockland County, New York

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Teddy Wilson
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Theodore Shaw Wilson
born	November 24, 1912 Austin, Texas
died	July 31, 1986 Hillsdale, New Jersey
instrument	Piano
genre	Jazz
occupation	Pianist
associated acts	Louis ArmstrongEarl HinesBillie HolidayLester YoungLena HorneBenny Goodman
notable instruments	}}

Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Biography

Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in 1912. He studied piano and violin at Tuskegee Institute. After working in the Lawrence "Speed" Webb band, with Louis Armstrong and also "understudying" Earl Hines in Hines's Grand Terrace Cafe Orchestra, Wilson joined Benny Carter's Chocolate Dandies in 1933. In 1935 he joined the Benny Goodman Trio (which consisted of Goodman, Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa, later expanded to the Benny Goodman Quartet with the addition of Lionel Hampton). The trio performed during the big band's intermissions. By joining the trio, Wilson became the first black musician to perform in public with a previously all-white jazz group.

Noted jazz producer and writer John Hammond was instrumental in getting Wilson a contract with Brunswick, starting in 1935, to record hot swing arrangements of the popular songs of the day, with the growing jukebox trade in mind. He recorded fifty hit records with various singers such as Lena Horne and Helen Ward, including many of Billie Holiday's greatest successes. During these years he also took part in many highly regarded sessions with a wide range of important swing musicians, such as Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Red Norvo, Buck Clayton and Ben Webster.

Wilson formed his own short-lived big band in 1939, then led a sextet at Café Society from 1940 to 1944. He was dubbed the "Marxist Mozart" by Howard "Stretch" Johnson due to his support for left-wing causes (he performed in benefit concerts for The New Masses journal and for Russian War Relief, and chaired the Artists' Committee to elect Benjamin J. Davis). In the 1950s he taught at the Juilliard School. Wilson can be seen appearing as himself in the motion picture The Benny Goodman Story (1955).

Wilson lived quietly in suburban Hillsdale, New Jersey in the 1960s and 1970s. He performed as a soloist and with pick-up groups until the final years of his life. Teddy Wilson died on July 31, 1986.

He was interred at Fairview Cemetery in New Britain, CT

Discography

Teddy Wilson Featuring Billie Holiday (1949)

I Got Rhythm (1956)

Pres and Teddy (1956)

"Gypsy" in Jazz (1959)

With Billie in Mind (1972)

Runnin’ Wild (Recorded live at the Montreux Festival) (1973) (Black Lion)

Live at Santa Tecla (1976)

Teddy Wilson Trio Revisits the Goodman Years (1980)

As sideman:

Billie Holiday, The Quintessential Billie Holiday, vols. 1 - 9 (1933–1942)

Benny Goodman, The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (1935–1939)

Benny Goodman, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (1938)

References

External links

[ Allmusic]

Category:1912 births Category:1986 deaths Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:People from Hillsdale, New Jersey Category:Swing pianists Category:Mainstream jazz pianists Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz pianists Category:Tuskegee University alumni Category:Juilliard School faculty Category:Verve Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists

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