Gregory Oliver Hines (
February 14, 1946 --
August 9, 2003) was an
American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.
Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called
Severance in
1975/
1976 based in
Venice, California. Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called
Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H
Club. In
1986, he sang a duet with
Luther Vandross, entitled "
There's Nothing Better Than Love", which reached the #1 position on the
Billboard R&B; charts.[1]
Hines made his movie debut in
Mel Brooks'
History of the World, Part 1. Critics took note of Hines's comedic charm, and he later appeared in such movies as
The Cotton Club,
White Nights,
Running Scared, Tap, and
Waiting to Exhale. On television, he starred in his own series in
1997 called
The Gregory Hines Show on
CBS, as well as in the recurring role of Ben
Doucette on
Will & Grace. In
1999, Hines made his return on television with
Nick Jr.'s
Little Bill, as the voice of
Big Bill.
Hines made his
Broadway debut with his brother in
The Girl in Pink Tights in 1954. He earned
Tony Award nominations for Eubie! (
1979),
Comin'
Uptown (
1980) and
Sophisticated Ladies (
1981), and won the Tony Award and
Drama Desk Award for
Jelly's Last Jam (
1992) and the
Theatre World Award for Eubie!. He also co-hosted the
Tony Awards ceremony in
1995 and
2002.[2]
In
1990, Hines visited with his idol,
Sammy Davis, Jr., as he was dying of throat cancer, unable to speak. After
Davis died, an emotional Hines spoke at Davis's funeral of how
Sammy had made a gesture to him, "as if passing a basketball
... and I caught it." Hines spoke of the honor that Sammy thought that Hines could carry on from where he left off.[3][dead link]
Hines was an avid improviser. He did a lot of improvisation of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike. His improvisation was like that of a drummer, doing a solo and coming up with all sorts of rhythms. He also improvised the phrasing of a number of tap steps that he would come up with, mainly based on sound produced. A laid back dancer, he usually wore nice pants and a loose-fitting shirt. Although he inherited the roots and tradition of the black rhythmic tap, he also influenced the new black rhythmic tap, as a proponent. "'He purposely obliterated the tempos,' wrote tap historian
Sally Sommer, 'throwing down a cascade of taps like pebbles tossed across the floor. In that moment, he aligned tap with the latest free-form experiments in jazz and new music and postmodern dance.'"[4]
Throughout his career, Hines wanted to and continued to be an advocate for tap in
America. In
1988, he successfully petitioned the creation of
National Tap Dance Day, which is now celebrated in 40 cities in the
United States. It is also celebrated in eight other nations.
Gregory Hines was on the
Board of Directors of
Manhattan Tap, he was a member of the
Jazz Tap
Ensemble, and a member of the
American Tap
Foundation (formerly the American Tap
Dance Orchestra). He was a good teacher, influencing tap dance artists
Savion Glover,
Dianne Walker,
Ted Levy, and
Jane Goldberg.[4] -
Wikipedia
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- published: 28 Aug 2012
- views: 3154