In honor of TCM and their “Summer Under the Stars” series, we launch our companion series, Summer Madness. The series will spotlight the achievements and films of one Black actor, daily throughout the month of August.
Day 14
Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was a Tony Award-winning singer and actress known for her roles in works like Carmen Jones, House of Flowers, Hello, Dolly! and Porgy and Bess. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool Special, Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale.
An eight-month stint at the Blue Angel in New York City (1944–45) led to her joining Cab Calloway for theater and nightclub engagements. She appeared in her first Broadway musical, St. Louis Woman, in 1946 and her first film, Variety Girl, in 1947.
Bailey, who continued to sing in a number of nightclubs, also took secondary roles in many films—among them, Carmen Jones (1954), Porgy and Bess (1959), All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) and The Landlord (1970).
Her rendition of “Takes Two to Tango” hit the top ten in 1952. She received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1976 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 17, 1988. #SummerMadness #Bailey
Recommended films:
Carmen Jones (’54)
Porgy and Bess (’59)
All the Fine Young Cannibals (’60)
The Landlord (’70)
Norman, Is That You? (’76)
Previous – Herb Jeffries | Next – Rex Ingram