Cast & creator
Lena Horne
Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, What's My Line?
Lena Horne (June 30, 1917 - May 9, 2010) was a singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood. Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000. Horne died on May 9, 2010 in New York City. During her lifetime, Horne was awarded four Grammys, a Tony, and a NAACP Image Award . She also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1984.
Also known as: Lena Mary Calhoun Horne
59
film credits
39
television credits
97
1938–2024 · acting roles
6.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (98)
Showing 98 of 98 credits
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
What's My Line?
Self
1950
Great Performances
Self
1971
Tony Awards
Self - Host
1956Tony Awards
Self - Recipient / Performer
1956Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
1956Tony Awards
Self - Co-Hostess
1956
The Cosby Show
Lena Horne
1984
A Different World
Self
1987
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
1950
The Steve Allen Show
Self - Singer
1956
American Masters
Self
1986
Reading Rainbow
Self - Narrator (voice)
1983
Kraft Music Hall
1958
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Self (uncredited)
1968
The Flip Wilson Show
Self
1970
Sanford and Son
1972
The Oscars
Self
1953
The Muppet Show
Self - Special Guest Star / Lola Bramswell
1976
The Dean Martin Show
1965
MGM Parade
1955MGM Parade
Self
1955
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
1978
Your Show of Shows
1950
The Bell Telephone Hour
Self - Host
1959The Bell Telephone Hour
Self
1959
The Hollywood Palace
Self
1964
Password
1961
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Self
1996
The Twentieth Century
1957
The Judy Garland Show
Self
1963
Hollywood Black
Self (archive footage)
2024
The DuPont Show of the Week
Self
1961
The Wiz
Glinda the Good
1978
The Perry Como Show
1956
Death of a Gunfighter
Claire Quintana
1969
Till the Clouds Roll By
Julie LaVerne / Lena Horne
1946
Two Girls and a Sailor
Lena Horne
1944Command Performance: The Stars Salute the President
Self
1981
Ziegfeld Follies
Lena Horne (segment "Love")
1945
That's Entertainment! III
Self - Host
1994
Night of 100 Stars
Self
1982
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
1985
Words and Music
Lena Horne
1948
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Lena Horne
1956
The Harlem Renaissance
Self (archive footage)
2004
Swing Fever
Herself
1943
Cabin in the Sky
Georgia Brown
1943
Sesame Street: Learning About Letters
Self
1986Keep US Beautiful
1973
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
1995
The Green Book: Guide to Freedom
Self - Singer (archive footage)
2019
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
Self (archive footage)
1990
Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!
Self (archive footage)
1994
It's Black Entertainment
Self (archive footage)
2002
Now!
Self (voice)
1965Now!
Music
1965Music 55
1955
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
Self (archive footage)
2001
Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days
Self (uncredited) (archive footage)
2010
I Dood It
Herself
1943
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Self (archive footage)
2004
Studio Visit
Herself
1946
Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs
Self (archive footage)
1990
Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium
1955
Duchess of Idaho
Lena Horne
1950
Sid & Judy
Self (archive footage)
2019Keep U.S. Beautiful
Self
1973
Thousands Cheer
Lena Horne
1943
Sesame Street: A Celebration of Me, Grover
2004
How It Feels to Be Free
Self (archival footage)
2021
Panama Hattie
As self, Singer in Phil's Place (uncredited)
1942
The All-Star Christmas Show
Self
1958
Stormy Weather
Selina Rogers
1943
A.N.T.A. Album of 1955
Self
1955
The Frank Sinatra Timex Show - To the Ladies
Self - Singer
1960
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Self
1999
Aretha Franklin: Duets
Self
1993
Sarah Vaughan & Other Jazz Divas
2005
Jazz Voice - The Ladies sing Jazz Vol.2
Self (archive footage)
2006
Broadway Rhythm
Fernway de la Fer
1944
Swingtime Jamboree
Herself
1946
DTV: Golden Oldies
Self
1984
Judy Garland Duets
Self (archive footage)
2005
Boogie-Woogie Dream
1944
The Duke Is Tops
Ethel Andrews
1938Storm in My Heart
Self (archive footage)
2018Honor Coles, Le Danseur De Claquettes Distingue
Self
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
1984
Mantan Messes Up
Lene
1946
The Incomparable Lena Horne
2004
Beyond the Riviera
1960
An Evening With Lena Horne
self
2005Harlem Hotshots
(archive footage)
1945