Trivia

Lost her father, husband and son in one year.

In Charles Whiting's book "The Long March on Rome", he reports that she refused to appear before racially segregated US Army audiences in World War II Italy--since the army was officially segregated, the policy was to have one show solely for white troops and another show solely for black troops. Horne insisted on performing for mixed audiences, and since army leadership refused to allow integrated audiences, she wound up putting on a show for a mixed audience of black American soldiers and white German POWs.

Her then son-in-law Sidney Lumet cast her as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz (1978).

While at MGM, her appearances in movies were shot so that they could be cut easily from the film. This was because MGM feared audiences of the day--but especially in the South--would not accept a beautiful black woman in romantic, non-menial roles. Many in the industry believed that this was the main reason she lost out on playing the mulatto "Julie" in MGM's remake of Show Boat (1951). Ironically, the role was played by one of her close off-screen friends, Ava Gardner, who practiced for it by singing to Horne's recordings of the songs, and Lena had already appeared in the "Show Boat" segment of Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), in which she appeared as "Julie" singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (which as were all her MGM appearances, shot in such a way that they could be easily edited out of the film). Another irony is that she had been invited by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II themselves to play "Julie" in the 1946 Broadway revival of "Show Boat", but had to refuse because MGM would not release her from her contract.

She was branded a "Communist sympathizer" by many right-wing conservatives because of her association with Paul Robeson and her progressive political beliefs (which led her to be blacklisted in the 1950s).

Moved into cabaret performances partly because her name had appeared in "Red Channels", a publication that circulated in the entertainment industry during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era that listed names of performers it considered "subversives" (for a "fee:", that person's name could also be taken off the list) Her activities in the civil rights movement, beginning in the 1940s, and her longtime friendship with former Communist actor/singer Paul Robeson were also used against her.

According to her autobiography, she photographed so light in her initial screen tests that MGM was afraid people would mistake her for a white woman, so it had makeup legend Max Factor create a make-up line for her called "Dark Egyptian", so she could appear as a "Negro" onscreen. Ironically, Hedy Lamarr used this same makeup in White Cargo (1942) when she played a half-caste African native.

She was a lifelong liberal Democrat who was active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She worked with Eleanor Roosevelt on anti-lynching laws and during the John F. Kennedy administration she was a frequent guest at the White House.

Mother of journalist and author Gail Lumet Buckley, whose articles have appeared in "Vogue" Magazineand the "Los Angeles Times"; Buckley has researched and authored two books, "The Hornes: An American Family" (New American Library, 1986) and "American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm" (Random House, 2001).

Sought the lead role in the controversial film Pinky (1949), about a black girl who passes for white. 20th Century-Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck decided to take the safe road and choose a white star who had box-office appeal and picked Jeanne Crain. "Pinky", which was a slang term for a light-skinned black, won Crain her only Oscar nomination.

Lived in Manhattan's fabled West Side apartment building, the Apthorp, whose residents include Rosie O'Donnell, Conan O'Brien, Steve Kroft, Cyndi Lauper and Kate Nelligan.

Her signature song is "Stormy Weather".

Former mother-in-law of Sidney Lumet. Lumet was married to Horne's daughter Gail Jones (Gail Lumet Buckley).

Awarded two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6282 Hollywood Blvd. and for Motion Pictures at 6250 Hollywood Blvd.

She had a weakness for Godiva chocolate.

Her father's name was Edwin F. Horne. Her mother was an actress, Edna Louise Calhoun Scottron.

Received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1989.

Received an honorary doctorate from Howard University in 1980.

She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1991.

Became pregnant by her second husband Lennie Hayton but suffered a miscarriage while in Paris in July 1950.

Pictured on a non-denominated US commemorative postage stamp in the Black Heritage series, issued 30 January 2018. Price on day of issue was 50¢.

Received a Special Tony Award in 1982 for "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music". She had previously been nominated for Broadway's 1958 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Jamaica".

Made her last public appearance in 1999.

Children from first marriage to Louis Jones: Gail Jones (b. 1938), aka Gail Lumet Buckley, and Terry Jones (b. 1939).

Posthumously awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs (CA) Walk of Stars on 11/26/12.

On 8/6/19 she was honored with a day of her film work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

Ranked #62 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock N Roll.

Grandmother of Jenny Lumet and Amy Lumet.

Leslie Uggams is scheduled to portray her in a musical production "Stormy Weather" at the Pasadena Playhouse (California) starting January 2009.

While on a performance tour in England in July 1954 she was offered a leading role in a movie to be filmed in England, on the life of jazz and ragtime composer and pianist Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton. The movie was ultimately never made.

Singing since she was 16 and in films since 1941 she worked as a college lecturer and lives in Santa Barbara.

In June 2022, the Nederlander Organization (one of the major theater-owning companies in the United States) announced that one of its Broadway theaters, the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on West 47th Street, would be renamed for Lena Horne. This is the first Broadway theater to be named after a Black woman and only the third to be named after any Black person; the first was the August Wilson Theatre and the second the James Earl Jones.

Has three daughters, Gail. Amy and Jenny and two granddaughters by Gail.

She started as a £9 a week chorus girl in the Cotton Club in Harlem,.

Son Teddy with husband Louis Jones.

Her two children with Louis Jourdan were Gail (who married director Sidney Lumet ) and Teddy.

At one time her home was 2200 Nichols Canyon Road, in the Hollywood hills.

Daughter Gail married film director Sidney Lumet and have a daughter Amy.