Lady Sings the Blues
Lady Sings the Blues is a 1972 American biographical musical drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie about jazz singer Billie Holiday, loosely based on her 1956 autobiography that, in turn, took its title from Holiday's song. It is produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures. Diana Ross, in her feature film debut, portrays Holiday, alongside a cast that includes Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan and Scatman Crothers. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1973, including Best Actress for Diana Ross.
Plot
In 1928 Baltimore, Eleanora Fagan, also known as Billie Holiday, works as a 15-year-old housekeeper in a brothel. While home alone at her aunt's house, she is raped by a man who followed her from the brothel. She flees to her mother Sadie, who sets her up a job cleaning for another brothel in Harlem. The brothel is run by Lorraine, a woman who pays little money to Billie. Billie tires of scrubbing floors and becomes a prostitute, but soon quits and returns to a nightclub to unsuccessfully audition to become a showgirl. After "Piano Man" accompanies Billie when she sings a song, club owner Jerry books her as a singer in the show.
More details
author | Chris Clark Suzanne de Passe |
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contentLocation | New York City |
director | Sidney J. Furie |
editor | Argyle Nelson |
events | Billie Holiday |
genre | drama |
keywords | all of me arrest baltimore brothel cabaret card carnegie hall clean club owner drug use drug withdrawal even follow harlem home alone land lynch new york city cabaret card one night pawn pawnbroker radio network radio show rape sing strange fruit traumatize withdrawal |
musicBy | Gil Askey |
nomination | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Costume Design Academy Award for Best Original Song Score Academy Award for Best Production Design Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay |
producer | James S. White Jay Weston |
productionCompany | De Passe Entertainment |
publisher | Paramount Pictures |
recordedAt | Los Angeles |
theme | biographical biographical drama musical drama |