The iconic Lena Horne turned 92 on June 30th and Stormy Weather, the biography written by James Gavin, hit Amazon’s Top 100.  The book has received good reviews and even gotten praise from Oprah’s gal pal Gayle King.  Legendary colomunist Liz Smith, ranted on Variety.com: “There is, of course, word whizzing about for a movie. In late 2007, Oprah announced her plan to star Alicia Keys as Lena in a biopic. But we haven’t heard anything on that front since.”

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1917.  By 17 years-old she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade and would go on to join several other orchestras and bands. Lena received immense pressure from management and industry insiders (Black and White) to “pass” for White or Hispanic. Horne aggressively refused and when she finally came to Hollywood she refused to play a maid. Lena Horne was considered to play the lead role in 1951’s Showboat, but Ava Gardner was chosen because interracial relationships were banned in films. However, according to Wikipedia, “MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using recordings of Horne performing the songs, which offended both actresses.” Ain’t that something?

This is a biopic that we need and I can’t understand why no one is on it, considering biopics are usually successful and Oscar worthy.

First, Janet Jackson was set to play Lena Horne but allegedly was booted from the project after the infamous “wardrobe malfunction.”  The biopic was actually set to be a made for TV movie on ABC.

Then, as Smith mentioned, Alicia Keys was to play Horne but all talks of that have vanished.

I want to see the film made but I would love to see an actor tackle the role versus a singer.  Paula Patton, Jurnee Smollett, or even Nicole Ari Parker would be good choices.

Happy belated birthday to the great Lena Horne!

While “The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards” is this Sunday, the NAACP announced their 40th Annual Image Award nominations yesterday.  Nominees include Will Smith, Don Cheadle, and Derek Luke.  Also, the five main cast members from “The Secret Life of Bees” all received nominations.  According to NAACP.org:

“The ABC network leads with a total of 24 nominations, followed by CBS with 14, and The CW and NBC both with 10. HBO has 9, with FOX coming in with 7. Television shows ‘Tyler Perry’s House of Payne’ received 6 nominations, followed by ‘Ugly Betty’ with 5 and ‘Everybody Hates Chris’, ‘The Game’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ each with 4.

Columbia Records leads the Recording category with 8 nominations, including 5 for Beyoncé. J Records and Arista both followed with 6 nominations apiece, and Island Def Jam has 4.

In the Motion Picture category, Fox Searchlight received 11 nominations. Sony Music Films/Parkwood Pictures follows with 7 nominations, and Columbia Pictures, Lionsgate and Sony Pictures Classics each have 3.”

The 40th NAACP Image Awards will be hosted by Tyler Perry and Oscar-winner Halle Berry on Thursday, February 12th.  Click here for the complete list of nomiees.

Alicia Keys has been cast to play legendary singer Lena Horne in an upcoming biopic produced by Oprah Winfrey, according the singer’s website, AliciaKeys.net. The film will likely evolve around Horne’s rise to fame after singing the hit song, “Stormy Weather” in 1943. Filming is expected to start next year.

What do y’all think? She definitely resembles the legendary singer. Think she can pull it off?