There has been Bessie Smith. There has been Ma Rainey. There has been Big Mama Thorton. And then there was Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday remains one of the most widely known and widely recognizable African American figures from the 20th Century. Her status as a singer and activist has made her a National Treasure.
In 1972, Motown Productions and Paramount Pictures produced the blockbuster biographical film, Lady Sings The Blues. Based on the same-titled autobiography of the same name, the film starred lead singer of the Supremes, Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams. The film chronicles Holiday’s early life and career, both in trial and in triumph. A life troubled by drug abuse, racism, and legal troubles, the film profiled her rise to stardom.
This year, the film Lady Sings The Blues turns 50. The film made a film star out of Ross, winning a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Since its release, the film has become a mainstay in African American popular culture.
Okla Jones, in her 2022 article for Essence, “ ‘Lady Sings The Blues At 50’: The Classic Film That Captured The Essence Of An Icon”, writes, “50 years after its release, Lady Sings the Blues still remains a representation of a powerful moment in time. Ross gave a once-in-a-lifetime performance, and Gordy was able to showcase Black men in and women in a manner that exuded elegance and opulence, instead of poverty.”
Biopics of female African American singers were few and far between prior to Lady Sings The Blues. It can be argued that the development and the execution of Lady Sings The Blues paved the way for future Black feminist biopics such as Tina Turner’s What’s Love Gotta Do With It (1993) with Angela Bassett, Dorothy Dandrige’s Introducing Dorothy Dandrige (1999) with Halle Berry, to even the latest revival of Billie Holiday’s story- 2021’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday with Andra Day. Day also was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and ultimately won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama at its 78th annual ceremony.
Ross’s portrayal of Holiday made it possible for Hollywood to recognize the significance of stories of Black women through the lens of strength in the face of blinding stardom. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film, several television networks such as Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and streaming platforms such as YouTube have made the film available for showing.
