Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
12/10/1972
Drama, Music
2h 24m
- 69% (74 votes)
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Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born.
Overview
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.
- Sidney J. FurieDirector
- Terence McCloyScreenplay
- Suzanne de PasseScreenplay
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$2,000,000
Revenue
$19,726,490
Keywords
- new york city
- brothel
- jazz singer or musician
- mental breakdown
- biography
- addiction
- rape victim
- tour bus
- racism
- based on memoir or autobiography
- period drama
- drug overdose
- music history
- lynching
- dying young
- black singer
- withdrawal
- heroin addict
- nightclub singer
- blues music
- billie holiday
- harlem, new york city
- carnegie hall
- rise to fame
- wayward girl
- death of a musician
- music tour
- 1940s
- somber
- 1930s
- following one's dream
- desperate
- former prostitute
- period film
- straight jacket
- cautionary
- black woman
- woman's story
- disheartening
- powerful
- woman musician
- deep south racism
- kkk rally
Top Billed Cast
Diana Ross
Billie Holiday
Billy Dee Williams
Louis McKay
Richard Pryor
Piano Man
James T. Callahan
Reg Hanley
Paul Hampton
Harry
Sid Melton
Jerry
Virginia Capers
Mama Holiday
Yvonne Fair
Yvonne
Isabel Sanford
The Madame
Tracee Lyles
The Prostitute
Recommendations
She-Devil (60%)
The Wiz (60%)
And Soon the Darkness (65%)
Stormy Weather (69%)
Diana Ross: The Lady Sings Jazz and Blues (80%)
Maria (64%)
One Battle After Another (75%)
Changeling (76%)
Greenland (71%)
