Pearl Bailey was an American dancer, born in 1918 in Newport News, who died in 1990.
Biography
Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer, comedian and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in the all-Black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool Special Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952.
In 1976, she became the first African American to receive the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 17, 1988.
Contemporaries
Betty Ford
First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977
Howard Sims
American entertainer (1917–2003)
Ann Hutchinson Guest
American dance notator (1918–2022)
Virginia Davis
American actress (1918–2009)
June Allyson
American actress (1917–2006)
Marjorie Guthrie
American dancer (1917-1983)
Rufus Thomas
American singer (1917–2001)
Lena Horne
American singer, actress, dancer and activist (1917–2010)
Facts from Wikidata (Q462118), CC0.