Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 - August 17, 1990) is an American actress and singer. After performing in vaudeville he made his Broadway debut at St. Louis Woman in 1946. He won the Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, he won the Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother at ABC Afterschool Special, Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale.
His performance of "Taking Two to Tango" reached the top ten in 1952. He received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement award in 1976 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 17, 1988.
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Bailey was born in Newport News in Virginia, to Pastor Joseph James and Ella Mae Ricks Bailey. He grew up in the Bloodfields of Newport News, Virginia.
He made his stage-singing debut when he was 15 years old. His brother, Bill Bailey, started his own career as a tap dancer, and advised him to enter an amateur contest at Pearl Theater in Philadelphia. Bailey won and was offered $ 35 a week to perform there for two weeks. However, the theater was closed during her engagement and she was not paid. He then won a similar competition at the famous Harlem Apollo Theater and decided to pursue a career in the entertainment world.
Maps Pearl Bailey
Careers
Bailey began by singing and dancing at black nightclubs in Philadelphia in the 1930s, and soon began performing on other parts of the East Coast. In 1941, during World War II, Bailey toured the country with USO, performing for American troops. After the tour, he settled in New York. His solo success as a nightclub player was followed by action with entertainers like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. In 1946, Bailey made his Broadway debut at St. Louis Woman . For his performance, he won the Donaldson Prize as the best Broadway newcomer. Bailey continues to tour and record albums between the stage and his screen show. Early in the television media, Bailey's guest starred in CBS's Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town . She hosted her own series on ABC, The Pearl Bailey Show (January-May 1971).
Her support for the female impersonator, Lynne Carter, took her to credit Bailey with the launch of her career.
In 1967, Bailey and Cab Calloway entitled a completely black cast version of Hello, Dolly! The tour version was very successful, producer David Merrick took him to Broadway where he played for a sold-out and revitalized long-running music house. Bailey was given a special Tony Award for his role and RCA Victor made the second original album cast. It was the only recording score to have an introduction written specifically for the tape.
As a big fan of the New York Mets, Bailey sang the national anthem at Shea Stadium before the 5th game of the 1969 World Series, and appeared in a series of films showing his support for the team. He also sang the anthem before the 1st match of the 1981 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.
Following the 1971 television series, he voted for animations such as Tubby the Tuba (1976) and Disney The Fox and the Hound (1981). He returned to Broadway in 1975, playing the lead in the all-black production Hello, Dolly! He earned a degree in theology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1985 at the age of 67.
Later in his career, Bailey was a fixture as a spokesperson in a series of Duncan Hines ads, singing "Bill Bailey (Will not You Come Home)". He also appeared in advertisements for Jell-O, and Westinghouse.
In his final years Bailey wrote several books: The Raw Pearl (1968), Speaking to Myself (1971), Pearl's Kitchen (1973) , and Hurry America and Spit (1976). In 1975 he was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford. His final book, Between You and Me (1989), details his experience with higher education. On January 19, 1985, he appeared on national television broadcast of the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, the night before Ronald Reagan's second inauguration. In 1988 Bailey received Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan.
Personal life
On November 19, 1952, Bailey married the great jazz drummer Louie Bellson in London.
They then adopted a son, Tony, in the mid-1950s. A girl, Dee Dee J. Bellson, was born April 20, 1960. Tony Bellson died in 2004. Dee Dee Bellson died on July 4, 2009, at the age of 49, five months after her father, who died on Valentine's Day 2009.
Bailey, a Republican, was appointed by President Richard Nixon as America's "Love Ambassador" in 1970. He attended several United Nations meetings and later appeared in a campaign ad for President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.
He was awarded the Bronze Medal in 1968, the highest award given to civilians by New York City.
Bailey is a good friend of actress Joan Crawford. In 1969, Crawford and Bailey joined fellow Gypsy Rose Lee's friends in receiving the USO Award. In the same year, Bailey was recognized as USO "Woman of the Year". After Crawford's death in May 1977, Bailey talked about Crawford as his sister before singing a hymn at his funeral. US Ambassador and socialite America, Perle Mesta, is another close friend of Bailey. In the waning days of Mesta's life, Bailey often visited her and sang hymns for her.
Death
Pearl Bailey died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on August 17, 1990. After an autopsy, Dr. Emanuel Rubin, professor and chair of the Pathology Department at Jefferson Medical College, announces the cause of death as an arteriosclerotic coronary artery disease with significant coronary artery constriction. Bailey is buried in the Rolling Green Memorial Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Show
Discography
Bibliography
- Raw Pearl (1968) (autobiography)
- Speak to Myself (1971) (autobiography)
- Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook (1973)
- Duey's Tale (1975) (Photos and Design by Arnold Skolnick)
- Hurry up America and Spit (1976)
- Between You and Me: An Appropriate Memo on Learning, Loving, and Living (1989)
See also
- Takes two to tango (idiom)
References
External links
- Pearl Bailey on IMDb
- Pearl Bailey on Broadway Internet Database
- Pearl Bailey on TVGuide.com
- Pearl Bailey at AllMovie
- Obituaries: New York Times , 18, 24 and August 25, 1990
- African American Lives edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham: 2004. ISBNÃ, 0-19-516024-X.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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