Lena Horne: A Rising Actress In The 1940's

Betty White is one of the most influential actresses of television history. Born as Betty Marion White on January 17, 1922 in Illinois, her family moved to Los Angeles, California during the Great Depression. She began her career by reading commercials for the radio in 1939 when she was seventeen years old. Betty White then started acting in television shows and movies. Since then, she has won several awards and continues to act. Betty White’s autobiography, If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t), reveals an actress 's life from her perspective. Betty White’s long life and long career have made it possible to provide inspiration to everyone in the acting world and in the real world.

Lucille Ball was a famous actor in the 1950’s that went from rags to riches over her years. She was persistent even though her father died (Knight J, 2007) when she was just a young girl. It is not easy making over fifty films. Of course she did not just become one of theater's best comidian that is a woman from scratch, she had to find a way to make it happen and create a dream. Lucille Ball Made an impact on women in theater by creating a new style of comedy, and proving women can do innovative things and have an impact on theater and camera work.

Lynn Nottage’s play By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is an interesting play that deals with race during 1933 Hollywood. The two main characters Vera Stark and Gloria Mitchell show how black and white actresses were treated back then. Vera is African American and in the 1930’s the roles for her were degrading such as playing maids or slaves. Meanwhile Gloria, a “white” actress, gets the leading roles for movies. These two women show us how Hollywood treated black and white passing actresses.

“A Raisin in the Sun,” written by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959, was the first play ever produced on Broadway by an African-American woman and was considered ground-breaking for it’s time. Titled after Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” sometimes known as “A Dream Deferred,” the play and the subsequent film adaptations are honest examinations of race, family, poverty, discrimination, oppression and even abortion in urban Chicago after WWII. The original play was met with critical praise, including a review by Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times where he wrote, “For A Raisin in the Sun is a play about human beings who want, on the one hand, to preserve their family pride and, on the other hand, to break out of the poverty that seems to be their fate. Not having any axe to grind, Miss Hansberry has a wide range of topics to write about-some of them hilarious, some of them painful in the extreme.” The original screen adaptation released in 1961 was highly acclaimed in its own right, and was chosen in 2005 for preservation in the United States of America National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical significance. While both stage and screen portrayals were highly acclaimed there are some similarities as well as some marked differences in each interpretation.

Lucille Ball is an admirable woman for contributing to the world numerous times. Born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York. Lucille Ball got her start as a singer, model and film star before becoming one of America's top comedic actresses. With the 1950s TV show I Love Lucy, she became a hit. When she was 15 she convinced her mother to allow her to enroll in a New York City drama school. Despite how long it took she still never gave up and still kept working hard. She was also in 72 movies (aka that's a lot of movies). Enough with background information let's talk about what made her admirable.

Lucille Ball wanted to change the roles that women had in society and she showed this in different ways in her television shows. She was one of the most famous actress to alter the Hollywood industry. After trying to be noticed in Hollywood for many years she was finally noticed by a poster of her during her modeling career. When she was noticed Ball worked in Hollywood for 50 years on different shows and producing them. Before all the fame Ball was told that she lacked the talent needed. At age 15 she was enrolled at a New York drama school and was sent home for being too shy compared to her other classmates getting all of the attention. Lucille Ball changed the roles that women had in entertainment through her comedic performance.

The curtain slowly rises, the lights come up, and the audience is silent. It's showtime on Broadway. Broadway can do so many different things to a person. It can make one laugh, cry, want to yell, and then suddenly everyone is content. Similarly, the United States of America changes time and time again. America never stops evolving into something new. Broadway and musical theatre are no exception to that. Many out-of-this-world musical have made it on Broadway, but some of the greatest hits have been the ones based on the American society they lived in. A musical that is representative of society is something everyone can connect to because they live it every day. Musicals that can connect so deeply with the public are the ones that everyone

She would look in the mirror and panic because she was unsure of herself. She was a model, singer, and actress. She had so much talent and she put it to use. She used her talents to go places and make a career for herself. She had many iconic moments in her career and even after her death these moments are still seen today. Monroe created an image of her own and stuck to it. Created her own style, and unique character. Even today in media she is still talked about because she left a very important impact on the world. Marilyn Monroe did many things in her life time and accomplished a lot. In Marilyn’s time she created a lot of firsts which will forever be in history. This beauty queen, modeling star, and Hollywood hero will forever be one of the greatest people in history and the most important person in our U.S.

Most people think of Audrey Hepburn as an actress who starred in Breakfast at Tiffany’s wearing a black dress, white gloves, and a pearl necklace, but what most people do not know is the difference she made in the world. Today, Audrey Hepburn is known as one of the most beautiful women in the world, but in her eyes, she was just a normal person. “She considered herself funny-looking, which just goes to show that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder,” (“The 100 Greatest Stars” 46). She was a normal person, who happened to be an actress that changed the world for the better with her actions. Audrey Hepburn once said, “Your soul is nourished by all your experiences, it gives you baggage for the future-and ammunition if you like,” (“Audrey

Ruby Dee was a hard working woman who had many aspirations in life. From a young age, she knew what she wanted to do. She joined the American Negro Theatre as an apprentice in 1941, where she learned and worked to earn her keep. She also graduated from New York’s Hunter College and had a degree in the romance languages.

Lucille Tenazas is certainly the kind of person who welcomes all sorts of experiences with open arms and lets them sink into her mind and feelings and purify her personality. All bits of her experiences, particularly those with a cultural and social aspect, have turned her into an exceptional figure, a figure that is respectable to everyone.

Some famous Americans have won the noble peace prize, while others might be known for creating world peace or world catastrophes. Lucille Ball will forever be remembered as the person who entertained people with “rubber faced antics (“Lucille Ball Biography”) “zany impersinations.” These comments may seem demeaning; however, they glorifiy Lucille Ball’s legacy. An actress, comedian, a producer, Lucille Ball is most famous for producing and acting in her most famous sitcom, I Love Lucy. Arguably one of the most influential female comedians of all time, Lucille Ball started small in the world of show business, worked her way to the top, and created a world-renowned sitcom that portrayed new ideas and reinvented the

Many people admire Lucille Ball for her ability to still become an actress without going to college. For example, Lucille

Billie Holiday could be considered one of the most influential women in jazz, if not one of the most influential women in general. She was one of the first to incorporate anti-racist ideals and progressive thoughts through the outlet of music, influencing many others down the road. Her intense desire for equality and change could be due to the immense amounts of hardship during her younger years, which may have very well carried over into her adult singing career.

In 1773, there were slaves all over colonial America working in plantations, and cleaning their masters houses. It wasn’t common for a slave to be writing poetry with their owners consent. Phyllis Wheatley’s success as the first African American published poet was what inspired generations to tell her story. It was her intellectual mind and point of view that made her different from others, both black and white. Phyllis’s story broke the barrier for all African American writers, and proved that no matter the gender or race, all human beings are capable of having an intelligent state of mind. Her arrival in America in 1761, at the age of eight is what started the story of a legend.