Lady Sings the Blues      

By Rochelle O'Gorman

Diana Ross stars as legendary blues singer Billie Holiday in this biopic that chronicles her rise and fall. It begins with her late childhood, a stint as a prostitute, those early days as a blues singer, her marriages, and her drug addiction. Overly glossy and lacking depth, this is worth seeing only for the performances. Diana Ross was nominated for an Oscar for her acting debut. A dynamo with sparkling screen presence, she realistically conveys the confusion and unhappiness that caused Holiday so much grief. Her performance is almost matched by romantic interest Billy Dee Williams. Watch for Richard Pryor, who is most powerful in a dramatic supporting role as the piano player in a brothel.

Academy Awards

Lady Sings the Blues received Academy Awards nominations for Actress (Diana Ross), Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published; Terence McCloy, Chris Clark, Suzanne DePasse), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Carl Anderson - Art Direction, Reg Allen - Set Decoration), Costume Design (Bob Mackie, Ray Aghayan, Norma Koch) and Music Scoring Awards (Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score; Gil Askey).

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