Biographical film: Night and Day(1946).

Night and Day(1946). Biographical film starring Cary Grant as American composer and songwriter Cole Porter. The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz. The music score by Ray Heindorf and Max Steiner was nominated for an Academy Award. The film features several of the best-known Porter songs, including the title song, "Night and Day", "Begin the Beguine" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy".

Alexis Smith plays Linda Lee Porter, Porter's wife of 35 years. Monty Woolley and Mary Martin appear as themselves, and the rest of the cast includes Jane Wyman, Eve Arden, Alan Hale, Dorothy Malone, Donald Woods, and Ginny Simms.

The film is the fictionalized story of Cole Porter's life, as a Yale University law student who is more interested in making a living in the theater than the law. During the Christmas holidays, Cole travels home to Indiana with his law professor, Monty Woolley, and his friend, Ward Blackburn. Also.. visiting the Porter home is Cole's cousin Nancy and her wealthy friend, Linda Lee. At home, Cole tells his grandfather Omer that he wants to be a songwriter.

After returning to the city, Cole and Monty put together a show called "See America First", starring Gracie Harris. Nancy, Ward and Linda are in the audience on opening night, but Cole's family refuses to come. The Lusitania, is sunk by the Germans the same night, and Cole's show closes after only one performance.

Cole then joins the French army and is injured. While recovering in a French hospital, he finds Linda, working as a nurse. To lift Cole spirits, Linda locates a piano and Cole writes the song, "Night and Day." Linda invites Cole to join her in a villa on the Riviera, but.. Cole does not want to take her money anymore and makes plans to return to America to get back to his work.

In New York, Cole finds a job playing the piano in a music store. Tired of  the same old songs, Cole's partner, singer Carole Hill, sings one of his songs, which gives, Cole and Monty, the idea to produce another show, The New Yorkers .

Things are going well and Cole, is offered the opportunity to write a show in England. There he finds Linda, they marry and return to New York, where Cole begins working on another show. Cole makes many promises to Linda about taking a trip together, but it is one show after another. Linda becomes tired of Cole's promises and leaves for Europe on her own. Cole's mother telephones and informs him that his grandfather is dying, Cole flies back to Indiana, to make up with Omer. Cole, stays in Indiana after the funeral and, during a storm, is badly injured when he is thrown by a horse, and he loses the use of his legs. Cole makes Monty, promise not to tell Linda about his injury. Will Cole and Linda become reunited?

This is a beautiful, entertaining film with a fun dialogue and a splash of drama. If you are a Cary Grant fan, you will love this film.

Selena Royle(November 6, 1904 — April 23, 1983), parents were playwright Edwin Milton Royle and actress Selena Fetter.  She turned to acting despite the objections of her parents. Her first professional role was as Guinevere in her father's play, Lancelot and Elaine. Eventually she landed a part on her own in the 1923 Theatre Guild production of Peer Gynt with Joseph Schildkraut and became a Broadway actress. She made one film in the 1930s, Misleading Lady, but otherwise worked on the stage and on radio, starring on the shows Hilda Hope, M.D. and Kate Hopkins.

In the 1940s, she returned to film playing maternal characters such as Ingrid Bergman's mother in, Joan of Arc (1948). She also made several appearances on early television. However, in 1951, when she refused to testify about her alleged Communist sympathies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, her acting career came to a sudden standstill. She appeared in only two more films afterwards, including the low-budget, Robot Monster.

Black History Month Classic Movie Blogathon: LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972)

During the 1970s through the mid-1980s, Diana Ross was one of the most successful female artists, crossing over into film, TV and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her 1972 role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues, where she won a Golden Globe award. She won awards at the American Music Awards, twelve Grammy Award nominations, and won a Tony Award for An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977. In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history with a total of eighteen number-one singles. Twelve as lead singer of The Supremes and six as a soloist. Ross was the first female solo artist to have six number-ones hits. This puts her in a tie for fifth place among solo female artists with the most number-one hits. She is also one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. In December 2007, she received a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors Award. Including her work with The Supremes, Ross has released 67 albums.

LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972)
In 1971, Motown announced that Diana Ross was going to portray jazz singer Billie Holiday. A film loosely based on Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings the Blues (1956) written by Holiday and William Dufty. The critics were not convinced that Ross was perfect for the role. Ross and Holiday were considered to be very different in singing styles and appearance. Ross knew little about Holiday, but.. was not really a big fan of jazz.

October 1972, Lady Sings the Blues was a huge success. The movie co-starred Billy Dee Williams and Louis McKay. The cast also included Richard Pryor as the "Piano Man". In 1973, Ross was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for "Best Actress". Winning a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer. The soundtrack album for Lady Sings the Blues reached number one on the Billboard 200 for two weeks.
Lady sings the blues movie clip.
The story begins 1936, New York City, where Billie Holiday is arrested and taken to the NYPD police station: The film goes back in time to 1928, where you hear a woman call Billie by her real name, "Eleanora". Billie has an run in with a rapist, the madame comes to her rescue and throws him out and sends Billie home. Soon after, her Aunt and her children leave, Billie, puts on a record to listen to, only to find the rapist has followed her home. Billie, tries to leave, but the rapist over powers her. In the next scene, Billie is taken to her mother by the a police officer. Her mother feeds Billie, and sets up a job for her to clean at a brothel in the Harlem. The brothel is run by a woman Ms. Edson. One night, Billie goes to a nightclub, owned by Reg Hanley. Reg tries to get rid of Billie, but she says that she knows every single song. She meets Louis McKay, then a guard picks Billie up and takes her out of the club. Later when, Billie is all alone in her room, Ms. Edson sends up a customer, who tries to get Billie in bed with him. Billie, all dressed up, says.. "Sorry. I've just quit the business". Billie goes to the club where she was once kicked out of, and auditions. Reg tells her to leave when she can not keep up with the others girl's dance routine. Billie finds her best friend the Piano Man , who plays the song "All of Me". Reg believes she has a talent for singing, and hires her and she quickly takes the stage name of "Billie Holiday." Billie's debut at the nightclub, does not go well. After the show Billie receives a paycheck, and flowers sent from Louis. Billie begins to date Louis and a secret life of a heroin addict. She is soon discovered by two men, who sign her to Decca Records. By the end of the 1930s, Holiday becomes a famous jazz singer. At the height of her success, Billie experiences a horrific moment. Which inspires her to record one of the most controversial songs in history, Strange Fruit.

I thought  Diana Ross on screen performance was amazing. She realistically shows the up and downs of Holiday's life. I'm not really a Richard Pryor fan, but his powerful performance, in his supporting role as the piano player was also amazing..

BILLIE HOLIDAY:
Billie Holiday, also has been portrayed by Ernestine Jackson, in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. In 1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll in 1999, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. There have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died", a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara, and "Angel of Harlem", a 1988 release by the group U2. A 1953 Holiday concert in New York is a key feature of the 2009 Arthur Phillips novel The Song is You.
Clip of Billie Holiday singing.
BILLIE HOLIDAY Official Websight.
United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp in 1994.

Billie Holiday, also has performed in a couple of films. The first was in 1933, Billie Holiday played an extra in Paul Robeson's The Emperor Jones. Then, in 1935, she played role as a woman being abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's "Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life". She also sang a tune called "Saddest Tale". ‎Holiday had one major film performance, opposite Louis Armstrong in New Orleans (1947). The musical drama featured Holiday singing with Armstrong and his band and was directed by Arthur Lubin. Holiday was not very happy that her role was that of a maid. she thought she was going to play herself in the film. Singing a couple of songs in a nightclub setting. Holiday also performed in the 1950 Universal-International short film "'Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday Count Basie and His Sextet", where she sang "God Bless the Child" and "Now, Baby or Never".