American dancer, actor, and singer (1946?2003)
Gregory Hines
|
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Hines in 1993
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Born
| Gregory Oliver Hines
(
1946-02-14
)
February 14, 1946
|
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Died
| August 9, 2003
(2003-08-09)
(aged 57)
|
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Resting place
| Saint Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery
Oakville, Ontario
, Canada
|
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Occupations
|
- Dancer
- actor
- choreographer
- singer
|
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Years active
| 1948?2003
|
---|
Spouses
|
Patricia Panella
(
m.
1968;
div.
1972)
Pamela Koslow
(
m.
1981;
div.
2000)
|
---|
Partner(s)
| Negrita Jayde
(2000?2003)
|
---|
Children
| 2
|
---|
Relatives
| Maurice Hines
(brother)
|
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Gregory Oliver Hines
(February 14, 1946 ? August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated
tap dancers
of all time. As an actor, he is best known for
Wolfen
(1981),
The Cotton Club
(1984),
White Nights
(1985),
Running Scared
(1986),
The Gregory Hines Show
(1997?1998), playing Ben on
Will & Grace
(1999?2000), and for voicing Big Bill on the
Nick Jr. Channel
animated children's television program
Little Bill
(1999?2004).
Hines starred in more than 40 films and also appeared on
Broadway
. He received many accolades, including a
Daytime Emmy Award
, a
Drama Desk Award
, and a
Tony Award
, as well as nominations for a
Screen Actors Guild Award
and four
Primetime Emmy Awards
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Hines was born in New York City, on February 14, 1946, to Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines, a dancer, musician, and actor, and grew up in the
Sugar Hill
neighborhood of
Harlem
.
[1]
He began
tap dancing
when he was two years old, and began dancing semi-professionally at age five. After that, he and his older brother
Maurice
performed together, studying with choreographer
Henry LeTang
.
Gregory and Maurice also studied with veteran tap dancers such as
Howard Sims
and The
Nicholas Brothers
when they performed at the same venues. The brothers were known as The Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances at venues in Miami, Florida, with
Cab Calloway
.
[2]
They were later known as The Hines Brothers.
When their father joined the act as a drummer, their name changed again in 1963 to
Hines, Hines, and Dad
.
[1]
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
Tap dance
[
edit
]
Hines was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike. His improvisation was like that of a drummer, doing a solo and coming up with rhythms. He also improvised the phrasing of a number of tap steps, mainly to fit the unfolding sound. A laid-back dancer, he usually wore loose-fitting pants and a tighter shirt.
[4]
Although he inherited the roots and tradition of the black rhythmic tap, he also promoted the new black rhythmic tap. "He purposely obliterated the tempos," wrote tap historian Sally Sommer, "throwing down a cascade of taps like pebbles tossed across the floor. In that moment, he aligned tap with the latest free form experiments in jazz and new music and postmodern dance."
[5]
Throughout his career, Hines wanted and continued to be an advocate for tap in America. He successfully petitioned the creation of
National Tap Dance Day
in May 1989, which is now celebrated in forty cities in the United States, as well as eight other nations. He was on the board of directors of Manhattan Tap, a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and a member of the
American Tap Dance Foundation
, which was formerly called the American Tap Dance Orchestra.
In 1989, he created and hosted a PBS special called
Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America
, which featured various tap dancers such as
Savion Glover
and
Bunny Briggs
.
[6]
[7]
In 1990, Hines visited his idol (and
Tap
co-star)
Sammy Davis Jr.
, who was dying of
throat cancer
and was unable to speak. After Davis died, an emotional Hines spoke at Davis' funeral of how Sammy made a gesture to him, "as if passing a basketball ... and I caught it." Hines spoke of the honor that Sammy thought that Hines could carry on from where he left off.
[8]
Through his teaching, he influenced tap dancers such as
Savion Glover
,
Dianne Walker
,
Ted Levy
, and
Jane Goldberg
.
[5]
In an interview with
The New York Times
in 1988, Hines said that everything he did was influenced by his dancing: "my singing, my acting, my lovemaking, my being a parent."
[5]
Stage acting
[
edit
]
Hines made his
Broadway
debut with his brother in
The Girl in Pink Tights
in 1954. He earned
Tony Award
nominations for
Eubie!
(1979),
Comin' Uptown
(1980), and
Sophisticated Ladies
(1981), and won the Tony Award and
Drama Desk Award
for
Jelly's Last Jam
(1992) and the
Theatre World Award
for
Eubie!
.
[
citation needed
]
Music
[
edit
]
Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called Severance based in
Venice, Los Angeles
in 1975 and 1976. Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H Club. Severance released their self-titled debut album on Largo Records (a subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) in 1976.
In 1986, he sang a duet with
Luther Vandross
called "
There's Nothing Better Than Love
", which reached the No. 1 position on the
Billboard
R&B charts
.
[9]
Encouraged by his first success on the chart, Hines subsequently released his self-titled debut album on Epic in 1988 with much support of Vandross. This album produced a Vandross-penned single "That Girl Wants to Dance with Me", which peaked at #6 on the R&B charts in June 1988.
[10]
[11]
Film and television
[
edit
]
In 1981, Hines made his movie debut in
Mel Brooks
's
History of the World, Part I
, replacing
Richard Pryor
, who was originally cast in the role but sustained severe burns just days before he was due to begin shooting.
[12]
[13]
Madeline Kahn
, also starring in the film, suggested to director Mel Brooks that he look into Hines for the role after they learned of Pryor's hospitalization.
[13]
He also appeared in the
horror film
Wolfen
later that year.
Hines' peak as an actor came in the mid-1980s. He had a large role in
The Cotton Club
(1984), where he and his brother Maurice (in his sole film credit) played a 1930s tap-dancing duo reminiscent of the
Nicholas Brothers
.
[14]
Hines co-starred with
Mikhail Baryshnikov
in the 1985 film
White Nights
, and co-starred with
Billy Crystal
in the 1986
buddy cop film
Running Scared
. He starred in the 1989 film
Tap
opposite
Sammy Davis Jr.
(in Davis' last screen performance). He appeared alongside
Whitney Houston
and
Loretta Devine
in the highly successful 1995 film
Waiting to Exhale
and opposite Houston,
Denzel Washington
and
Courtney B. Vance
the following year in
The Preacher's Wife
. On television, he starred in his own sitcom in 1997,
The Gregory Hines Show
, which ran for one season on
CBS
, and had a recurring role of
Ben Doucette
on
Will & Grace
.
In an interview in 1987, Hines said that he often looked for roles written for white actors, "preferring their greater scope and dynamics." Of his role in
Running Scared
, for example, he said that he enjoyed that his character had sex scenes, because "usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all."
[15]
Hines starred in the 1998 film
The Tic Code
. He voiced Big Bill in the
Nick Jr. Channel
's animated children series
Little Bill
, which ran from 1999 to 2004. He won the
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program
for the role in 2003.
Other
[
edit
]
Hines co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony in 1995 and 2002.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Hines' marriages to Patricia Panella and Pamela Koslow ended in divorce.
[16]
He had a daughter, Daria, with Panella, and a son, Zachary, with Koslow.
[17]
For the last three years of his life, he was engaged to bodybuilder
Negrita Jayde
, who was based in
Toronto
.
[16]
Death
[
edit
]
Hines died of
liver cancer
on August 9, 2003, en route to the hospital from his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with the disease a year earlier, but informed only his closest friends. At the time of his death, production of the television show
Little Bill
was ending. He was survived by his fiancee Jayde, children Daria and Zachary, ex-stepdaughter Jessica, and grandson Lucian.
[18]
His funeral was held at
St. Monica Catholic Church
in
Santa Monica, California
. He was buried at
St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery
in
Oakville, Ontario
.
[19]
[20]
Legacy
[
edit
]
On January 28, 2019, the
United States Postal Service
honored Hines with a postage stamp as part of its Black Heritage Series. It was issued with a ceremony at the
Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts
.
[21]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Awards
Nominations
Filmography
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Gregory Hines, obituary"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. London. August 12, 2003.
Archived
from the original on June 3, 2013
. Retrieved
May 29,
2019
.
- ^
Wadler, Joyce (February 24, 1985).
"Hines on Tap"
.
The Washington Post
.
ISSN
0190-8286
.
- ^
"Gregory Hines"
.
Biography
. September 23, 2020
. Retrieved
September 15,
2021
.
- ^
Abrams, Dennis; De Angelis, Gina (April 1, 2008).
Gregory Hines
.
Infobase Publishing
.
ISBN
978-0-7910-9718-2
. Retrieved
March 31,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
Valis Hill, Constance.
"Biography of Gregory Hines"
.
New York Public Library
. Retrieved
December 21,
2017
.
- ^
Rothstein, Mervyn (September 1, 1992).
"The Man in the Dancing Shoes"
.
Cigar Aficionado
. Archived from
the original
on October 8, 2009
. Retrieved
May 25,
2012
.
- ^
Tap: With Gregory Hines
. WNET/New York. 1989
. Retrieved
April 23,
2013
.
- ^
"Gregory Hines Interview"
.
The Sammy Davis, Jr. Association
. 1992. Archived from
the original
on May 13, 2008
. Retrieved
June 9,
2008
.
- ^
Luther Vandross Chart History
- ^
Gregory Hines Chart History
- ^
Gregory Hines songs Top Songs/Chart Singles Discography @musicvf.com
Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^
Monaghan, Terry (August 12, 2003).
"Gregory Hines"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
March 31,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Brooks, Mel (June 7, 1981).
"The World According to Mel Brooks"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 31,
2020
.
- ^
White, Armond (October 23, 2019).
"Coppola's Cotton Club Encore Remakes American Entertainment"
.
National Review
.
- ^
Wuntch, Philip (June 30, 1986).
"Gregory Hines: a dancer hits the screen and gets the girls"
.
Ottawa Citizen
.
Dallas Morning News
. p. D10.
- ^
a
b
Dunning, Jennifer (August 11, 2003).
"Gregory Hines, Versatile Dancer and Actor, Dies at 57"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 31,
2020
.
- ^
Plaskin, Glenn (June 17, 1990).
"Dads in the Limelight"
.
Tampa Bay Times
.
- ^
"Tap Dance Idol Gregory Hines, Star of TV, Stage And Screen, Dies"
.
Jet
. August 25, 2003. p. 59.
- ^
"Pallbearers carry the coffin of Gregory Hines' at the memorial..."
Getty Images
. Retrieved
January 24,
2022
.
- ^
"Gregory Hines buried in Oakville City, Ontario"
.
CBC News
. Retrieved
August 21,
2013
.
- ^
"Gregory Hines As Honoree on New Forever Stamp"
(Press release). United States Postal Service. January 28, 2019.
- ^
"The Amazing Falsworth"
.
IMDb
. November 5, 1985.
External links
[
edit
]
Awards for Gregory Hines
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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1948?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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