Lady Sings the Blues
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Lady Sings the Blues | |
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The movie poster for the film Lady Sings the Blues |
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Directed by | Sidney J. Furie |
Produced by | Brad Dexter Jay Weston James S. White |
Written by | Chris Clark Suzanne De Passe William Dufty Billie Holiday Terence McCloy |
Starring | Diana Ross Billy Dee Williams Richard Pryor |
Music by | Gil Askey Michel Legrand |
Cinematography | John A. Alonzo |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date(s) | October 12, 1972 |
Running time | 141 min. |
Language | English |
IMDb profile |
Lady Sings the Blues is a 1972 biographical film which tells the story of jazz singer Billie Holiday. Produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures, the film stars Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan and Scatman Crothers.
The movie was adapted by Chris Clark, Suzanne De Passe and Terence McCloy from the book by William Dufty and Billie Holiday. It was directed by Sidney J. Furie.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Diana Ross), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced.
The same year, Motown released a successful soundtrack double-album of Ross' recordings of Billie Holiday songs from the film, also titled Lady Sings the Blues. The album went to No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 200 Album Charts.[citation needed]