Juanita Hall

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Juanita Hall (b. November 6, 1901, Keyport, New Jersey – d. February 28, 1968, Bay Shore, Long Island, New York) was an American musical theatre and film actress.

Juanita Hall
Born	November 6, 1901(1901-11-06) Keyport, New Jersey
Died	February 28, 1968 (aged 66) Bay Shore, New York
Occupation	Stage actress
Spouse(s)	Clement Hall

She is best-remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals South Pacific (as "Bloody Mary") and Flower Drum Song (as "Auntie Liang").

Inspired as a child by blues legend Bessie Smith, she recorded an album of blues in her lifetime.^{[citation needed]} While in her teens she married a young actor named Clement Hall. He died in the 1920s. They had no children and she never remarried.

Hall received classical training at Juilliard. In the early 1930s she was a special soloist and assistant director for the Hall Johnson Choir. A leading black Broadway performer in her heyday, she was personally chosen by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II^{[citation needed]} to perform the roles she played in the musicals South Pacific and Flower Drum Song, as a Pacific Islander and a Chinese-American, respectively. In 1950, she became the first African-American to win a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bloody Mary in South Pacific. She also starred in the 1954 Broadway musical House of Flowers.

In 1958 she reprised "Bloody Mary" in the film version of South Pacific, for which her singing part was dubbed, at Richard Rodgers's request, by Muriel Smith (who had played the role in the London production.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Juanita Hall at the Internet Movie Database
• Juanita Hall at the Internet Broadway Database
• Juanita Hall at Find A Grave

Awards
Preceded by n/a (First to Receive Award)	Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical 1950 for South Pacific	Succeeded by Isabel Bigley for Guys and Dolls