Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author.[1] After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946.[2] She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool SpecialCindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952.[3]
Bailey was born in Newport News, Virginia[1] to the Reverend Joseph James and Ella Mae Ricks Bailey.[5] When she was very young, the family moved to Washington, DC. After her parents' divorce, Bailey moved to Philadelphia to live with her mother.[6]
Bailey made her stage-singing debut at the age of 15. Her brother Bill Bailey[7] was beginning his own career as a tap dancer and suggested that she enter an amateur contest at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia. Bailey won and was offered $35 a week to perform there for two weeks. However, the theater closed during her engagement and she was not paid.[5] She later won a similar competition at Harlem's famous Apollo Theater and decided to pursue a career in entertainment. She was also known to have performed in the church choir at St Peter Claver Catholic Church in Brooklyn, at the behest of Msgr Bernard J. Quinn.[8]
Career
Bailey began by singing and dancing in Philadelphia's black nightclubs in the 1930s, and soon started performing in other parts of the East Coast. In 1941, during World War II, Bailey toured the country with the USO, performing for American troops. After the tour, she settled in New York. Her solo successes as a nightclub performer were followed by acts with entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. In 1946, Bailey made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman.[9] For her performance, she won a Donaldson Award as the best Broadway newcomer. Bailey continued to tour and record albums along with her stage and screen performances. Early in the television medium, Bailey guest starred on CBS's Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town.
Female impersonator Lynne Carter credited Bailey with launching his career.[10]
In 1967, Bailey and Cab Calloway headlined an all-black cast version of Hello, Dolly! The touring version was so successful that producer David Merrick took it to Broadway, where it played to sold-out houses and revitalized the long-running musical. Bailey was given a special Tony Award for her role, and RCA Victor released a second original-cast album, the only recording of the score to have an overture written especially for the recording.
Following her 1971 television series, she provided voices for animations such as Tubby the Tuba (1976) and Disney's The Fox and the Hound (1981). She returned to Broadway in 1975, playing the lead in an all-black production of Hello, Dolly!. In October 1975, she was invited by Betty Ford to sing for Egyptian president Anwar Sadat at a White House state dinner as part of Mideast peace initiative.[12]
She earned a degree in theology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1985 at age 67.[9] It took her seven years to earn her degree.[9] At Georgetown, she was a student of the philosopher Wilfrid Desan.
In her later years, Bailey wrote several books: The Raw Pearl (1968), Talking to Myself (1971), Pearl's Kitchen (1973) and Hurry Up America and Spit (1976). In 1975, she was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford, a position she held under three presidents.[15][16] In 1976, she won the Coretta Scott King Award for her children's book Duey's Tale.[17] Her last book, Between You and Me (1989), details her experiences with higher education. On January 19, 1985, she appeared on a nationally televised broadcast gala the night before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. In 1988, Bailey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan.[18]
Personal life
Bailey went through a number of failed marriages in her earlier adult years. She married John Randolph Pinkett, either her third or fourth husband, when she was 30 years old, and divorced him four years later, accusing him of physical abuse.[4][19]
On November 19, 1952, Bailey married jazz drummer Louie Bellson in London. They remained married until her death nearly 38 years later in 1990. Bellson was six years Bailey's junior and white. Interracial couples were rare at that time, and Bellson's father was reportedly opposed to the marriage because of Bailey's race.[19]
They later adopted a son, Tony, in the mid-1950s. A daughter, Dee Dee Jean Bellson,[20] was born April 20, 1960. Tony Bellson died in 2004. Dee Dee Bellson died on July 4, 2009, at the age of 49, five months after her father, who died on February 14.[21]
Bailey was a close friend of actress Joan Crawford.[23] In 1969, Crawford and Bailey joined fellow friend Gypsy Rose Lee in accepting a USO award. That same year, Bailey was recognized as USO's woman of the year.[24][25] Upon Crawford's death in May 1977, Bailey spoke of Crawford as her sister and sang a hymn at her funeral.[23][26] American socialite Perle Mesta was another of Bailey's close friends.[27] In the waning days of Mesta's life, Bailey visited Mesta frequently and sang hymns for her.[28][29]
^"Lynne Carter, Impersonator," New York Times (January 14, 1985), p. A16.
^Hyatt, Wesley (2003). Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops. McFarland & Co. p. 199. ISBN9781476605159. OCLC606977128.