text: After the Secret Service first announced "shots fired" over its radio network at 2:27 p.m., Reagan—codename "Rawhide"—was taken away by the agents in the limousine ("Stagecoach"). No one knew that Reagan had been shot. After Parr searched Reagan's body and found no blood, he stated that "Rawhide is OK...we're going to Crown" (the White House), as he preferred its medical facilities to an unsecured hospital.


title: Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan

text: Reagan was in great pain from the bullet that struck his rib and believed that his rib had cracked when Parr pushed him into the limousine. When the agent checked him for gunshot wounds, however, Reagan coughed up bright, frothy blood. Although the president believed that he had cut his lip, Parr believed that the cracked rib had punctured Reagan's lung and ordered the motorcade to divert to nearby George Washington University Hospital, which the Secret Service periodically inspected for use. The limousine arrived there less than four minutes after leaving the hotel, while other agents took Hinckley to a DC jail, and Nancy Reagan ("Rainbow") left the White House for the hospital.


text: Although Parr had requested a stretcher, none were ready at the hospital, and it did not normally keep a stretcher at the emergency department's entrance. Reagan exited the limousine and insisted on walking. Reagan acted casually and smiled at onlookers as he walked in. While he entered the hospital unassisted, once inside the president complained of difficulty breathing, his knees buckled, and he went down on one knee; Parr and others assisted him into the emergency department. The Physician to the President, Daniel Ruge, had been near Reagan during the shooting and arrived in a separate car. Believing that the president might have had a heart attack, he insisted that the hospital's trauma team, and not himself or specialists from elsewhere, operate on him as they would any other patient. When a hospital employee asked Reagan aide Michael Deaver for the patient's name and address, only when Deaver stated "1600 Pennsylvania" did the worker realize that the president of the United States was in the emergency department.


text: The medical team, led by Joseph Giordano, cut off Reagan's "thousand-dollar" custom-made suit to examine him; Reagan complained about the cost of the ruined suit, which was cited by an assistant in a press briefing to reassure the public that the president was in stable health. Military officers, including the one who carried the nuclear football, unsuccessfully tried to prevent FBI agents from confiscating the suit, Reagan's wallet, and other possessions as evidence; the Gold Codes card was in the wallet, and the FBI did not return it until two days later. The medical personnel found that Reagan's systolic blood pressure was 60 compared to the normal 140, indicating that he was in shock, and knew that most 70-year-olds in the president's condition would not survive. Reagan was in excellent physical health, however, and also was shot by the .22 caliber instead of a larger .38 as was first feared. They treated him with intravenous fluids, oxygen, tetanus toxoid, and chest tubes, and surprised Parr—who still believed that he had cracked the president's rib—by finding the entrance of the gunshot wound. Brady and the wounded agent McCarthy were operated on near the president. When his wife arrived in the emergency department, Reagan remarked to her, "Honey, I forgot to duck", borrowing boxer Jack Dempsey's line to his wife the night he was beaten by Gene Tunney. While intubated, he scribbled to a nurse, "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia", borrowing a line from W. C. Fields. Although Reagan came close to death, the team's quick action—and Parr's decision to drive to the hospital instead of the White House—likely saved the president's life, and within 30 minutes Reagan left the emergency department for surgery with normal blood pressure.


text: The chief of thoracic surgery, Benjamin L. Aaron, decided to perform a thoracotomy lasting 105 minutes because the bleeding persisted. Ultimately, Reagan lost over half of his blood volume in the emergency department and during surgery, which removed the bullet. In the operating room, Reagan removed his oxygen mask to joke, "I hope you are all Republicans." The doctors and nurses laughed, and Giordano, a Democrat, replied, "Today, Mr. President, we are "all" Republicans." Reagan's post-operative course was complicated by fever, which was treated with antibiotics. His entering the operating room conscious and not in shock, and the surgery being routine, caused Reagan's doctors and others to predict that he would be able to leave the hospital in two weeks, return to work at the Oval Office in a month, and completely heal in six to eight weeks with no long-term effects.


text: National Security Advisor Richard Allen would traditionally be responsible for crisis management for the Executive Branch, but Secretary of State Alexander Haig wanted the role. Six days before the shooting, Vice President George H. W. Bush received the assignment instead; Allen and the National Security Council would assist him. Reagan persuaded an upset Haig not to resign; the secretary reportedly "pound[ed] the table in frustration and anger". When the White House learned of the assassination attempt, however, Haig was in the White House. He urged the vice president—visiting Texas for the first time since the inauguration—to return, but the voice connection to Bush aboard "Air Force Two" was weak and whether they heard each other is unclear.


text: By 2:35 p.m., Bush was notified of the shooting. He was leaving Fort Worth, Texas, and, relying on the initial reports that Reagan was unharmed, he flew to Austin for a speech. At 3:14 p.m., 47 minutes after the shooting, Haig sent a coded Teletype to Bush:


text: "Air Force Two" refueled in Austin before returning to Washington at what its pilot described as the fastest speed in the plane's history. The aircraft did not have secure voice communications, and Bush's discussions with the White House were intercepted and given to the press.


text: White House Counsel Fred Fielding immediately prepared for a transfer of presidential powers under the 25th Amendment, and Chief of Staff James A. Baker and Counselor to the President Edwin Meese went to Reagan's hospital still believing that the president was unharmed. Within five minutes of the shooting, members of the Cabinet began gathering in the White House Situation Room. The Cabinet and the Secret Service were initially unsure whether the shooting was part of a larger attack by terrorists or a foreign intelligence service such as the KGB. Tensions with the Soviet Union were high due to the Solidarity movement in Communist Poland. The Cabinet was also concerned that the Soviets would take advantage of the unstable situation to launch a nuclear attack. After the shooting the American military detected two Soviet ballistic missile submarines patrolling unusually close to the East Coast of the United States, allowing their missiles to reach Washington D.C. two minutes faster than usual. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger responded by placing the Strategic Air Command on high alert. Haig, Weinberger, and Allen discussed various issues, including the location of the nuclear football, the submarine presence, a possible Soviet invasion against the 1981 warning strike in Poland, and the presidential line of succession. Although normally no tape recorders are allowed in the Situation Room, these meetings were recorded with the participants' knowledge by Allen, and the five hours of tapes have since been made public.


text: The group obtained a duplicate nuclear football and Gold Codes card, and kept it in the Situation Room. (Reagan's football was still with the officer at the hospital, and Bush also had a card and football.) The participants discussed whether to raise the military's alert status, and the importance of doing so without changing the DEFCON level. They eventually determined that the number of Soviet submarines was normal; a pair of Soviet submarines was taking over the patrol area from another pair, a relief operation that routinely occurred at the end of a month. However, one of the four submarines was patrolling unusually close to the coast. In consideration of the ongoing tensions over Poland, Weinberger ordered the Strategic Air Command be put on alert, but did not reveal the alert status to the public.


text: Upon learning that Reagan was in surgery, Haig declared, the "helm is right here. And that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here". Haig was incorrect. As the sitting Secretary of State, he was fourth behind Vice President Bush, Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, and President "pro tempore" of the Senate Strom Thurmond in the line of succession and, under , O'Neill and Thurmond would have to resign their positions to become acting president. Although others in the room knew that Haig's statement was constitutionally incorrect, they did not object at the time to avoid a confrontation. Allen later said that although Haig "constantly, incessantly drummed on some variant of 'I am in charge, I am senior'", he and Fielding "didn't give a rat's ass" as Bush would be in charge when he arrived.


text: At the same time, a press conference was underway in the White House Briefing Room. CBS reporter Lesley Stahl asked deputy press secretary Larry Speakes who was running the government, to which Speakes responded, "I cannot answer that question at this time". Upon hearing Speakes' remark, Haig wrote and passed a note to Speakes, ordering him to leave the dais immediately. Moments later, Haig himself entered the Briefing Room, where he made the following controversial statement:


text: Despite his familiarity with the Briefing Room from serving as Richard Nixon's chief of staff, Stahl described Haig as "visibly shaken", and the Associated Press wrote that "his voice continually choked up and quavered with emotion, and his arms trembled". Those in the Situation Room reportedly laughed when they heard him say "I am in control here", and Allen later said "I was astounded that he would say something so eminently stupid". Haig later said,


text: Although Haig stated in the Briefing Room that "There are absolutely no alert measures that are necessary at this time or contemplated", while he was speaking Weinberger raised the military's alert level. After Haig returned to the Situation Room, he objected to Weinberger doing so as it made him appear a liar, although as deputy commander-in-chief, only Reagan outranked Weinberger in the National Command Authority. Weinberger and others accused Haig of exceeding his authority with his "I am in control" statement, while Haig defended himself by advising the others to "read the Constitution", saying that his comments did not involve "succession" and that he knew the "pecking order".


text: On "Air Force Two", Bush watched Haig's press briefing. Meese told him that Reagan was stable after surgery to remove the bullet. The vice president decided to not fly by helicopter from Andrews Air Force Base to the White House; he said to a military aide "only the president lands on the South Lawn"; Bush later said in an interview that landing on South Lawn would have "made for great TV" but would have sent the wrong message to the country, and pointed out that the South Lawn was situated under the president's bedroom window, where the First Lady was waiting for news of Reagan's surgery. After landing at 6:30 p.m., Marine Two instead flew to Number One Observatory Circle.


text: "Despite brief flare-ups and distractions", Allen recalled, "the crisis management team in the Situation Room worked well together. The congressional leadership was kept informed, and governments around the world were notified and reassured." Reagan's surgery ended at 6:20 p.m., although he did not regain consciousness until 7:30 p.m., so could not invoke Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to make Bush acting president. The vice president arrived at the White House at 7:00 p.m., and did not invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. Bush took charge of the Situation Room meeting, which received an update that the planned Polish national strike was cancelled; they evaluated new satellite images from Eastern Europe that showed no Soviet troop movements near Poland; and they further assessed that Hinckley Jr. was likely acting alone after being informed of his October 1980 arrest record in Nashville which suggested that he had been trailing then-President Carter. Bush stated on national television at 8:20 p.m.:


text: The assassination attempt was captured on ENG videotape by several cameras, including those belonging to the Big Three television networks; ABC began airing footage at 2:42 p.m. All three networks erroneously reported that Brady had died. When ABC News anchorman Frank Reynolds, a friend of Brady, was later forced to retract the report, he angrily said on-air to his staff, "C'mon, let's get it nailed down!", as a result of the miscommunication. ABC News also initially reported that President Reagan had not been injured. A network erroneously reported that he was undergoing open-heart surgery.


text: While CNN did not have a camera of its own at the shooting it was able to use NBC's pool feed, and by staying on the story for 48 hours, the network, less than a year old, built a reputation for thoroughness. Shocked Americans gathered around television sets in homes and shopping centers. Some cited the alleged Curse of Tippecanoe, and others recalled the assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Newspapers printed extra editions and used gigantic headlines; the United States Senate adjourned, interrupting debate of Reagan's economic proposals; and churches held prayer services.


text: Hinckley asked the arresting officers whether that night's Academy Awards ceremony would be postponed because of the shooting, and it was; the ceremony—for which former actor Reagan had taped a message—occurred the next evening. The president survived surgery with a good prognosis, and the NCAA championship basketball game that evening between Indiana and North Carolina was not postponed, although the audience of 18,000 in Philadelphia held a moment of silence before the game, which Indiana would go on to win. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined before the New York Stock Exchange closed early, but the index rose the next day as Reagan recovered. Beyond having to postpone its Academy Awards broadcast, ABC temporarily renamed the lead character of "The Greatest American Hero" (which had debuted in March) from "Ralph Hinkley" to "Hanley", and NBC postponed a forthcoming episode of "Walking Tall" titled "Hit Man".


text: The incident was a traumatic experience for the 18-year-old Foster, who was hounded by the media and paparazzi in its aftermath. She took a semester off at Yale and had to be escorted by a bodyguard everywhere she went. This event produced other stalkers for her, including a 22-year-old man named Edward Michael Richardson, who according to the Secret Service shared a similar obsession with Foster, and carried a loaded handgun planning to kill her but changed his mind after watching her perform in a college play. Since the incident, Foster has only commented on Hinckley on four occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an article she wrote for "Esquire" magazine in 1982 after his sentencing, during an interview with Charlie Rose on "60 Minutes II" in 1999, and while speaking to comedian and actor Marc Maron on his podcast "WTF with Marc Maron" in 2021. She has ended or canceled several interviews if the event was mentioned, or if she felt that an interviewer was going to bring Hinckley up. To Maron, Foster said that she voluntarily chose not to speak about the incident in interviews to avoid being labelled as an actress primarily remembered for that incident, and also reflected on how her mother (a former publicist) helped her in overcoming the media frenzy, and the public's obsession with her involvement.


text: Reagan's staff members were anxious for the president to appear to be recovering quickly, and the morning after his operation he saw visitors and signed a piece of legislation. Reagan left the hospital on the morning of April 11. Entering the limousine was difficult, and he joked that the first thing he would do at home was "sit down".


text: Reagan's recovery speed impressed his doctors, but they advised the president not to work in the Oval Office for a week and avoid travel for several weeks. No visitors were scheduled for his first weekend; initially, Reagan worked two hours a day in the White House's residential quarters. Reagan did not lead a Cabinet meeting until day 26, did not leave Washington until day 49, and did not hold a press conference until day 79. Ruge, the physician to the president, thought recovery was not complete until October. Reagan's plans for the month after the shooting were canceled, including a visit to the Mission Control Center at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in April 1981 during STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle. Vice President Bush instead called the orbiting astronauts during their mission. Reagan would visit Mission Control during STS-2 that November.


text: The events contributed to Reagan's initial popularity; though he had enjoyed approval ratings of up to 60% until March, his ratings surged to nearly 70% in the following months. Privately, Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose and, although not a Catholic, meetings with Mother Teresa, Cardinal Terence Cooke, and fellow shooting survivor Pope John Paul II reinforced his belief.


text: Reagan returned to the Oval Office on April 25 and received a standing ovation from staff and Cabinet members. He referred to their teamwork in his absence and insisted, "I should be applauding you." He made his first public appearance in an April 28 speech before the joint houses of Congress. In the speech, he introduced his planned spending cuts, which had been a campaign promise. He received "two thunderous standing ovations", which "The New York Times" deemed "a salute to his good health" as well as his programs, which the president introduced using a medical recovery theme. Reagan installed a gym in the White House and began regularly exercising there, gaining so much muscle that he had to buy new suits. The shooting caused Nancy Reagan to fear for her husband's safety, however. She asked him to not run for reelection in 1984, and, because of her concerns, began consulting astrologer Joan Quigley. Reagan as president never again walked across an airport tarmac or got out of his limousine on a public sidewalk. In a 1987 speech in West Berlin, Reagan responded, "Missed me," after a balloon popped in the manner of gunfire, which the audience answered with cheers.


text: Thomas Delahanty recovered but developed permanent nerve damage to his left arm, and was ultimately forced to retire from the Metropolitan Police Department due to his disability. Timothy McCarthy recovered fully and was the first of the wounded men to be discharged from the hospital. James Brady survived, but his wound left him with slurred speech and partial paralysis that required the full-time use of a wheelchair. Brady remained press secretary for the remainder of Reagan's administration, but this was primarily a titular role. Later, Brady and his wife Sarah became leading advocates of gun control and other actions to reduce the amount of gun violence in the United States. They also became active in the lobbying organization Handgun Control, Inc.—which would eventually be renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence—and founded the non-profit Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was passed in 1993 as a result of their work. Brady died on August 4, 2014, in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 73.


text: Following Brady's death, the District of Columbia Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide stemming from wounds caused by the Hinckley assassination attempt. This ruling raised the possibility that Hinckley could face additional future murder charges. However, prosecutors declined to do so for two reasons. First, a jury had already declared Hinckley insane at the time of the shooting and the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy would preclude overturning this ruling on account of Brady's death. Second, in 1981 Washington, D.C. still had the common law "year and a day" rule in place. Although the year and a day rule had been abolished in the district prior to 2014, the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto law would preclude the upgrading of charges for deaths resulting today from acts committed while the rule was in effect and would prohibit the government from challenging Hinckley's successful insanity defense based on the current federal law.


text: The shooting of Reagan exacerbated the debate on gun control in the U.S. that began with the December 1980 handgun murder of John Lennon. Reagan expressed opposition to increased handgun control following Lennon's death and reiterated his opposition after his own shooting. However, in a speech at an event marking the assassination attempt's 10th anniversary, Reagan endorsed the Brady Act:


text: In 1994, Reagan made numerous appeals to support the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the House of Representatives; at least two representatives, Republican Scott L. Klug and Democrat Richard Swett, credit Reagan's efforts for their decision to vote for the bill, which eventually passed by a 216–214 margin.


text: After the assassination attempt, Jerry Parr was hailed as a hero. He received Congressional commendations for his actions, and was named one of four "Top Cops" in the U.S. by "Parade" magazine. He later wrote about the assassination attempt in his autobiography, calling it both the best and the worst day of his life. Parr came to believe that God had directed his life so that he could one day save the president's life, and became a pastor after retiring from the Secret Service in 1985. He died of congestive heart failure at a hospice in Washington, D.C. on October 9, 2015, aged 85.


text: Antenucci and McNamara both became ill following the assassination attempt. McNamara died a few months later. Antenucci died in 1984.


text: Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982. The defense psychiatric reports had found him to be insane while the prosecution reports declared him legally sane. Following his lawyers' advice, he declined to take the stand in his own defense. Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. full-time until 2006, at which point he began a program of spending gradually more time at his mother's home. On September 10, 2016, Hinckley was permitted to permanently leave the hospital to live with his mother full-time, under court supervision and with mandatory psychiatric treatment. After his trial, he wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world", and did not indicate any regrets at the time.


text: The not-guilty verdict led to widespread dismay, and, as a result, the U.S. Congress and a number of states rewrote laws regarding the insanity defense. The old Model Penal Code test was replaced by a test that shifts the burden of proof regarding a defendant's sanity from the prosecution to the defendant. Three states have abolished the defense altogether.


text: The following is the list of the movies dealing with the assassination attempt or portraying a portion of it:


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rajon Pierre Rondo (, born February 22, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Rondo played two years of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats before being drafted 21st overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 NBA draft and subsequently traded to the Celtics in a draft-day trade. Rondo is a two-time NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, has earned four NBA All-Defensive Team honors including two First Team honors, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2012.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: During his time in Boston, Rondo helped the Celtics advance to the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010, winning a championship in 2008 as the team's starting point guard. Rondo is known to be a versatile facilitator in the NBA, leading the league in assists three times and in steals once; he also ranks fourth in Celtics history in assists and third in steals. Rondo has sometimes been described as a "stat-sheet stuffer", ranking 13th in NBA history for triple-doubles with 32 in the regular season, and fifth in NBA history for triple-doubles with 10 in the playoffs.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: After seasons with the Celtics, Rondo was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in December 2014. Following a tumultuous five-month stint he turned into a journeyman, joining the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers (two stints), Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers over the next years. With the Lakers, he won a second championship in 2020.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo was born on February 22, 1986 in Louisville, Kentucky. He has three siblings. He had little contact with his father, who left his family when he was seven years old. To support the family, his mother worked the third shift at Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company. Rondo was first interested in football, before his mother steered him towards basketball because she felt that the sport would be less punishing on his skinny frame.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: After Rondo became serious about basketball, he attended Louisville's Eastern High School for three years. During his junior year at Eastern High School, he averaged 27.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists which earned him a spot on the All-State honors and was named the 7th Region Player of the Year. He transferred to Virginia's Oak Hill Academy for his senior year where he averaged 21.0 points per game (ppg), 3.0 rebounds per game (rpg) and 12.0 assists per game (apg) and finished the 2003–04 season with a 38–0 record. In his senior year at Oak Hill Academy, Rondo broke Jeff McInnis's single-season school record of 303 assists, while averaging a double-double. There, he included two efforts of 27 assists and a single-game school record of 31, merely four away from the all-time national record. He also had a 55-point game in high-school, second highest all-time in Oak Hill Academy, surpassed only by Calvin Duncan with 61. Rondo was named to the McDonald's All-American Team in 2004 and scored a total of 14 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds in the all-star game. He also participated in the 2004 Jordan Capital Classic game, logging 12 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. Rondo was also named a second-team "Parade" All-American. He ended his career as Oak Hill Academy's all-time assists leader in a single season with 494 assists, surpassing McInnis.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo committed to Kentucky over hometown Louisville. Rondo, along with All-Americans Joe Crawford and Randolph Morris, gave coach Tubby Smith and Kentucky the top-rated recruiting class for 2004 according to Rivals.com. Rondo led Kentucky to several wins including victories against Louisville, South Carolina and Central Florida, but Kentucky failed to advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in either Rondo's freshman or sophomore seasons. He was named to the SEC All-Freshmen Team. He set a Kentucky record for most steals in single-season, with a total of 87 steals in his freshman year and made at least one steal in every game. He finished his freshman year at Kentucky averaging 8.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.6 steals.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: In his sophomore year he had a career-high 12 assists against Ole Miss, despite playing just 23 minutes, and 25 points against Louisville. Rondo also set another Kentucky record for most rebounds in a game by a guard, with 19 rebounds in an early season loss to Iowa. He was not known for being a shooter, however, going 18–66 from the three-point line with a 57.1 percent free throw average. He averaged 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game in his sophomore year. Rondo was also named to the U.S. men's national under-21 basketball team, which traveled to Argentina for the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championship. He averaged 11.0 points and 4.5 assists in the eight-game tournament, garnering much attention from NBA scouts. The U.S. men's national under-21 basketball team won the gold medal at the Global Games held in Texas in late July.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Following the 2005–06 NCAA season, Rondo announced he would forgo his final two seasons at Kentucky and enter the NBA draft. Rondo was drafted 21st overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 NBA draft. Phoenix then traded him to the Boston Celtics along with Brian Grant for the Cleveland Cavaliers' first-round draft pick in the 2007 NBA draft and cash considerations. He was the first point guard to be chosen in the draft. In another draft-day deal, the Celtics acquired Sebastian Telfair from the Portland Trail Blazers, finally uniting the backcourt Rick Pitino had envisioned at Louisville. He was signed by the Boston Celtics on July 4, 2006.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: During his rookie season in the NBA, Rondo played a supporting role and would split time with Sebastian Telfair and Delonte West. Rondo only started in 25 games that season due to his initial backup role to Telfair. He made his NBA regular season debut on November 1, 2006, in a home loss against the New Orleans Hornets. In his rookie season, he lacked on his jump shot which resulted in him slashing to the basket for a teardrop or layup. While coming off the bench, he managed to score a career-high 23 points against the Toronto Raptors, and record his first career double-double in a road losing effort against the Washington Wizards. In his first career start, he matched his career-high against the Los Angeles Clippers, though the line-ups were constantly being shuffled between Telfair and Rondo at the point guard. After officially becoming a starter, he began to receive more playing time (career-high 47 minutes of playing time) that led to an improvement in production (career-high 14 rebounds against the San Antonio Spurs, and a career-high 7 steals against the Indiana Pacers). As the mid-season approached, his numbers began to increase, which earned him an NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection. He finished the season with an average of 6.4 ppg and 3.8 apg, ranking in the top ten in the NBA in steals (128) and also ranking in the top ten among rookies in several other categories, including first in steals, second in assists and sixth in minutes. In the end, however, the Celtics finished the season with a 24–58 win–loss record and failed to qualify for the playoffs.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: After Telfair and West were traded during the off-season of the 2007–08 season, Rondo secured a spot in the starting lineup, starting in every game. Surrounded by All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, he quickly became a steady, consistent player. In his 77 games played, he averaged 10.6 points per game (ppg), 5.1 assists per game (apg) and 4.2 rebounds per game (rpg). His role as a playmaker reflected in him leading the team in assists and steals. In a game against the New Jersey Nets, Rondo suffered a lower back injury late in the third quarter, forcing him to miss the next four games. He made his successful return from injury and to the starting lineup in a road win against the New York Knicks. A week later, he matched his career-high against the Miami Heat, and then scored a career-high 24 points in a home game against the Los Angeles Clippers the following month. During the All-Star break, he was selected to play on the Sophomore Team in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam. Following the All-Star weekend, Rondo recorded a career-high 16 assists in a home victory against the Charlotte Bobcats. Despite his solid rookie year, there was much speculation about Boston needing a veteran point guard. In March, they signed veteran point guard Sam Cassell as a free agent to serve as a backup. The Celtics' best single-season improvement in NBA history earned them the number one seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Following the regular season, Rondo finished in the top five for the NBA Most Improved Player voting. Rondo made his playoff debut on April 20, 2008 against the Atlanta Hawks and finished the game with 15 points, 9 assists and 2 steals. The Celtics closed out the series in seven games, went on to defeat Cleveland in the next round, and then beat the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the NBA Finals, facing the Los Angeles Lakers, Rondo recorded two strong performances, including a career-high 16 assists in Game 2. In Game 3, however, Rondo left the court in the third quarter after rolling his ankle. The ankle injury was considered a "non-factor," and Rondo eventually made his return in Game 4. In Game 6, the point guard posted a playoffs career-high 6 steals as the Celtics defeated the Lakers 4–2, giving Rondo his first NBA championship ring. After the game Lakers head coach Phil Jackson called Rondo the "star" of Game 6.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: In his third NBA campaign, the Celtics began the season with the best starting record in NBA history and also set a franchise record with a nineteen-game winning streak. Rondo's numbers increased from his previous season performance; however, he was criticized for his shooting. He recorded his first career triple-double along with a career-high in assists (16 points, 13 rebounds and 17 assists), against the Indiana Pacers. In a home win against the New York Knicks, Rondo led the team to tie a franchise record with 18 straight wins. However, after the winning streak was snapped, the team struggled as they lost seven out of their next nine games. Rondo—matched up with one of the league's quicker guards, Tony Parker—recorded 16 assists in a losing effort against the Spurs, one short of his season-high. Less than a week later against the Mavericks, he recorded his second career triple-double (19 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists), and then recorded a career-high 32 points against the Phoenix Suns on his 23rd birthday. He became the first NBA athlete to sign an endorsement contract with Red Bull on April 17, 2009. He finished the season ranking fifth in the NBA in assists (8.2) and steals (1.9). The team finished the season as the second seed in the Eastern Conference, although they entered the playoffs without their injured All-Star power forward Kevin Garnett.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: In the playoffs match-up against the Chicago Bulls, despite putting up a playoff career-high 29 points in Game 1, the Celtics lost in overtime. Boston won the next two games and in Games 2 and 4, Rondo recorded triple-doubles and became the first Celtic player with two triple-doubles in the same series since Larry Bird in 1986. He also became the first player with multiple triple-doubles in the same playoff series since Jason Kidd had three triple-doubles in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 6, he recorded a career-high 19 assists without a turnover, tying an NBA playoffs record. In the next round against the Orlando Magic, the Celtics lost the first game before Rondo's triple-double performance in Game 2 helped secure a home win. His third triple-double of the postseason tied Larry Bird's franchise record and also became the first to do that since Jason Kidd had four. However, the Celtics were defeated in seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. During the postseason, Rondo nearly averaged a triple double with 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: During the 2009–10 season, Rondo averaged career highs in points (13.7), assists (9.8) and steals (2.3) and became the first Celtic to lead the league in steals. On November 2, 2009, Rondo signed a five-year extension with the Celtics worth a guaranteed $55 million. In a road victory against the Orlando Magic on Christmas day, Rondo recorded 17 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists, two assists shy of a triple double. Three days later, Rondo scored 30 points with 15 assists in a road loss to the Golden State Warriors. On January 10, 2010, Rondo recorded his third regular-season career triple-double, with 22 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds against the Toronto Raptors. On January 28, 2010, he received his first NBA All-Star selection as a reserve on the Eastern Conference squad for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. He also competed in the 2010 H-O-R-S-E contest but lost in the finals to Kevin Durant. Rondo recorded his fourth regular-season career triple-double against the Denver Nuggets on March 24, 2010, with 11 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds. Two days later against the Sacramento Kings, Rondo entered the game tied with Rick Fox for a franchise record of most steals in a single-season (167), eventually establishing the record with a second-quarter steal from Sean May. In a game against the Houston Rockets on April 2, 2010, he broke Bob Cousy's franchise record for most assists in a single-season.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: In the 2010 NBA Playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in five games and faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round. In Game 2, Rondo dished out 19 assists tying his career-high and also tying a franchise record for most assists in a playoff game. In Game 4, he recorded his fourth postseason triple-double along with a playoff career-high 29 points and 18 rebounds. He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only other player in NBA history to have 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in a playoff game. The Celtics eventually defeated the Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games. In the Finals, the Celtics once again faced the Los Angeles Lakers, a team they previously beat in 2008. In Game 2, Rondo recorded his second triple-double of the postseason (19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists), however, despite Rondo's performance, the Celtics succumbed to the Lakers in seven games.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: In the first game of the 2010–11 season, Rondo put up 17 assists, which tied with Oscar Robertson for the third-most assists in a season opener. In the third game of the season, he dished out a career-high 24 assists along with a triple-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) against the New York Knicks. It tied him with Isiah Thomas as the only players in NBA history to have at least 24 assists in a triple-double. His total of 50 assists through the first three games of the season tied John Stockton's NBA record for most assists in the first 3 games of the season. In the next game against the Detroit Pistons, he finished the game with 17 assists for a total of 67 assists, which is the most assists in the team's first four games in NBA history. With a 15 assists effort the following day, Rondo again set a record for most assists through the first five games.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo's season also began with injuries. He played through plantar fasciitis in his feet. He missed three games in November due to a strained left hamstring. He sprained his left ankle in a win against the New York Knicks on December 15, 2010, and missed the next seven games. On April 22, in the third game of the first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, Rondo had a triple-double with 20 assists. Rondo set a Celtics franchise record for most assists in a playoff game. He was also tied with LeBron James with 6 career triple-doubles in the playoffs until James reached his seventh further on in the playoffs during Game 4 of the Finals. Rondo had the third best selling jersey in the league during the 2010–11 season, behind only James and Kobe Bryant.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On February 21, 2012, Rondo was named an injury replacement for Joe Johnson on the Eastern Conference roster at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game. With 18 points, 17 rebounds, and 20 assists against the Knicks on March 4, he joined Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, and Jason Kidd as the only players to have at least 15 points, rebounds, and assists in the same game. In a win against the Heat on April 1, Rondo registered another triple-double (16 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds). Rondo closed out the regular season with 24 consecutive games of 10 or more assists. This is not only a Celtics franchise record, but is also the longest streak the NBA has seen since John Stockton logged a streak of 29 such games in 1992. This streak was still considered active and resumed at the beginning of the 2012–13 regular season.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo posted his sixth triple-double of the season (with 20 assists) in an overtime win against the Hawks on April 11. He had his first triple double of the 2012 playoffs against the same team on May 4, another on May 13 in the first game of the second round against the 76ers, and a third on May 26 in the last game of that round, helping the Celtics advance to the Eastern Conference finals. He joined Larry Bird as the only Celtics players to record a triple-double in a Game 7. In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Rondo scored a career-high 44 points while grabbing 8 rebounds and adding 10 assists. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rondo is the only player in NBA history with 44 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds in a playoff game. On June 6, 2012, Rondo passed Bob Cousy for having 39 playoff games of 10 or more assists, making him the Celtics' all-time leader in that area. Rondo recorded another triple double in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals, but the Celtics lost to the Miami Heat, ending their playoff run. This tenth playoff triple-double tied Rondo for third (with fellow Celtic Larry Bird) among NBA career leaders.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo began the season with 24 consecutive games of 10+ assists. He continued that streak, and recorded his 37th game with 10+ assists against the Orlando Magic on November 25, 2012, matching John Stockton's longest streak. Only Magic Johnson had a longer streak (46 games). The streak ended the next game against the Brooklyn Nets, when he was ejected for fighting with Kris Humphries after Humphries fouled Rondo's teammate Kevin Garnett. Humphries was also ejected, along with Brooklyn's Gerald Wallace, who was accused of escalating the incident. Rondo only recorded three assists before he was ejected. Rondo was voted the starting point guard spot for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, but on January 27, 2013, during a game with the Miami Heat, it was revealed that Rondo had torn his ACL and would miss the remainder of the season. Rondo still led the NBA in assists in the season.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On January 15, 2014, Rondo was assigned to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA D-League for training and rehab purposes. Later that day, he was recalled by the Celtics.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On January 17, 2014, Rondo made his season debut with the Celtics, nearly a year after tearing his ACL. In 19 minutes of game time, he recorded 8 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds in a 104–107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Upon his return, he was named the 15th captain in Boston Celtics history. On February 2, 2014, in a 96–89 win over the Magic, Rondo recorded his first double-double since his injury (19 points, 10 assists). On April 4, 2014, Rondo recorded his first triple-double of the season with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists, in a 102–111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On September 26, 2014, Rondo was ruled out for six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a broken left hand. The injury was a result of a fall at his home the night before. After missing the entire preseason, Rondo returned for the regular season opener on October 29 and recorded 13 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds in 30 minutes to help the Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 121–105. On November 5, he recorded 13 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists against the Toronto Raptors. On December 2, he recorded 19 assists and 12 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks. On December 7, he recorded 13 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists against the Washington Wizards. On December 10, he recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Charlotte Hornets. On December 17, in his final game as a Celtic, Rondo recorded 13 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds in a 109–92 win over the Orlando Magic.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On December 18, 2014, Rondo was traded, along with Dwight Powell, to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, a 2015 first-round pick and a 2016 second-round pick. He made his debut for the Mavericks two days later, scoring six points on 3-for-11 shooting to go with nine assists and seven rebounds in a 99–93 win over the San Antonio Spurs. In his return to Boston on January 2, 2015, Rondo scored a career-high 15 first-quarter points, finishing with a season-best 29 to lead Dallas to a 119–101 victory. Rondo also had a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with six rebounds and five assists. Throughout January however, cracks began to appear in the relationship between Rondo and the Mavericks. Rondo struggled to fit in the Mavericks' system, and he often butted heads with head coach Rick Carlisle. While there were no reported issues off the court, Rondo's lack of chemistry with his teammates was noticeable throughout the season. And while the Mavericks' defense slightly improved with the acquisition of Rondo, their offense took a noticeable step backward, dropping from the best in the league to fourth in points per game by late February. In late April, Rondo and the Mavericks mutually agreed to part ways following a tumultuous end to the season. Rondo was benched after Game 2 of the Mavericks' first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets and didn't play again as Dallas was eliminated in five games. The team claimed that a back injury had sidelined Rondo indefinitely, but reports later surfaced that that was simply to "save face" after the two sides decided to part ways. His teammates also reportedly opted not to give him a playoff share.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On July 13, 2015, Rondo signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Sacramento Kings. He made his debut for the Kings in their season opener on October 28, 2015, recording four points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 111–104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Two days later, he recorded 21 points and eight assists in a 132–114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On November 13, he recorded his third triple-double in four games and 25th of his career with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in a 111–109 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On November 18, he recorded his fourth triple-double of the season with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in a 103–97 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. On November 23, he recorded 14 points and a franchise-high 20 assists in a 127–122 overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets. On November 27, he had 16 points and 16 assists in a 101–91 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He became the first player since 1977–78 to have 16 points, 16 assists and no turnovers in a game.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: Rondo was ejected from the Kings' December 3 game against the Boston Celtics by Bill Kennedy, and in response, Rondo called Kennedy a "faggot". Kennedy publicly came out as gay just over a week later, and Rondo was suspended by the NBA for one game without pay on December 14. After posting two statements on Twitter that were widely panned as not being apologetic, Rondo issued a more contrite apology on December 15.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On January 23, 2016, Rondo recorded his fifth triple-double of the season with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 108–97 win over the Indiana Pacers. Two days later, he had 20 assists and 10 rebounds in a 129–128 double-overtime loss to the Hornets, thus recording 10 or more assists in 12 straight games, a Sacramento record. The streak ended at 14 games. On February 19, he recorded a near triple-double with a then season-high 24 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and five steals in a 116–110 win over the Denver Nuggets. On February 29, Rondo had 11 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds in a 131–116 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He reached double figures in assists for the 39th time in 2015–16, tying a Sacramento record established by Reggie Theus in 1985–86. On March 25, he had 12 assists against the Phoenix Suns and passed Theus' record. On April 5, he recorded his sixth triple-double of the season with a season-high 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 115–107 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, setting a Kings franchise record for triple-doubles in a season.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On July 7, 2016, Rondo signed a two-year, $28 million contract with the Chicago Bulls. He made his debut for the Bulls in their season opener on October 27, recording 4 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals in a 105–99 win over the Boston Celtics. On November 10, he had a then season-best game with 16 points and 12 assists in a 98–95 win over the Miami Heat. On December 2, he recorded his first triple-double of the season with 15 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in a 111–105 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Three days later, he was suspended by the Bulls for one game for conduct detrimental to the team. On January 10, 2017, Rondo scored 12 points against the Washington Wizards in his first game since December 30. In that December 30 game, he posted a plus-minus rating of minus-20 during 11 first-half minutes in Chicago's 111–101 loss to the Indiana Pacers. He was subsequently removed from coach Fred Hoiberg's rotation for five games before being reinserted following injuries to Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler. On March 13, 2017, he scored a season-high 20 points and had six assists and seven rebounds in his first start since December 30 as the Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets 115–109. He bested that mark on March 21, scoring 24 points in a 122–120 overtime loss to the Toronto Raptors. On April 1, he had a season-high 25 points and added 11 rebounds in a 106–104 win over the Atlanta Hawks. On April 21, Rondo was ruled out indefinitely after breaking his right thumb in Game 2 of the Bulls' first-round playoff series against the Celtics. While the Bulls went up 2–0 in the series with Rondo, they never found their rhythm over the final four games without Rondo; as a result, they lost to the Celtics in six games. On June 30, 2017, he was waived by the Bulls.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On July 19, 2017, Rondo signed a one-year, $3.3 million contract with the New Orleans Pelicans. On October 8, 2017, he was diagnosed with a sports hernia. Two days later, he underwent surgery and was ruled out for four to six weeks. He made his debut for the Pelicans on November 13, 2017, against the Atlanta Hawks, recording two points and two assists in about five minutes in the first half. He made his first start of the season two days later, recording four points and eight assists in 14 minutes in a 125–116 loss to the Toronto Raptors. On December 10, 2017, he recorded 13 points and 18 assists in a 131–124 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. On December 27, 2017, he set a franchise record with a career-high 25 assists in a 128–113 win over the Brooklyn Nets. He broke Chris Paul's mark with his 22nd assist and became just the seventh player in NBA history to reach 25 assists in a game, joining Scott Skiles, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Nate McMillan and Isiah Thomas. On January 8, 2018, Rondo had 12 points and 15 assists in a 112–109 win over the Detroit Pistons. He had nine of his assists in the first quarter, tying a franchise record. On February 10, 2018, he recorded 25 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 138–128 double overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets. In the Pelicans' regular season finale on April 11, 2018, Rondo had 19 points and 14 assists in a 122–98 win over the San Antonio Spurs. In Game 1 of the Pelicans' first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, Rondo tied a franchise record with 17 assists to go with eight rebounds and six points in a 97–95 win. In Game 2, Rondo had 16 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 111–102 win. In Game 4, Rondo had 16 assists, as the Pelicans completed a first-round sweep of the Trail Blazers with a 131–123 victory. In the second round against the Golden State Warriors, Rondo had 21 assists in Game 3, the Pelicans' only win before being eliminated in five games.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On July 6, 2018, Rondo signed a one-year, $9 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, who expected him to mentor and compete with second-year point guard Lonzo Ball. In his debut for the Lakers in their season opener on October 18, Rondo recorded 13 points and 11 assists in a 128–119 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Two days later, in a game against the Houston Rockets, Rondo and Chris Paul got into a fist fight over a shove by Brandon Ingram delivered to James Harden. The conflict, worsened due to Paul's claim that Rondo spat on him, resulted in Rondo receiving a three-game suspension. After breaking his right hand in a 126–117 win over the Trail Blazers on November 14, Rondo was ruled out for four to five weeks. In his return game on December 21 after missing 17 games, Rondo had eight points and nine assists off the bench in a 112–104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. On December 25 against the Golden State Warriors, after just three games back from his hand injury, Rondo suffered a sprain to his right ring finger. He underwent surgery three days later and was subsequently ruled out for an estimated four to five weeks. He returned to action on January 24, 2019, after missing 14 games, recording 15 points, 13 assists and six rebounds in a 120–105 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. On February 7, he hit a 20-foot jumper as time expired in Boston to lift the Lakers to a 129–128 win over the Celtics, as he finished with 17 points and 10 assists. It was his first career go-ahead field goal in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. On March 4, Rondo moved to 11th place in triple-doubles in NBA history, while also becoming the second player (the other being Mark Jackson) to record a triple-double with five different teams, when he recorded his 32nd triple-double with a season-high 24 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists as the Lakers lost 113–105 to the Clippers. On March 29, he had 17 assists and five steals in a 123–115 win over the Charlotte Hornets, becoming the first Lakers' player with at least 17 assists and five steals since Magic Johnson in December 1989.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: 2020 NBA Finals series win, his first in 12 years and becoming the second player in NBA history, after Clyde Lovellette, to win a championship with both the Boston Celtics and the Lakers, with Rondo being the first to win with Los Angeles as Lovellette won with Minneapolis Lakers. Rondo's 105 assists in the 2020 NBA playoffs are the most by a bench player in a single postseason since the 1971 playoffs, surpassing Manu Ginóbili's 95 assists in 2014.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On November 23, 2020, Rondo signed a multi-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks. On December 28, 2020, Rondo made his Hawks debut, putting up 12 points and eight assists in a 128–120 win against the Detroit Pistons.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On March 25, 2021, Rondo was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Lou Williams, two second-round draft picks and cash considerations. On April 4, he made his debut in a 104–86 win over his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, and recorded two points and three assists in 13 minutes. On April 8, he recorded 15 points and nine assists, both season highs, off the bench in a 113–103 win over the Phoenix Suns.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On August 16, 2021, Rondo was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, alongside Daniel Oturu, Patrick Beverley and a second-round draft pick, for Eric Bledsoe. Twelve days later, he agreed to a buyout and was waived.


title: Rajon Rondo

text: On January 3, 2022, the Lakers traded Rondo to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team deal that also included the New York Knicks.


title: Lena Horne

text: Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne advocated for human rights and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963. Later she returned to her roots as a nightclub performer and continued to work on television while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, "", which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, retreating from the public eye in 2000.


title: Lena Horne

text: Lena Horne was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Both sides of her family were African American. She belonged to the well-educated, upper stratum of black New Yorkers at the time. She was reportedly descended from the John C. Calhoun family; his nephew, Dr Andrew Bonaparte Calhoun, "owned the slaves whose descendants include... Horne".


title: Lena Horne

text: Her father, Edwin Fletcher "Teddy" Horne Jr. (1893–1970), at one-time owner of a hotel and restaurant, was a gambler—he and "his partner, the gambler and philanthropist Gus Greenlee, owned the Belmont Hotel on Wylie Avenue and ran the numbers racket in the Hill" – who left the family when Lena was three years old and moved to an upper-middle-class African-American community in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Lena came to live with him aged 18 until her marriage the next year. Her mother, Edna Louise Scottron, was an actress with a black theatre and traveled extensively. Edna's maternal grandmother, Amelie Louise Ashton, was from modern Senegal. Horne was raised mainly by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne.


title: Lena Horne

text: When Horne was five, she was sent to live in Georgia. For several years, she traveled with her mother. From 1927 to 1929, she lived with her uncle, Frank S. Horne. He was the Dean of students at Fort Valley Junior Industrial Institute (now part of Fort Valley State University) in Fort Valley, Georgia, who later served as an adviser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From Fort Valley, southwest of Macon, Horne briefly moved to Atlanta with her mother; they returned to New York when Horne was twelve years old, after which Horne attended St Peter Claver School in Brooklyn.


title: Lena Horne

text: She then attended Girls High School, an all-girls public high school in Brooklyn that has since become Boys and Girls High School; she dropped out without earning a diploma. At the age of 18, she moved to her father's home in Pittsburgh, staying in the city's Little Harlem for almost five years and learning music from native Pittsburghers Billy Strayhorn and Billy Eckstine, among others.


title: Lena Horne

text: In the fall of 1933, Horne joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall, who took Lena under her wing. Horne made her first screen appearance as a dancer in the musical short "Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" (1935). A few years later, Horne joined Noble Sissle's Orchestra, with which she toured and with whom she made her first records, issued by Decca. After she separated from her first husband, Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet in 1940–41, but disliked the travel and left the band to work at the Cafe Society in New York. She replaced Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBC's popular jazz series "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street". The show's resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor. Horne left the show after only six months when she was hired by former Cafe Trocadero (Los Angeles) manager Felix Young to perform in a Cotton Club-style revue on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne already had two low-budget movies to her credit: a musical feature called "The Duke is Tops" (1938, later reissued with Horne's name above the title as "The Bronze Venus"); and a two-reel short subject, "Boogie Woogie Dream" (1941), featuring pianists Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons. Horne's songs from "Boogie Woogie Dream" were later released individually as soundies. Horne made her Hollywood nightclub debut at Felix Young's Little Troc on the Sunset Strip in January 1942. A few weeks later, she was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In November 1944, she was featured in an episode of the popular radio series "Suspense", as a fictional nightclub singer, with a large speaking role along with her singing. In 1945 and 1946, she sang with Billy Eckstine's Orchestra.


title: Lena Horne

text: She made her debut at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in "Panama Hattie" (1942) and performed the title song of "Stormy Weather" (1943) based loosely on the life of Adelaide Hall, for 20th Century Fox, while on loan from MGM. She appeared in several MGM musicals, including "Cabin in the Sky" (1943) with an entirely African-American cast. She was otherwise not featured in a leading role because of her ethnicity and the fact that her films were required to be re-edited for showing in cities where theaters would not show films with black performers. As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline. One number from "Cabin in the Sky" was cut before release because it was considered too suggestive by the censors: Horne singing "Ain't It the Truth" while taking a bubble bath. This scene and song are featured in the film "That's Entertainment! III" (1994), which also featured commentary from Horne on why the scene was deleted prior to the film's release. Horne was the first African-American person elected to serve on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors.


title: Lena Horne

text: In "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946), she performed "Love" by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Horne lobbied for the role of Julie LaVerne in MGM's version of "Show Boat" (1951), having already played the role when a segment of "Show Boat" was performed in "Till the Clouds Roll By", but lost the part to Ava Gardner, a friend in real life. Horne claimed this was due to the Production Code's ban on interracial relationships in films, although MGM sources state she was never considered for the role. In the documentary "That's Entertainment! III," Horne stated that MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using Horne's recordings, which offended both actresses. Ultimately, Gardner's voice was overdubbed by actress Annette Warren (Smith) for the theatrical release.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne became disenchanted with Hollywood and increasingly focused on her nightclub career. She made only two major appearances for MGM during the 1950s: "Duchess of Idaho" (1950, which was also Eleanor Powell's final film); and the musical "Meet Me in Las Vegas" (1956). She said she was "tired of being typecast as a Negro who stands against a pillar singing a song. I did that 20 times too often." She was blacklisted during the 1950s for her affiliations in the 1940s with communist-backed groups. She would subsequently disavow communism. She returned to the screen, playing Claire Quintana, a madam in a brothel who marries Richard Widmark, in the film "Death of a Gunfighter" (1969), her first straight dramatic role with no reference to her color. She later appeared on screen two more times as Glinda in "The Wiz" (1978), which was directed by her then son-in-law Sidney Lumet, and co-hosting the MGM retrospective "That's Entertainment! III" (1994), in which she related her unkind treatment by the studio.


title: Lena Horne

text: After leaving Hollywood, Horne established herself as one of the premier nightclub performers of the post-war era. She headlined at clubs and hotels throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In 1957, a live album entitled, "Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria," became the biggest-selling record by a female artist in the history of the RCA Victor label at that time. In 1958, Horne became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Musical", for her part in the "Calypso" musical "Jamaica" (which, at Horne's request featured her longtime friend Adelaide Hall).


title: Lena Horne

text: From the late 1950s through to the 1960s, Horne was a staple of TV variety shows, appearing multiple times on Perry Como's "Kraft Music Hall", "The Ed Sullivan Show", "The Dean Martin Show", and "The Bell Telephone Hour". Other programs she appeared on included "The Judy Garland Show", "The Hollywood Palace", and "The Andy Williams Show". Besides two television specials for the BBC (later syndicated in the U.S.), Horne starred in her own U.S. television special in 1969, "Monsanto Night Presents Lena Horne". During this decade, the artist Pete Hawley painted her portrait for RCA Victor, capturing the mood of her performance style.


title: Lena Horne

text: In 1970, she co-starred with Harry Belafonte in the hour-long "Harry & Lena" special for ABC; in 1973, she co-starred with Tony Bennett in "Tony and Lena". Horne and Bennett subsequently toured the U.S. and U.K. in a show together. In the 1976 program "America Salutes Richard Rodgers", she sang a lengthy medley of Rodgers songs with Peggy Lee and Vic Damone. Horne also made several appearances on "The Flip Wilson Show". Additionally, Horne played herself on television programs such as "The Muppet Show", "Sesame Street", and "Sanford and Son" in the 1970s, as well as a 1985 performance on "The Cosby Show" and a 1993 appearance on "A Different World". In the summer of 1980, Horne, 63 years old and intent on retiring from show business, embarked on a two-month series of benefit concerts sponsored by the sorority Delta Sigma Theta. These concerts were represented as Horne's farewell tour, yet her retirement lasted less than a year.


title: Lena Horne

text: On April 13, 1980, Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, and host Gene Kelly were all scheduled to appear at a Gala performance at the Metropolitan Opera House to salute the NY City Center's Joffrey Ballet Company. However, Pavarotti's plane was diverted over the Atlantic and he was unable to appear. James Nederlander was an invited Honored Guest and observed that only three people at the sold-out Metropolitan Opera House asked for their money back. He asked to be introduced to Horne following her performance. In May 1981, The Nederlander Organization, Michael Frazier, and Fred Walker went on to book Horne for a four-week engagement at the newly named Nederlander Theatre on West 41st Street in New York City. The show was an instant success and was extended to a full year run, garnering Horne a special Tony award, and two Grammy Awards for the cast recording of her show "". The 333-performance Broadway run closed on Horne's 65th birthday, June 30, 1982. Later that same week, she performed the entire show again to record it for television broadcast and home video release. Horne began a tour a few days later at Tanglewood (Massachusetts) during the weekend of July 4, 1982. "The Lady and Her Music" toured 41 cities in the U.S. and Canada until June 17, 1984. It played in London for a month in August and ended its run in Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1984. In 1981, she received a Special Tony Award for the show, which also played to acclaim at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1984. Despite the show's considerable success (Horne still holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history), she did not capitalize on the renewed interest in her career by undertaking many new musical projects. A proposed 1983 joint recording project between Horne and Frank Sinatra (to be produced by Quincy Jones) was ultimately abandoned, and her sole studio recording of the decade was 1988's "The Men in My Life", featuring duets with Sammy Davis Jr. and Joe Williams. In 1989, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Lena Horne

text: In 1995, a "live" album capturing Horne's Supper Club performance was released (subsequently winning a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album). In 1998, Horne released another studio album, entitled "Being Myself". Thereafter, Horne retired from performing and largely retreated from public view, though she did return to the recording studio in 2000 to contribute vocal tracks on Simon Rattle's "Classic Ellington" album.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne was long involved with the Civil Rights Movement. In 1941, she sang at Café Society, New York City's first integrated venue, and worked with Paul Robeson. During World War II, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of Black servicemen", according to her Kennedy Center biography. Because the U.S. Army refused to allow integrated audiences, she staged her show for a mixed audience of black U.S. soldiers and white German POWs. Seeing the black soldiers had been forced to sit in the back seats, she walked off the stage to the first row where the black troops were seated and performed with the Germans behind her. However, the USO observed at the time of her death that Horne did in fact tour "extensively with the USO during WWII on the West Coast and in the South". The organization also commemorated her for the appearances she made on Armed Forces Radio Service programs "Jubilee", "G.I. Journal", and "Command Performances". In the film "Stormy Weather" (1943), Horne's character would perform the film's title song as part of a big, all-star show for World War II soldiers as well. After quitting the USO in 1945, Horne financed tours of military camps herself.


title: Lena Horne

text: She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, the weekend before Evers was assassinated. She was at the March on Washington and spoke and performed on behalf of the NAACP, S.N.C.C., and the National Council of Negro Women. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt in attempts to pass anti-lynching laws. Tom Lehrer mentions her in his song "National Brotherhood Week" in the line "Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek" referring (wryly) to her and to Sheriff Jim Clark, of Selma, Alabama, who was responsible for a violent attack on civil rights marchers in 1965. In 1983, the NAACP awarded her the Spingarn Medal.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne was a registered Democrat and on November 20, 1963, she, along with Democratic National Committee (D.N.C.) Chairman John Bailey, Carol Lawrence, Richard Adler, Sidney Salomon, Vice-Chairwoman of the DNC Margaret B. Price, and Secretary of the DNC Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush, visited John F. Kennedy at The White House, two days prior to his assassination.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne married Louis Jordan Jones, a political operative, in January 1937 in Pittsburgh. On December 21, 1937, their daughter, Gail (later known as Gail Lumet Buckley, a writer) was born. They had a son, Edwin Jones (1940–1970) who died of kidney disease. Horne and Jones separated in 1940 and divorced in 1944. Horne's second marriage was to Lennie Hayton, who was music director and one of the premier musical conductors and arrangers at MGM, in December 1947 in Paris. They separated in the early 1960s, but never divorced. He died in 1971. In her as-told-to autobiography "Lena" by Richard Schickel, Horne recounts the enormous pressures she and her husband faced as an interracial couple. She later admitted in an interview in "Ebony" (May 1980) that she had married Hayton to advance her career and cross the color barrier in show business, but "learned to love him very much".


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne had affairs with long-time heavyweight champion Joe Louis and actors Artie Shaw, Orson Welles, as well as director Vincente Minnelli.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne also had a long and close relationship with Billy Strayhorn, whom she said she would have married if he had been heterosexual. He was also an important professional mentor to her. Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, known for her award-winning screenplay "Rachel Getting Married", is Horne's granddaughter, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet and Horne's daughter Gail. Her other grandchildren include Gail's other daughter, Amy Lumet, and her son's four children, Thomas, William, Samadhi, and Lena. Her great-grandchildren include Jake Cannavale.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne was Catholic. From 1946 to 1962, she resided in St. Albans, Queens, New York, enclave of prosperous African Americans, where she counted among her neighbors Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and other jazz luminaries. In the 1980s, she moved into the fifth floor of the Volney, a hotel-turned-co-op, at 23 East 74th Street.


title: Lena Horne

text: Horne died of congestive heart failure on May 9, 2010. Her funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York, where she had been a member. Thousands gathered and attendees included: Leontyne Price, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minnelli, Jessye Norman, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams, Lauren Bacall, Robert Osborne, Audra McDonald, and Vanessa Williams. Her remains were cremated.


title: Lena Horne

text: In 2003, ABC announced that Janet Jackson would star as Horne in a television biographical film. In the weeks following Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" debacle during the 2004 Super Bowl, however, "Variety" reported that Horne had demanded Jackson be dropped from the project. "ABC executives resisted Horne's demand", according to the Associated Press report, "but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part." Oprah Winfrey stated to Alicia Keys during a 2005 interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that she might possibly consider producing the biopic herself, casting Keys as Horne.


title: Lena Horne

text: In January 2005, Blue Note Records, her label for more than a decade, announced that "the finishing touches have been put on a collection of rare and unreleased recordings by the legendary Horne made during her time on Blue Note." Remixed by her long-time producer Rodney Jones, the recordings featured Horne with a remarkably secure voice for a woman of her years, and include versions of such signature songs as "Something to Live For", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Stormy Weather". The album, originally titled "Soul" but renamed "Seasons of a Life", was released on January 24, 2006. In 2007, Horne was portrayed by Leslie Uggams as the older Lena and Nikki Crawford as the younger Lena in the stage musical "Stormy Weather" staged at the Pasadena Playhouse in California (January to March 2009). In 2011, Horne was also portrayed by actress Ryan Jillian in a one-woman show titled "Notes from A Horne" staged at the Susan Batson studio in New York City, from November 2011 to February 2012. The 83rd Academy Awards presented a tribute to Horne by actress Halle Berry at the ceremony held February 27, 2011.


title: Lena Horne

text: In 2018, a forever stamp depicting Horne began to be issued; this made Horne the 41st honoree in the Black Heritage stamp series.


title: Lena Horne

text: In June 2021, the Prospect Park bandshell in Brooklyn was renamed the Lena Horne Bandshell to honor Horne, a Bed-Stuy Brooklyn native, and to show solidarity with the black community.


title: Lena Horne

text: The Nederlander Organization announced in June 2022 that Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre would be renamed after her later that year. The theater's marquee was unveiled on November 1, 2022. The theatre is now called the Lena Horne Theatre, which means Horne is the first black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic "Dracula", Ygor in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. He had to suddenly emigrate to Germany after the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919 because of his former socialist activities (organizing a stage actors' union), leaving his first wife in the process. He acted in several films in Weimar Germany, before arriving in New Orleans as a seaman on a merchant ship, then making his way north to New York City and Ellis Island.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: In 1927, he starred as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, moving with the play to the West Coast in 1928 and settling down in Hollywood. He later starred in the 1931 film version of "Dracula" directed by Tod Browning and produced by Universal Pictures. Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in horror films, but his notoriety as "Dracula" and ominous thick Hungarian accent greatly limited the roles offered to him, and he unsuccessfully tried for years to avoid the typecasting.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: He co-starred in a number of films with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. To his frustration, Lugosi, a charter member of the American Screen Actors Guild, was increasingly restricted to mad scientist roles because of his inability to speak English more clearly. He was kept employed by the studios principally so that they could put his name on the posters. Among his teamings with Karloff, he performed major roles only in "The Black Cat" (1934), "The Raven" (1935), and "Son of Frankenstein" (1939); even in "The Raven", Karloff received top billing despite Lugosi performing the lead role.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to doctor-prescribed morphine and methadone. This drug dependence (and his gradually worsening alcoholism) was becoming apparent to producers, and after 1948's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", the offers dwindled to parts in low-budget films; some of these were directed by Ed Wood, including a brief (posthumous) appearance in Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1957).


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in 1882 in Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania) to Hungarian father István Blaskó, a baker who later became a banker, and Serbian-born mother Paula de Vojnich. He was raised in a Roman Catholic family.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school and left home to work at a succession of manual labor jobs. His father died during his absence. He began his stage acting career in 1902. His earliest known performances are from provincial theatres in the 1903–04 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. He took the last name "Lugosi" in 1903 to honor his birthplace, and went on to perform in Shakespeare plays. After moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theatre of Hungary between 1913 and 1919. Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theatre", many of his roles there were small or supporting parts, which led him to enter the Hungarian film industry.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: During World War I, he served as an infantryman in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. He was awarded the Wound Medal for wounds he sustained while serving on the Russian front. Returning to civilian life, Lugosi became an actor in Hungarian silent films, appearing in many of them under the stage name "Arisztid Olt".


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Due to his activism in the actors' union in Hungary during the revolution of 1919 and his active participation in the Hungarian Soviet Republic, he was forced to flee his homeland when the government changed hands, initially accompanied by his first wife Ilona Szmik. They escaped to Vienna before settling in Berlin (in the Langestrasse), where he began acting in German silent films. During these moves, Ilona lost her unborn child, after which she left Lugosi and returned home to her parents where she filed for divorce, and soon after remarried.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi eventually travelled to New Orleans, Louisiana in December, 1920 working as a crewman aboard a merchant ship, then made his way north to New York City, where he again took up acting in (and sometimes directing) stage plays in 1921-1922, then worked in the New York silent film industry from 1923 to 1926. In 1921, he met and married his second wife, Ilona von Montagh, a young Hungarian emigree and stage actress whom he had worked with years before in Europe. They only lived together for a few weeks, but their divorce took until October 1925 to be finalized.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: He later moved to California in 1928 to tour in the "Dracula" stage play, and his Hollywood film career took off. Lugosi claimed he performed the Dracula play around 1,000 times during his lifetime. He eventually became a U.S. citizen in 1931, soon after the release of his film version of "Dracula".


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 Hungarian silent film "Leoni Leo". When appearing in Hungarian silent films, he mostly used the stage name Arisztid Olt. Lugosi made at least 10 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable, some being imprisoned or executed in public. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actors' union. Exiled in Weimar-era Germany, he co-starred in at least 14 German silent films in 1920, among them "" (1920), "Der Januskopf" (1920) and an adaptation of the Karl May novel "Caravan of Death" (1920).


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, emigrating by ship to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. He made his way to New York and was inspected by immigration officers at Ellis Island in March 1921. He only declared his intention to become a US citizen in 1928; on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: On his arrival in America, the , Lugosi worked for some time as a laborer, and then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow expatriate Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. Lugosi acted in several Hungarian language plays before starring in his first English Broadway play, "The Red Poppy" in 1922. Three more parts came in 1925–26, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy "The Devil in the Cheese". In 1925, he played an Arab Sheik in "Arabesque" which premiered in Buffalo, New York at the Teck Theatre before moving to Broadway.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: His first American film role was in the silent melodrama "The Silent Command" (1923) which was filmed in New York. Four other silent roles followed, villains and continental types, all in productions made in the New York area. A rumor has circulated for decades among film historians that Lugosi played an uncredited bit part as a clown in the 1924 Lon Chaney Hollywood film "He Who Gets Slapped", but this has been heavily disputed. The rumor originated from the discovery of a publicity still from this film found posthumously in Lugosi's scrapbook, which showed an unidentified clown in heavy makeup standing near Lon Chaney in one scene. It was thought to be evidence that Lugosi appeared in the film, but historians all agree that is very unlikely, since Lugosi was in both Chicago (appearing in a play called "The Werewolf") and New York at the time that film was being made in Hollywood.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway theatre production of "Dracula", which had been adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. The Horace Liveright production was successful, running in New York City for 261 performances before touring the United States to much fanfare and critical acclaim throughout 1928 and 1929. In 1928, Lugosi decided to stay in California when the play ended its first West Coast run. His performance had piqued the interest of Fox Film, and he was cast in the Hollywood studio's silent film "The Veiled Woman" (1929). He also appeared in the film "Prisoners" (also 1929), believed lost, which was released in both a silent and partial talkie version.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: In 1929, with no other film roles in sight, he returned to the stage as Dracula for a short West Coast tour of the play. Lugosi remained in California where he resumed his film work under contract with Fox, appearing in early talkies often as a heavy or an "exotic sheik". He also continued to lobby for his prized role in the film version of "Dracula".


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not Universal Pictures' first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. Different prominent actors, such as Paul Muni, Chester Morris, Ian Keith, John Wray, Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur Edmund Carewe, William Courtenay, John Carradine, and Conrad Veidt were considered. Lew Ayres was eventually hired to play Dracula, only to be replaced by Robert Ames after being cast in a different role in a different Universal Pictures film. Ames was in turn replaced with David Manners, who would instead come to play John Harker. Lugosi had played the role on Broadway, and was considered before director Tod Browning cast him in the role. The film was a major hit, but Lugosi was paid a salary of only $3,500, since he had too eagerly accepted the role.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Through his association with "Dracula" (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in films such as "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932), "The Black Cat" (1934) and "The Raven" (1935) for Universal, and the independent "White Zombie" (1932). His accent, while a part of his image, limited the type of role he could play.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Grigori Rasputin in "Rasputin and the Empress" (also 1932); C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in "Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936), and Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in "Tovarich" (1937), a role Lugosi had played on stage. He played the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered General Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in "International House" (1933).


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal – "The Black Cat" (1934), "The Raven" (1935), "The Invisible Ray" (1936), "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), "Black Friday" (1940), plus minor cameo performances in "Gift of Gab" (1934) and two at RKO Pictures, "You'll Find Out" (1940) and "The Body Snatcher" (1945) – paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably received second billing, below Karloff. There are contradictory reports of Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to gain good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were – for a time, at least – amicable. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that the English Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi). Lugosi did get a few heroic leads, as in Universal's "The Black Cat" after Karloff had been accorded the more colorful role of the villain, "The Invisible Ray", and a romantic role in producer Sol Lesser's adventure serial "The Return of Chandu" (1934), but his typecasting problem appears to have been too entrenched to be alleviated by those films.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi addressed his plea to be cast in non-horror roles directly to casting directors through his listing in the 1937 "Players Directory", published by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in which he (or his agent) calls the idea that he is only fit for horror films "an error."


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Historian John McElwee reports, in his 2013 book "Showmen, Sell It Hot!", that Bela Lugosi's popularity received a much-needed boost in August 1938, when California theater owner Emil Umann revived "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" as a special double feature. The combination was so successful that Umann scheduled extra shows to accommodate the capacity crowds, and invited Lugosi to appear in person, which thrilled new audiences that had never seen Lugosi's classic performance. "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre," said Lugosi of exhibitor Umann. "I was dead, and he brought me back to life." Universal took notice of the tremendous business and launched its own national re-release of the same two horror favorites. The studio then rehired Lugosi to star in new films, fortunately just as Lugosi's fourth wife had given birth to a son.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Universal cast Lugosi in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), appearing in the character role of Ygor, a mad blacksmith with a broken neck, in heavy makeup and beard. Lugosi was third-billed with his name above the title alongside Basil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein's son and Boris Karloff reprising his role as Frankenstein's monster. Regarding "Son of Frankenstein", the film's director Rowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected ... when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison."


title: Bela Lugosi

text: The same year saw Lugosi making a rare appearance in an A-list motion picture: he was a stern Soviet commissar in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer romantic comedy "Ninotchka", starring Greta Garbo and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Lugosi was quite effective in this small but prestigious character part and he even received top billing among the film's supporting cast, all of whom had significantly larger roles. It might have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were mostly released by Monogram Pictures. At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi went to 20th Century-Fox for "The Gorilla" (1939), which had him playing straight man (a butler) to Patsy Kelly and the Ritz Brothers. When Lugosi's "Black Friday" premiered in 1940 on a double bill with the Vincent Price film "The House of the Seven Gables", Lugosi and Price both appeared in person at the Chicago theatre where it opened on Feb. 29, 1940 and remained for four performances.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Ostensibly aggravated by injuries received during his military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with benign pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. The growth of his dependence on opiates, particularly morphine and, after 1947 when it became available in America, methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of Lugosi's screen offers. He was finally cast in the role of Frankenstein's monster for Universal's "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" (1943). (At the end of the previous film in the series, "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942), Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney Jr. since Ygor's brain was now in the Monster's skull.) But at the last minute, Lugosi's heavily-accented dialogue was edited out after the film was completed, along with the idea of the Monster being blind, leaving his performance featuring groping, outstretched arms and moving lips seeming enigmatic (and funny) to audiences. Lugosi played Dracula for a second and final time on film in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948).


title: Bela Lugosi

text: "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" was Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. For the remainder of his life, he appeared – less and less frequently – in obscure, forgettable, low-budget B features. From 1947 to 1950, he performed in summer stock, often in productions of "Dracula" or "Arsenic and Old Lace", and during the rest of the year, made personal appearances in a touring "spook show", and on early commercial television.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: In September 1949, Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on "Texaco Star Theatre". Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. He also appeared on the anthology series "Suspense" on October 11, 1949, in a live adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado".


title: Bela Lugosi

text: In 1951, while in England to play a six-month tour of "Dracula", Lugosi co-starred in a lowbrow film comedy, "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" (also known as "Vampire Over London" and "My Son, the Vampire"), released the following year. Following his return to the United States, he was interviewed for television, and reflected wistfully on his typecasting in horror parts: "Now I am the boogie man". In the same interview he expressed a desire to play more comedy, as he had in the "Mother Riley" farce. Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (1952), starring nightclub comedians Duke Mitchell and Jerry Lewis look-alike Sammy Petrillo, whose act closely resembled that of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (Martin and Lewis), who promptly sued the duo.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Lugosi enjoyed a lively career on stage, with plenty of personal appearances. As film offers declined, he became more and more dependent on live venues to support his family. Lugosi took over the role of Jonathan Brewster from Boris Karloff for "Arsenic and Old Lace". Lugosi had also expressed interest in playing Elwood P. Dowd in "Harvey" to help himself professionally. He also made plenty of personal live appearances to promote his horror image or an accompanying film.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: The Vincent Price film "House of Wax" premiered in Los Angeles at the Paramount Theatre on April 16, 1953. The film played at midnight with a number of celebrities in the audience that night (Broderick Crawford, Gracie Allen, Eddie Cantor, Rock Hudson, Judy Garland, Shelley Winters, Ginger Rogers and others). Producer Alex Gordon, knowing Lugosi was in dire need of cash, arranged for the aging actor to stand outside the theater wearing a cape and dark glasses, holding a man costumed as a gorilla on a leash, later allowing himself to be photographed drinking a glass of milk at a Red Cross booth there. When Lugosi playfully attempted to bite the "nurse" in attendance there, she overreacted and spilled a glass of milk all over his shirt and cape. Lugosi was interviewed by a female reporter afterward, who messed up the interview by asking the prearranged questions out of order, thoroughly confusing the aging star. Embarrassed, Lugosi left without attending the screening.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in films when the ambitious but financially limited filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as an anonymous narrator in "Glen or Glenda" (1953) and a mad scientist in "Bride of the Monster" (1955). During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the film's premiere was arranged to raise money for Lugosi's hospital expenses (resulting in a paltry amount of money). According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he visited Lugosi at the hospital and gave him a $1,000 check. Sinatra would recall Lugosi's amazement at his visit, since the two men had never met before.


title: Bela Lugosi

text: During an impromptu interview upon his release from the treatment center in 1955, Lugosi stated that he was about to begin work on a new Ed Wood film called "The Ghoul Goes West". This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including "The Phantom Ghoul" and "Dr. Acula". With Lugosi in his Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no particular storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, at a suburban graveyard, and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. This footage ended up posthumously in Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1957), which was filmed in 1956 soon after Lugosi died. Wood hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. Mason was noticeably taller and thinner than Lugosi, and had the lower half of his face covered with his cape in every shot, as Lugosi sometimes did in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein".