Summary

Gregory Oliver Hines (New York, February 14, 1946-Los Angeles, August 9, 2003) was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.

Beginnings

Hines and his older brother Maurice began dancing as children. They studied with choreographer Henry LeTang. Together with their father, the three were known as "The Hines Kids" and later as "The Hines Brothers". In 1963 they changed their name again: "Hines, Hines and Dad".

Career

In 1975 and 1976, Hines sang and played in a rock band called Severance in Venice, California. Severance was one of the stable bands of an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout (also known as 4H Club). In 1986, he sang a duet with Luther Vandross, entitled There's Nothing Better Than Love, which reached #1 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Hines appeared in films such as The Cotton Club, White Nights, Running Scared, Tap and Waiting to Exhale. On television, he starred in his own series in 1997, called The Gregory Hines Show. He also appeared in a recurring role on Will & Grace as Ben Doucette.

Hines made her Broadway debut with her brother in The Girl in Pink Tights in 1954. He earned Tony Award nominations for Eubie! (1979), Comin' Uptown (1980) and Sophisticated Ladies (1981). He won the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for. Jelly's Last Jam (1992) and won the Theatre World Award for Eubie!

He co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony in 1995 and 2002.

In 1990, Hines visited his idol, Sammy Davis, Jr. who was dying of throat cancer. After Davis's death, Hines recounted at the funeral that Davis, unable to speak, had gestured to him to pass him a ball "like he was throwing me a basketball...and I made the gesture of catching it." Hines referred to how honored he was that Davis believed Hines could carry on the show when Davis was gone.

Hines passed away from liver cancer in Los Angeles. At the time he was engaged to Negrita Jayde.

He is buried in Saint Volodymyr's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario.

Sources

1. Gregory Hines
2. Gregory Hines
3. ^ a b "Gregory Hines, obituary". The Telegraph. August 12, 2003. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
4. ^ Wadler, Joyce (February 24, 1985). "Hines on Tap". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
5. Billboard.com (historial de Luther Vandross).
6. Chartquellen: UK US
7. Gregory Hines // Encyclopædia Britannica (англ.)
8. Gregory Hines // Internet Broadway Database (англ.) — 2000.