ABC-TV will present a new television movie based on the life of Lena Horne next year.
The New York Post reports that Grammy Award winner Janet Jackson will portray the legendary star of stage and screen in the new biopic. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron — of “Chicago” film fame — will produce the movie, which will feature Jackson singing the tunes Horne made famous.
The telefilm will be based on “Lena,” the autobiography written by Horne with contributions by Time Magazine’s Richard Shickel.
Lena Horne made her Broadway debut in the 1934 play Dance With Your Gods. She also starred in the original musical revue Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939 and the musical Jamaica; she was nominated for a Tony Award for her work in the latter. In 1981 she returned to Broadway with Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, winning a Special Tony Award for her performance. Horne’s many screen credits include “Panama Hattie,” “Cabin in the Sky,” “Stormy Weather,” “Broadway Rhythm,” “Till the Clouds Roll By” and “The Wiz.” [story]