Lady Sings the Blues overview

Lady Sings the Blues

Synopsis:

Diana Ross plays the magnificent, tragic song stylist Billie Holiday, who while writhing in a strait jacket in a prison cell, awaiting sentencing on drug charges, reflects on her turbulent life. Raped in her youth by a drunk (Adolph Caesar), then compelled to work as a domestic in a Harlem whorehouse, Holliday is encouraged to try for a singing career by the bordello's pianist (Richard Pryor). She rises as high as it is possible to go in the white-dominated show business world of the 1930s, but can't handle the pressure and turns to narcotics.


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Movie Details:

  • Director: Sidney J. Furie
  • Studio: Paramount
  • Year: 1972
  • Run Time: 144 minutes
  • Country: USA
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • Category: Feature
  • Genre/Type: Drama
  • Filmed in: Color