Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer, comedian and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in the all-Black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool Special Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952.

In 1976, she became the first African American to receive the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

Bailey made her stage-singing debut at the age of 15. Her brother Bill Bailey was beginning his own career as a tap dancer and suggested that she enter an amateur contest at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia. Bailey won and was offered $35 a week to perform there for two weeks. However, the theater closed during her engagement and she was not paid. She later won a similar competition at Harlem's famous Apollo Theater and decided to pursue a career in entertainment. She was also known to have performed in the church choir at St Peter Claver Catholic Church in Brooklyn, at the behest of Msgr Bernard J. Quinn.

Career

thumb|upright|left|Pearl Bailey, 1960

Bailey began by singing and dancing in Philadelphia's Black nightclubs in the 1930s, and soon started performing in other parts of the East Coast. In 1941, during World War II, Bailey toured the country with the USO, performing for American troops. After the tour, she settled in New York. Her solo successes as a nightclub performer were followed by acts with entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. In 1946, Bailey made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman.

Following her 1971 television series, she provided voices for animations such as Tubby the Tuba (1976) and Disney's The Fox and the Hound (1981). She returned to Broadway in 1975, playing the lead in an all-Black production of Hello, Dolly!. In October 1975, she was invited by Betty Ford to sing for Egyptian president Anwar Sadat at a White House state dinner as part of Mideast peace initiative.

She earned a degree in theology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1985 at age 67. It took her seven years to earn her degree. Westinghouse and Paramount Chicken.

In her later years, Bailey wrote several books: The Raw Pearl (1968), Talking to Myself (1971), Pearl's Kitchen (1973) and Hurry Up America and Spit (1976). In 1975, she was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford, a position she held under three presidents. In 1976, she won the Coretta Scott King Award for her children's book Duey's Tale. Her last book, Between You and Me (1989), details her experiences with higher education. On January 19, 1985, she appeared on a nationally televised broadcast gala the night before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. In 1988, Bailey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan.

Personal life

Bailey went through a number of failed marriages in her earlier adult years. She married John Randolph Pinkett, either her third or fourth husband, when she was 30 years old, and divorced him four years later, accusing him of physical abuse.

On November 19, 1952, Bailey married jazz drummer Louie Bellson in London. They remained married until her death nearly 38 years later in 1990. Bellson was six years Bailey's junior and white. Interracial couples were rare at that time, and Bellson's father was reportedly opposed to the marriage because of Bailey's race. was born April 20, 1960. Tony Bellson died in 2004. Dee Dee Bellson died on July 4, 2009, at the age of 49, five months after her father, who died on February 14.

Bailey, a Republican, was appointed by President Richard Nixon as the nation's "Ambassador of Love" in 1970. She attended several meetings of the United Nations and later appeared in a campaign ad for President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.

She was awarded the Bronze Medallion in 1968, the highest award conferred upon civilians by New York City.

Bailey was a close friend of actress Joan Crawford. In 1969, Crawford and Bailey joined fellow friend Gypsy Rose Lee in accepting a USO award. That same year, Bailey was recognized as USO's woman of the year. Upon Crawford's death in May 1977, Bailey spoke of Crawford as her sister and sang a hymn at her funeral. American socialite Perle Mesta was another of Bailey's close friends. In the waning days of Mesta's life, Bailey visited Mesta frequently and sang hymns for her.

Death

Bailey died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on August 17, 1990. Bailey had suffered from heart problems for over thirty years.

Remembrances

The television show American Dad! features Pearl Bailey High School

.

The 1969 song "We Got More Soul" by Dyke and the Blazers includes Bailey in its roster of icons.

A dress owned by Bailey is at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

A library in her hometown of Newport News, Virginia, is named after her.

  • The Ed Sullivan Show (1968) – Guest Star
  • Mike and Pearl (1968) – Herself
  • Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey: On Broadway (1969) – Herself
  • The Pearl Bailey Show (1971) <br/>(midseason replacement series) – Herself – Host / Singer
  • The Carol Burnett Show (1972) – Guest Star
  • One More Time (1974), a CBS musical comedy special<br/>with Carol Channing, George Burns and others – Herself
  • The Love Boat (1977) – Millie Washington
  • All-Star Salute to Pearl Bailey (1979) – Herself
  • The Muppet Show (1979) – Herself
  • The Member of the Wedding (1982) – Bernice Sadie Brown
  • As the World Turns (cast member in 1982) – Herself
  • Peter Gunn (1989) (unsold pilot) – Mother (final television appearance)

thumb|upright|Pearl Bailey and [[Nanette Fabray in the Broadway musical Arms and the Girl (1950)]]

thumb|upright|[[Perry Como and Pearl Bailey (1971)]]

Theater

  • St. Louis Woman (1946) (Broadway)
  • Arms and the Girl (1950) (Broadway)
  • Bless You All (1950) (Broadway)
  • House of Flowers (1954) (Broadway)
  • Les Poupées de Paris (1962) (Off-Broadway) (voice only)
  • Call Me Madam (1966) (Melodyland Theater)
  • Hello, Dolly! (1967) <br/> (Broadway and US national tour)
  • Hello, Dolly! (1975) (Broadway)

Discography

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"|Year

! style="width:400px;" rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="4"|Chart positions

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:40px;"| "US Retail Sales"

! style="width:40px;"| "US Disc Jockey"

! style="width:40px;"| "US Juke Box"

! style="width:40px;"| US<br/>R&B

|-

| 1946

| style="text-align:left;"| "Fifteen Years (And I'm Still Serving Time)" <small>(with Mitchell Ayres)</small>

| –

| –

| –

| 4

|}

thumb|upright|With [[Carol Channing on a TV special One More Time (1974)]]

  • Pearl Bailey Entertains (1950) and 1953
  • Birth of the Blues (1952)
  • Cultured Pearl (1952)
  • I'm with You (1953)
  • Say Si Si (1953)
  • Around the World with Me (1954)
  • Carmelina (1955)
  • The Intoxicating Pearl Bailey (1956)
  • The One and Only Pearl Bailey Sings (1956)
  • Gems by Pearl Bailey (1958)
  • Porgy & Bess, original motion picture soundtrack (1959) (Grammy Award winner)
  • Pearl Bailey A-Broad (1959)
  • Pearl Bailey Sings for Adults Only (1959)
  • Pearl Bailey Plus Margie Anderson Singing the Blues (1960?)
  • More Songs for Adults Only (1960)
  • For Adult Listening (1960)
  • Naughty but Nice (1960)
  • Songs of the Bad Old Days (1960)
  • Pearl Bailey Sings the Songs of Harold Arlen (1961)
  • Come On, Let's Play with Pearlie Mae (1962)
  • Happy Sounds (1962)
  • All About Good Little Girls and Bad Little Boys (1963)
  • C'est La Vie (1963)
  • Les Poupées de Paris (1964)
  • Songs By James Van Heusen (1964)
  • The Risque World of Pearl Bailey (1964)
  • For Women Only (1965)
  • The Jazz Singer (1965)
  • Hello, Dolly! (1967 Broadway cast)
  • After Hours (1969)
  • Pearl's Pearls (1971)

Awards and honors

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Organization

!Category

!Work

!Result

!Ref.

|-

|1946

|Donaldson Awards

|Most Promising Newcomer

|St. Louis Woman

|

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1968

|March of Dimes

|Annual Award

|

|

|

|-

|New York City

|Bronze Medallion

|

|

|

|-

|Outer Critics Circle Awards

|Outstanding Performance

|Hello, Dolly!

|

|

|-

|1968

|Tony Awards

|Special Tony Award

|

|

|

|-

|1969

|United Service Organizations

|Woman of the Year

|

|

| rowspan="2" |

|-

|Screen Actors Guild

|Life Achievement Award

|

|

|

|-

|1989

|Women's International Center

|Living Legacy Award

|

|

|

|}

Bibliography

  • The Raw Pearl (1968) (autobiography)
  • Talking to Myself (1971) (autobiography)
  • Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook (1973)
  • Duey's Tale (1975) (Photos and Design by Arnold Skolnick)
  • Hurry Up America and Spit (1976)
  • Between You and Me: A Heartfelt Memoir on Learning, Loving, and Living (1989)

See also

  • It takes two to tango

References

  • Pearl Bailey Collection at the Library of Congress
  • Pearl Bailey papers from African American Museum in Philadelphia

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