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Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated of all time. As an actor, he is best known for Wolfen (1981), The Cotton Club (1984), White Nights (1985), Running Scared (1986), A Rage in Harlem (1991), The Gregory Hines Show (1997–1998), playing Ben on Will & Grace (1999–2000), and for voicing Big Bill on the Nick Jr. animated children's television program Little Bill (1999–2004).
Hines starred in more than 40 films and also appeared on Broadway theatre. He received many accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
Gregory and Maurice also studied with veteran tap dancers such as Howard Sims and The Nicholas Brothers when they performed at the same venues. The brothers were known as The Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances at venues in Miami, Florida, with Cab Calloway. They were later known as The Hines Brothers.
When their father joined the act as a drummer, their name changed again in 1963 to Hines, Hines, and Dad.
Although he inherited the roots of traditional black rhythmic tap, he also promoted contemporary black rhythmic tap. "He purposely obliterated the tempos," wrote tap historian Sally Sommer, "throwing down a cascade of taps like pebbles tossed across the floor. In that moment, he aligned tap with the latest free-form experiments in jazz and new music and postmodern dance."
Throughout his career, Hines wanted and continued to be an advocate for tap in America. He successfully petitioned the creation of National Tap Dance Day in May 1989, which is now celebrated in forty cities in the United States, as well as eight other nations. He was on the board of directors of Manhattan Tap, a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and a member of the American Tap Dance Foundation, which was formerly called the American Tap Dance Orchestra.
In 1989, he created and hosted a PBS special called Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America, which featured various tap dancers such as Savion Glover and Bunny Briggs.
In 1990, Hines visited his idol (and Tap co-star) Sammy Davis Jr., who was dying of throat cancer and was unable to speak. After Davis died, an emotional Hines spoke at Davis' funeral of how Davis made a gesture to him, "as if passing a basketball ... and I caught it." Hines spoke of how honored he had been that Davis thought that he could carry on from where Davis left off.
Through his teaching, he influenced tap dancers such as Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and Jane Goldberg. In an interview with The New York Times in 1988, Hines said that everything he did was influenced by his dancing: "my singing, my acting, my lovemaking, my being a parent."
In 1986, he sang a duet with Luther Vandross called "There's Nothing Better Than Love", which reached the No. 1 position on the Billboard R&B charts. Encouraged by his first success on the chart, Hines subsequently released his self-titled debut album on Epic in 1988 with much support from Vandross. This album produced a Vandross-penned single "That Girl Wants to Dance with Me", which peaked at #6 on the R&B charts in June 1988. Gregory Hines songs Top Songs/Chart Singles Discography @musicvf.com Retrieved 15 December 2023.
Hines' peak as an actor came in the mid-1980s. He had a large role in The Cotton Club (1984), where he and his brother Maurice (in his sole film credit) played a 1930s tap-dancing duo reminiscent of the Nicholas Brothers. Hines co-starred with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film White Nights, and co-starred with Billy Crystal in the 1986 buddy cop film Running Scared. He starred in the 1989 film Tap opposite Sammy Davis Jr. (in Davis' last screen performance). He appeared alongside Whitney Houston and Loretta Devine in the highly successful 1995 film Waiting to Exhale and opposite Houston, Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance the following year in The Preacher's Wife. On television, he starred in his own sitcom in 1997, The Gregory Hines Show, which ran for one season on CBS, and had a recurring role of Ben Doucette on Will & Grace.
In an interview in 1987, Hines said that he often looked for roles written for white actors, "preferring their greater scope and dynamics." Of his role in Running Scared, for example, he said that he enjoyed that his character had sex scenes, because "usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all."
Hines starred in the 1998 film The Tic Code. He voiced Big Bill in the Nick Jr. Channel's animated children series Little Bill, which ran from 1999 to 2004. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for the role in 2003.
His funeral was held at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California. He was buried at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario.
Stage acting
Hines made his Broadway theatre debut with his brother in The Girl in Pink Tights in 1954. He earned Tony Award nominations for Eubie! (1979), Comin' Uptown (1980), and Sophisticated Ladies (1981), and won the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Jelly's Last Jam (1992) and the Theatre World Award for Eubie!.
Music
Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called Severance based in Venice, Los Angeles in 1975 and 1976. Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H Club. Severance released their self-titled debut album on Largo Records (a subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) in 1976.
Film and television
In 1981, Hines made his movie debut in Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part I, replacing Richard Pryor, who was originally cast in the role but sustained severe burns just days before he was due to begin shooting. Madeline Kahn, also starring in the film, suggested to director Mel Brooks that he look into Hines for the role after they learned of Pryor's hospitalization. He also appeared in the horror film Wolfen later that year.
Other
Hines co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony in 1995 and 2002.
Personal life
Hines' marriages to Patricia Panella and Pamela Koslow ended in divorce. He had a daughter, Daria, with Panella, and a son, Zachary with Koslow. For the last three years of his life, he was engaged to bodybuilder Negrita Jayde, who was based in Toronto.
Death
Hines died of liver cancer on August 9, 2003, en route to a hospital from his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with the disease a year earlier, but informed only his closest friends. At the time of his death, production of the television show Little Bill was ending. He was survived by his fiancée Jayde, children Daria and Zachary, stepdaughter Jessica, and grandson Lucian.
Legacy
On January 28, 2019, the United States Postal Service honored Hines with a postage stamp as part of its Black Heritage Series. It was issued with a ceremony at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts.
Awards and nominations
Emmy Awards
1982 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Individual Achievement - Special Class I Love Liberty 1985 Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Motown Returns to the Apollo 1989 Tap Dance in America 2001 Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie Bojangles 2003 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program Little Bill Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special The Red Sneakers Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special
NAACP Image Awards
1986 Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Running Scared 1988 Off Limits 1989 Tap 1996 Waiting to Exhale 1998 Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series The Gregory Hines Show 2002 Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Bojangles
Tony Awards
1979 Best Featured Actor in a Musical Eubie! 1980 Best Actor in a Musical Comin' Uptown 1981 Sophisticated Ladies 1992 Jelly's Last Jam Best Choreography
Miscellaneous awards and honors
1989 Theatre World Award Eubie! 1992 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Jelly's Last Jam Outstanding Choreography 1998 Flo-Bert Award Lifetime Achievement Award Himself American Comedy Awards Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series Will & Grace 2000 Online Film & Television Association Award Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series 2002 Black Reel Awards Outstanding Actor, TV Movie or Limited Series Bojangles Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Filmography
See also
External links
Categories: 1946 Births, 2003 Deaths, 20th-century African-american Educators, 20th-century American Educators, 20th-century American Male Actors, 20th-century American Singers, People From Harlem, African-american Choreographers, African-american Male Child Actors, 20th-century African-american Male Actors, African-american Male Dancers, African-american Male Singers, American Choreographers, American Male Child Actors, American Male Dancers, American Male Film Actors, American Male Musical Theatre Actors, American Male Singers, American Male Stage Actors, American Male Television Actors, American Tap Dancers, American Dance Teachers, Daytime Emmy Award Winners, Deaths From Liver Cancer In California, Drama Desk Award Winners, Educators From New York City, Male Actors From Manhattan, Musical Theatre Choreographers, Musicians From Manhattan, Singers From New York City, Theatre World Award Winners, Tony Award Winners
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