Lena Horne claims they used her voice
25 years I seen her in show and she said they used her voice for Ava's part. She almost got the part, but wanted a "pure" to get it. This is what she said.
shareI believe she was up for the part, they gave it to Gardner is favor of a white because bi-racial relationships were illegal on film, and dubbed her voice over Gradner's. At the last minute they dubbed another persons voice. She talks about it in "Thats Entertainment! Part III."
Dazed and Confusedshare
The most credible story in circulation is that Ms. Gardner was given Ms. Horne's recordings (from TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY) for "coaching" purposes- pronunciation, lip sync techniques, etc. until the orchestra tracks for SHOW BOAT had been laid down. I don't think Ms. Horne was ever in the running for the part, despite her delusions to the contrary. The one thing Julie HAS to do in the story is pass for white. No amount of makeup could achieve that. On stage, perhaps. On the big screen, never.
shareFrom the trivia section....
"The original choice for the role of Julie was Judy Garland, but she had since ended her contract with MGM, the idea of casting Garland was dropped. Both Lena Horne and Dinah Shore were next in line until the role finally went to Ava Gardner."
I don't know where this story started, but it is well known that Julies singing was done by "Annette Warren". It is how ever true that it was not done till the last minute. So much so that Ava's own recordings were on the soundtrack album, and it is also true that Lena Hornes recordings were used for her to practice with.
shareDelusional is a pretty harsh and disrespectful term to refer to Lena Horne. You yourself used the term " I think" which proves that you are assuming things.
NONE of us were there so we can't jump to conclusions. It was a FACT that in person and on-screen, Ms. Horne filmed "White" and thus she was darkened using her Custom Max Factor Dark Egyptian.
She performed for many years in what was essentially Black Face.