Acting
Hazel Scott
Born 1920-06-11 · Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
Hazel Dorothy Scott was a Trinidad-born jazz and classical pianist, singer, actress, television pioneer, and civil rights advocate. Born on June 11, 1920, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, she moved to Harlem, New York, as a child and became a celebrated prodigy, studying piano at Juilliard at an unusually young age. Known for her dazzling ability to “swing the classics,” Scott blended classical technique with jazz improvisation and rose to fame at New York’s Café Society. In Hollywood, Scott refused degrading roles and insisted on appearing as herself, using her public image to challenge racist portrayals of Black women. She also refused to perform before segregated audiences and used contract clauses to force venues toward integration. In 1950, she made television history as the first African American to host her own TV show, The Hazel Scott Show. Her career was damaged by Red Scare blacklisting after she challenged accusations before HUAC. Scott later lived and performed in Paris before returning to the United States. She died in Manhattan on October 2, 1981. Her legacy endures as a pioneering artist who fused virtuosity, representation, and activism.
Acting credits
6.2Vallois, a vice inspector for the Paris police, takes special interest in the plight of drug-addicted Lucky (Najda Tiller), whom he considers to be more victim than criminal. Taking it upon himself to wean Lucky away from narcotics, Vallois also wins her love -- and, incidentally, smashes the dope ring responsible for her addiction.
The Night Affair
1958
8.3A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles on radio, television, and stage. It begins in Harlem, measures the impact of Paul Robeson and the campaign to bring him down, looks at the role of HUAC, J. Edgar Hoover and of journalists such as Ed Sullivan, and ends with a tribute to Canada Lee. Throughout are interviews with men and women who were there, including Dick Campbell of the Rose McLendon Players and Fredrick O'Neal of the American Negro Theatre. In the 1940s and 1950s, anti-Communism was one more tool to maintain Jim Crow and to keep down African-Americans.
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist
1998
5.1Constance Shaw, a Broadway dance star, and Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a keen fan of hers, marry after she breaks up with her fiancé. Connie thinks Joseph owns a gold mine, but he actually works as a presser at a hotel valet shop. When everyone learns what he really is, Joseph is banned from the theater. When he sneaks in again, he learns of a plot to set off a bomb in the adjoining munitions warehouse.
I Dood It
1943
5.0A slice-of-life drama involving a young lawyer, his adoring secretary who tries to help to advance his career, and his employer, a famed lawyer burdened with an unfaithful wife.
Trial Run
1969
6.6Fictionalized biography of George Gershwin and his fight to bring serious music to Broadway.
Rhapsody in Blue
1945
4.8Temperamental stage diva Fay Lawrence is reluctantly persuaded by a Broadway producer to star in his latest production.
The Heat's On
1943
6.3Broadway producer Johnny Demming is only interested in big-name talent and scoffs that his sister, father and other small-time talent could be used in a successful show.
Broadway Rhythm
1944
5.4Back from Indochina, Tony and Dick, two French soldiers, are now in possession of more than 20 million, entrusted by a trafficker. They buy a nightclub in the district of Montparnasse but are soon hunted by the thug who wants to recover his money.
A Bullet in the Gun Barrel
1958
6.5A press agent, a composer and a landlord of a theatrical boardinghouse revive vaudeville on Broadway.
Something to Shout About
1943
1.0The Disappearance of Miss Scott chronicles Hazel Scott’s meteoric rise as a jazz talent and major Hollywood star before being blacklisted during the Red Scare.
The Disappearance of Miss Scott
2025