Gregory Hines

At 57 years old, Gregory Hines has this physical status:

Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, singer, and choreographer.

Early life

Hines was born in New York City on February 14, 1946 to Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines, a dancer, musician, and actor, and grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem. He began tap dancing when he was two years old, and began dancing semi-professionally at age five. After that, he and his older brother Maurice performed together, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang.

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.

Personal life

Hines's marriages to Patricia Panella and Pamela Koslow ended in divorce. He had two children, a son named Zach and a daughter named Daria, as well as a stepdaughter named Jessica Koslow, and a grandson.

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Career

Hines was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike. His improvisation was similar to that of a drummer, playing solo and finding rhythms. He also improved the phrasing of a number of tap steps, mainly based on sound produced. He wore loose fitting pants and a tighter jacket when performing lay back dancers.

Although he inherited the roots and history of the black rhythmic tap, he also promoted the new black rhythmic tap. "He deliberately obliterated the tempo," tap historian Sally Sommer wrote, "throwing a cascade of taps like pebbles scattered across the floor." He was synchronized with the most recent free form experiments in jazz, new music, and postmodern dance at this time.

Hines began to campaign for tap in America throughout his career. In May 1989, he successfully advocated for the establishment of National Tap Dance Day in forty cities throughout the United States, as well as eight other countries. 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 previously known as the American Tap Dance Orchestra.

In 1989, he created and hosted "Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America," which featured various tap dancers, such as Savion Glover and Bunny Briggs.

Hines, a writer on Tap, was visiting his idol (and Tap co-star) Sammy Davis Jr., who was dying of throat cancer and was unable to talk in 1990. A emotional Hines narrated Davis's funeral to how Sammy made a gesture to him at Davis' funeral, "as if passing a basketball... and I caught it." Sammy said that Hines could move on from where he had left off. Hines recalled the honor.

He inspired tap dancers such as Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and Jane Goldberg through his teaching. In a 1988 interview with The New York Times, Hines said that everything he did was inspired by his dancing: "my singing, my playing, my lovemaking, and being a parent."

In 1954, Hines made his Broadway debut with his brother in The Girl in Pink Tights. Eubie received Tony Award nominations! (1979) Compin' Uptown (1980), Sophisticated Ladies (1981), and Jelly's Last Jam (1992) and Eubie's Drama Desk Award.

In 1975 and 1976, Hines appeared as the lead singer and guitarist in a rock band called Severance, based in Venice, Los Angeles. Severance was one of the house band at Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, also known as the 4H Club. In 1976, Severance Records (a Severance subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) released their self-titled debut album on Largo Records (a Severance subsidiary).

He sang "There's Nothing Better Than Love" in 1986, a Luther Vandross duet, which debuted on No. 1 in the U.S. On the Billboard R&B charts, at No. 1 position. Encouraged by his first appearance on the charts, Hines released his self-titled debut album on Epic in 1988, with heavy support for Vandross. "That Girl Wants to Dance with Me" by Vandross-penned, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1988.

Hines made his film debut in Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I in 1981, replacing Richard Pryor, who was originally cast in the role but sustained serious burns in a house fire just days before he was supposed to begin firing. After learning of Pryor's hospitalization, Madeline Kahn, who was also starring in the film, suggested to director Mel Brooks that he investigate Hines for the role. Later this year, he appeared in the horror film Wolfen.

In the mid-1980s, Hines' peak as an actor appeared. He was active in The Cotton Club (1984), where he and his brother Maurice (in Maurice's sole film role) starred in a 1930s tap-dancing pair reminiscent of the Nicholas Brothers. In the 1985 buddy cop film Running Scared, Hines co-starred with Mikhail Baryshnikov and co-starred Billy Crystal. Sammy Davis Jr. appeared in the 1989 film Tap opposite him (in Davis' last screen appearance). In The Preacher's Wife, he appeared alongside Whitney Houston and Loretta Devine in the highly acclaimed 1995 film Waiting to Exhale, as well as Houston, Denzel Washington, and Courtney B. Vance. He appeared in his own sitcom, The Gregory Hines Show, which aired on CBS for one season, and appeared in Will & Grace as Ben Doucette.

"History has often searched for roles written for white actors," Hines said in an interview in 1987. "Preferring their greater presence and dynamics." For example, he liked that his character had sex scenes because "usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all."

In the 1998 film The Tic Code, Hines appeared. In the Nick Jr. animated children's film Little Bill, which ran from 1999 to 2004, he appeared as Big Bill. In 2003, he received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Program.

In 1995 and 2002, Hines co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony.

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