GREGORY HINES
Gregory Hines (14 February 1946-9 August 2003), jazz tap dancer, singer, actor,
musicians, and creator of improvised tap choreography, was born in New York City,
the son of Maurice Hines Sr. and Alma Hines. He began dancing at the age of not-quite-three,
turned professional at age five, and for fifteen years performed with his older
brother Maurice as The Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances across the
country. While Broadway teacher and choreographer Henry LeTang created the team's
first tap dance routines, the brothers' absorption of technique came from
watching and working with the great black tap masters whenever and wherever they
performed at the same theaters. They practically grew up backstage at the Apollo
Theatre, where they were witness to the performances and the advice of such tap
dance legends as Charles "Honi" Coles, Howard "Sandman" Sims, the Nicholas
Brothers, and Teddy Hale (Gregory's personal source of inspiration). Gregory and
Maurice then grew into the Hines Brothers. When Gregory was eighteen, he and
Maurice were joined by their father, Maurice Sr., on drums, becoming Hines,
Hines and Dad. They toured internationally and appeared frequently on The
Tonight Show, but the younger Hines was restless to get away from the non-stop
years on the road, so he left the group in his early twenties and "retired" (so
he said) to Venice, California. For a time he left dancing behind, exploring
alternatives that included his forming a jazz-rock band called Severence. He
released an album of original songs in 1973.
When Hines moved back to New York City in the late 1970s, he immediately landed
a role in The Last Minstrel Show. The show closed in Philadelphia, but launched
him back into the performing arts, and just a month later came Eubie (1978) a
certified Broadway hit, which earned him the first of four Tony nominations.
Comin' Uptown (1980), though not a success, led to another nomination and
Sophisticated Ladies (1981) to a third. In 1992, Hines received the Tony Award
for Best Actor in a Musical for his riveting portrayal of the jazz man Jelly
Roll Morton in George C. Wolfe's production of Jelly's Last Jam, sharing a Tony
nomination for choreography for that show with Hope Clark and Ted Levy.
Hines made his initial transition from dancer/singer to film actor in Mel Brooks'
hilarious The History of the World, Part I (1981), playing the role of a Roman
Slave, that in one scene sees him sand-dancing in the desert. He followed that
in quick succession with Wolfen, an allegorical mystery directed by Michael
Wadleigh that is now a cult hit; in it, Hines played the role of a coroner. In
1984, he starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film, The Cotton Club (1984). Vincent
Canby in The New York Times wrote about Hines' rare screen presence in the film:
"He doesn't sneak up on you. He's so laid back, so self assured and so graceful,
whether acting as an ambitious hoofer or tap dancing, alone or in tandem with
his brother, Maurice, that he forces YOU to sneak up on HIM. The vitality and
comic intelligence that have made him a New York favorite in Eubie and
Sophisticated Ladies translate easily to the screen." The film was a seamless
blend of dance into the framework of the narrative. The fierce virtuosity of
Hines' dancing is seen in the White Nights (1985), in which he played an
American defector to the Soviet Union opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov, playing
Russian defector to the United States. "I haven't had a terribly traumatic
experience as a black person in this world, but I've had experiences," Hines
told Michael J. Bandler about the film. "My nature is to let them go--I wasn't
going to be burdened with a negative attitude. So for White Nights I had to dig,
but the pain was there." In 1988, Hines starred in a film that combined his
penchant for both dance and drama, Tap. With full-scale production numbers
filmed on location in New York City and Hollywood, and with an original
soundtrack created especially for the look and style of the film, Tap became the
first dance musical to merge tap dancing with contemporary rock and funk musical
styles. It also featured a host of tap legends, including Sandman Sims, Bunny
Briggs, Steve Condos, Harold Nicholas and Hines' co-star and show business
mentor, Sammy Davis, Jr.
Hines' extensive and varied film resume includes teaming with Billy Crystal in
director Peter Hyam's hit comedy, Running Scared, and the next year with Willem
Dafoe, in Southeast Asia, in the military thriller Off Limits. He starred in
William Friedkin's dark comedy, Deal of the Century, with Sigourney Weaver and
Chevy Chase; Penny Marshall's military comedy, Renaissance Man, co-starring
Danny DeVito; The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston,
once again with director Penny Marshall; Waiting to Exhale, with Angela Bassett
and Whitney Houston for director Forest Whittaker, and Good Luck, with co-star
Vincent D'Onofrio. He also appeared in the offbeat ensemble comedy, Mad Dog Time,
with Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, and Richard Dreyfuss. In 1994,
Hines expanded his talents to include the role of film director. His directorial
debut was the independent feature, Bleedings Hearts, shot on location in New
York. A contemporary romantic drama, it explored the precarious relationship
between a thirty-year-old, white, male radical and a black, female high school
student.
Hines work in television is equally diverse. In 1989, he created and hosted
Gregory Hines Tap Dance in America, a PBS television special that featured
veteran tap dancers, established tap dance companies, and next generation of tap
dancers. The film was nominated for an Emmy award, as was his performance on
Motown Returns to the Apollo. On the USA Network, Hines starred with Annette O'Toole
in the critically acclaimed original film, White Lies, based on the novel
Louisiana Black by Samuel Charters. He also starred on TNT with Christopher
Lloyd in Lewis Teague's T-Bone and Weazel; with Sinbad, James Coburn and Burt
Reynolds in the comedy western, The Cherokee Kid; with Judd Hirsch and F. Murray
Abraham in Showtime's urban drama, The Color of Justice; on CBS-TV with Jean
Smart in the thriller, A Stranger in Town; on the USA Network in the
psychological thriller, Dead Air, and in Subway Series, the anthology-style film
series for HBO directed by Ted Demme. Hines made his television series debut in
1998, playing Ben Stevenson, a loving single father hesitantly re-entering the
dating world on CBS-TV series, The Gregory Hines Show. As Ben Doucette, he made
up part of the gifted ensemble that won NBC an Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series
in 2000 for Will and Grace. He also earned an Emmy Nomination as Outstanding
Lead in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal on Showtime of the legendary and
groundbreaking dancer/film star Bill Robinson in Bojangles, and also starred in
the ABC/Touchstone mid season television series, Lost At Home. For three years,
Hines was the voice of "Big Bill" on Bill Cosby's animated series for
Nickelodeon, Little Bill. He voiced and sang one of the key characters (alongside
Eartha Kitt, Patti LaBelle and Vanessa Williams) in the Fox TV/Coca Cola
animated musical special, Santa Baby. He made his television directorial debut
with The Red Sneakers, for Showtime, and also appeared in the film, which
centers on a 17 year-old high school student--more mathematician than athlete--who
becomes a basketball sensation through the gift of a magical pair of sneakers.
Throughout an amazingly varied career, Hines continued to be a tireless advocate
for tap in America. In 1988, he lobbied successfully for the creation of
National Tap Dance Day, now celebrated in 40 cities in the United States and in
eight other nations. He was on the Board of Directors of Manhattan Tap, the Jazz
Tap Ensemble, and the American Tap Foundation (formerly the American Tap Dance
Orchestra). He was a generous artist and teacher, conscious of his role as a
model for such tap dance artists as Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and
Jane Goldberg, creating such tap choreographies as Groove (1998) for the Jazz
Tap Ensemble, and Boom for the 1997 Gala for President and Mrs. Bill Clinton,
filmed for (ABC) at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C.
Like a jazz musician who ornaments a melody with improvisational riffs, Hines
improvised within the frame of the dance. His "improvography" demanded the
percussive phrasing of a composer, the rhythms of a drummer, and the lines of a
dancer. While being the inheritor of the tradition of black rhythm tap, he was
also a proponent of the new. "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." The New York Times
dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described Hines' performance in 1995: "Visual
elegance, as always, yields to aural power. The complexity of sound grows in
intensity and range."
In addition to his work on the dance and theatre stage, in film and on
television, Hines' wide-ranging career also included making a 1987 album called
Gregory Hines, and writing introductions for books Brotherhood in Rhythm: The
Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers by Constance Valis Hill, and Savion!
My Life in Tap, a biography by Mr. Glover for children. Everything Hines did was
influenced by his dancing, as he told Stephen Holden in a 1988 interview with
The New York Times: "Everything I do," he said, including "my singing, my acting,
my lovemaking, my being a parent." He died in Los Angeles at the age of fifty-seven.
Gregory Hines (14 February 1946-9 August 2003), jazz tap dancer, singer, actor,
musicians, and creator of improvised tap choreography, was born in New York City,
the son of Maurice Hines Sr. and Alma Hines. He began dancing at the age of not-quite-three,
turned professional at age five, and for fifteen years performed with his older
brother Maurice as The Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances across the
country. While Broadway teacher and choreographer Henry LeTang created the team's
first tap dance routines, the brothers' absorption of technique came from
watching and working with the great black tap masters whenever and wherever they
performed at the same theaters. They practically grew up backstage at the Apollo
Theatre, where they were witness to the performances and the advice of such tap
dance legends as Charles "Honi" Coles, Howard "Sandman" Sims, the Nicholas
Brothers, and Teddy Hale (Gregory's personal source of inspiration). Gregory and
Maurice then grew into the Hines Brothers. When Gregory was eighteen, he and
Maurice were joined by their father, Maurice Sr., on drums, becoming Hines,
Hines and Dad. They toured internationally and appeared frequently on The
Tonight Show, but the younger Hines was restless to get away from the non-stop
years on the road, so he left the group in his early twenties and "retired" (so
he said) to Venice, California. For a time he left dancing behind, exploring
alternatives that included his forming a jazz-rock band called Severence. He
released an album of original songs in 1973.
When Hines moved back to New York City in the late 1970s, he immediately landed
a role in The Last Minstrel Show. The show closed in Philadelphia, but launched
him back into the performing arts, and just a month later came Eubie (1978) a
certified Broadway hit, which earned him the first of four Tony nominations.
Comin' Uptown (1980), though not a success, led to another nomination and
Sophisticated Ladies (1981) to a third. In 1992, Hines received the Tony Award
for Best Actor in a Musical for his riveting portrayal of the jazz man Jelly
Roll Morton in George C. Wolfe's production of Jelly's Last Jam, sharing a Tony
nomination for choreography for that show with Hope Clark and Ted Levy.
Hines made his initial transition from dancer/singer to film actor in Mel Brooks'
hilarious The History of the World, Part I (1981), playing the role of a Roman
Slave, that in one scene sees him sand-dancing in the desert. He followed that
in quick succession with Wolfen, an allegorical mystery directed by Michael
Wadleigh that is now a cult hit; in it, Hines played the role of a coroner. In
1984, he starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film, The Cotton Club (1984). Vincent
Canby in The New York Times wrote about Hines' rare screen presence in the film:
"He doesn't sneak up on you. He's so laid back, so self assured and so graceful,
whether acting as an ambitious hoofer or tap dancing, alone or in tandem with
his brother, Maurice, that he forces YOU to sneak up on HIM. The vitality and
comic intelligence that have made him a New York favorite in Eubie and
Sophisticated Ladies translate easily to the screen." The film was a seamless
blend of dance into the framework of the narrative. The fierce virtuosity of
Hines' dancing is seen in the White Nights (1985), in which he played an
American defector to the Soviet Union opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov, playing
Russian defector to the United States. "I haven't had a terribly traumatic
experience as a black person in this world, but I've had experiences," Hines
told Michael J. Bandler about the film. "My nature is to let them go--I wasn't
going to be burdened with a negative attitude. So for White Nights I had to dig,
but the pain was there." In 1988, Hines starred in a film that combined his
penchant for both dance and drama, Tap. With full-scale production numbers
filmed on location in New York City and Hollywood, and with an original
soundtrack created especially for the look and style of the film, Tap became the
first dance musical to merge tap dancing with contemporary rock and funk musical
styles. It also featured a host of tap legends, including Sandman Sims, Bunny
Briggs, Steve Condos, Harold Nicholas and Hines' co-star and show business
mentor, Sammy Davis, Jr.
Hines' extensive and varied film resume includes teaming with Billy Crystal in
director Peter Hyam's hit comedy, Running Scared, and the next year with Willem
Dafoe, in Southeast Asia, in the military thriller Off Limits. He starred in
William Friedkin's dark comedy, Deal of the Century, with Sigourney Weaver and
Chevy Chase; Penny Marshall's military comedy, Renaissance Man, co-starring
Danny DeVito; The Preacher's Wife with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston,
once again with director Penny Marshall; Waiting to Exhale, with Angela Bassett
and Whitney Houston for director Forest Whittaker, and Good Luck, with co-star
Vincent D'Onofrio. He also appeared in the offbeat ensemble comedy, Mad Dog Time,
with Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, and Richard Dreyfuss. In 1994,
Hines expanded his talents to include the role of film director. His directorial
debut was the independent feature, Bleedings Hearts, shot on location in New
York. A contemporary romantic drama, it explored the precarious relationship
between a thirty-year-old, white, male radical and a black, female high school
student.
Hines work in television is equally diverse. In 1989, he created and hosted
Gregory Hines Tap Dance in America, a PBS television special that featured
veteran tap dancers, established tap dance companies, and next generation of tap
dancers. The film was nominated for an Emmy award, as was his performance on
Motown Returns to the Apollo. On the USA Network, Hines starred with Annette O'Toole
in the critically acclaimed original film, White Lies, based on the novel
Louisiana Black by Samuel Charters. He also starred on TNT with Christopher
Lloyd in Lewis Teague's T-Bone and Weazel; with Sinbad, James Coburn and Burt
Reynolds in the comedy western, The Cherokee Kid; with Judd Hirsch and F. Murray
Abraham in Showtime's urban drama, The Color of Justice; on CBS-TV with Jean
Smart in the thriller, A Stranger in Town; on the USA Network in the
psychological thriller, Dead Air, and in Subway Series, the anthology-style film
series for HBO directed by Ted Demme. Hines made his television series debut in
1998, playing Ben Stevenson, a loving single father hesitantly re-entering the
dating world on CBS-TV series, The Gregory Hines Show. As Ben Doucette, he made
up part of the gifted ensemble that won NBC an Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series
in 2000 for Will and Grace. He also earned an Emmy Nomination as Outstanding
Lead in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal on Showtime of the legendary and
groundbreaking dancer/film star Bill Robinson in Bojangles, and also starred in
the ABC/Touchstone mid season television series, Lost At Home. For three years,
Hines was the voice of "Big Bill" on Bill Cosby's animated series for
Nickelodeon, Little Bill. He voiced and sang one of the key characters (alongside
Eartha Kitt, Patti LaBelle and Vanessa Williams) in the Fox TV/Coca Cola
animated musical special, Santa Baby. He made his television directorial debut
with The Red Sneakers, for Showtime, and also appeared in the film, which
centers on a 17 year-old high school student--more mathematician than athlete--who
becomes a basketball sensation through the gift of a magical pair of sneakers.
Throughout an amazingly varied career, Hines continued to be a tireless advocate
for tap in America. In 1988, he lobbied successfully for the creation of
National Tap Dance Day, now celebrated in 40 cities in the United States and in
eight other nations. He was on the Board of Directors of Manhattan Tap, the Jazz
Tap Ensemble, and the American Tap Foundation (formerly the American Tap Dance
Orchestra). He was a generous artist and teacher, conscious of his role as a
model for such tap dance artists as Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and
Jane Goldberg, creating such tap choreographies as Groove (1998) for the Jazz
Tap Ensemble, and Boom for the 1997 Gala for President and Mrs. Bill Clinton,
filmed for (ABC) at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C.
Like a jazz musician who ornaments a melody with improvisational riffs, Hines
improvised within the frame of the dance. His "improvography" demanded the
percussive phrasing of a composer, the rhythms of a drummer, and the lines of a
dancer. While being the inheritor of the tradition of black rhythm tap, he was
also a proponent of the new. "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." The New York Times
dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described Hines' performance in 1995: "Visual
elegance, as always, yields to aural power. The complexity of sound grows in
intensity and range."
In addition to his work on the dance and theatre stage, in film and on
television, Hines' wide-ranging career also included making a 1987 album called
Gregory Hines, and writing introductions for books Brotherhood in Rhythm: The
Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers by Constance Valis Hill, and Savion!
My Life in Tap, a biography by Mr. Glover for children. Everything Hines did was
influenced by his dancing, as he told Stephen Holden in a 1988 interview with
The New York Times: "Everything I do," he said, including "my singing, my acting,
my lovemaking, my being a parent." He died in Los Angeles at the age of fifty-seven.