Pictured from left are actress Andra Day, the late actor Chadwick Boseman (wearing black shirt), and actor Daniel Kaluuya
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-Chief
Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com- First time nominee Andra Day won the award for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture" at the 78th Golden Globes Awards on Sunday night for her brilliant portrayal of legendary jazz singer and Civil Rights icon Billie Holiday in the motion picture film "United States vs Billie Holiday," who was raped at 10-years-old but went on to become a household name with an indistinguishable voice who trice sold out Carnegie Hall and broke barriers for Black women in music worldwide. Editor's note: For a full list of Golden Globes winners go to Goldenglobes.com
Featured from her home surrounded by family and friends, Day, 36, cried and thanked a host of people during her acceptance speech, including director Lee Daniels for casting her in the award-winning role.
She lauded Holiday, whose drug addiction and activism drew unprecedented harassment from the FBI and Washington, D.C. bureaucrats and landed her in prison for a short stint, and said Holiday "transformed me in this role and with her presence and her spirit."
The Golden Globes is the third most watched awards show behind the Oscars and the Grammys.
This year's event comes as the cornavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of over a half-million Americans.
It was televised from different locations with awardees speaking from different places.
Tina Fey in New York at the Rockefeller Center and Amy Polar from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles returned as co-hosts for the first time since 2015.
Other Blacks winning in key categories Sunday night were the late Chadwick Boseman, who was honored posthumously for his "Best Actor in a Motion Picture" win for his starring role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," and Daniel Kaluuya for best supporting actor relative to "Judas and the Black Messiah," a biological drama film on the betrayal of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
Boseman rose to prominence as the star of the 2018 superhero film "Black Panther," and died last year at 41 following a struggle with colon cancer, his death sending shock waves across the Hollywood and Black communities.
His widow, Taylor Simone Ledward, gave an emotional acceptance speech on the actor’s behalf and thanked the actor's parents and "his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices.”
Coming off of a 2018 Oscar nomination for his starring role in the film "Get Out," Kaluuya said that "Judas and the Black Messiah," was a team effort led by director Shaka King and that "it takes a village to raise a film."
Oscar-winner Regina King, in her directorial debut with "One Night in Miami," lost out for best director to Chloe' Zhao, who won over King and the other nominees for "Nomadland," which also walked away with the Golden Globe for best motion picture.
Zhao is the first woman of Asian dissent and the second woman to win a Golden Globe for best directing.
Day's best actress win was all but expected amid stiff competition from fellow nominees Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces Of A Woman), Frances McDormand (Nomadland), and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman).
Critics were stunned at how well Day, a songwriter and singer acting in her first major acting role, portrayed Holiday during the two hour and 10 minute moving film that made you feel as if you knew the late blues singer and concert performer who reigned in Harlem night clubs during the 1930s and warmed audiences with her appealing and unusual voice, all while antagonizing law enforcement authorities with her Civil Rights lyrics.
Her most memorable songs include "Lady Sings the Blues," "God Bless the Child [that's Got its Own]," and "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do."
Nicknamed "Lady Day," Holiday died in July of 1959 after a longtime struggle with heroin and alcohol addiction throughout her 26-year career, dying of cirrhosis at the prime age of 44.
Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
