Lady Sings The Blues
Studio Motown Productions 
Distributed by Paramount Pictures 
Release date(s) October 12, 1972 
Running time 144 minutes 
Country United States 
Language English
Format:avi

IMDB Link:]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068828/ 


Directed by Sidney J. Furie 
Produced by Brad Dexter Jay Weston James S. White
Written by Suzanne de Passe Chris Clark Terence McCloy

Lady Sings The Blues was nominated for five Academy Awards. 
The nominations were for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Diana Ross), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Carl Anderson, Reg Allen), Best Costume Design, Best Music, Original Song Score and Adaptation (Gil Askey) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced. The film was also screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. 

Diana Ross plays the magnificent, tragic song stylist Billie Holiday, who while writhing in a strait jacket in a prison cell, awaiting sentencing on drug charges, reflects on her turbulent life. Raped in her youth by a drunk (Adolph Caesar), then compelled to work as a domestic in a Harlem whorehouse, Holliday is encouraged to try for a singing career by the bordello\\\'s pianist (Richard Pryor). She rises as high as it is possible to go in the white-dominated show business world of the 1930s, but can\\\'t handle the pressure and turns to narcotics. The film takes several liberties with the 44-year existence of \\\"Lady Day.\\\" Among the Billie Holiday standards performed by Ross are \\\"My Man,\\\" \\\"I Cried for You,\\\" \\\"Lover Man,\\\" \\\"Them There Eyes,\\\" and the title song.


Cast

Diana Ross as Billie Holiday   Billy Dee Williams as Louis McKay
Richard Pryor as Piano Man    James Callahan as Reg Hanley (as James Callahan)
Paul Hampton as Harry   Sid Melton as Jerry
Virginia Capers as Mama Holiday   Yvonne Fair as Yvonne
Isabel Sanford as Madame    Tracee Lyles as Prostitute
Ned Glass as Agent   Milton Selzer as Doctor
Norman Bartold as The Detective #1  Clay Tanner as Detective #2
Jester Hairston as Fefe   Bert Kramer as The Policeman
Paul Micale as The Maitre d\\\'  Michelle Aller as The Singer
Byron Kane as The Announcer  Barbara Minkus as Radio Actress
Kay Lewis as Angela DeMarco  Helen Lewis as Debbie McGee
George Wyner as The M.C. Shirley Melline as The Policewoman
Toby Russ as The Jail Guard  Larry Duran as Hood #1
Ernest Robinson as Hood #2 (as Ernie Robinson)   Don McGovern as Reporter #1
Dick Poston as Reporter #2   Charles Woolf as Reporter #3
Denise Denise as Denise  Lynn Hamilton as Aunt Ida
Victor Morosco as Vic Robert Gordy as The Hawk
Harry Caesar as The Rapist  Paulene Myers as Mrs. Edson
Scatman Crothers as Big Ben  Darlene Conley as - (uncredited)
Jayne Kennedy as Louis\\\'s Date (uncredited)[/size]


Technical Information

General
Complete name     : H:\\\\ Lady Sings The Blues.avi
Format                  : Audio Video Interleave
File size                : 1.33 GiB
Duration              : 2h 24mn
Overall bit rate   : 1 326 Kbps

Video
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Format                              : MPEG-4 Visual
Format settings, Matrix   : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                         : FMP4
Bit rate                             : 330 Kbps
Width x Height               : 352 x 240 pixels
Display aspect ratio        : 2.2:1
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps

Audio
ID                         : 1
Format                : MPEG Audio Version 1 Layer 2
Bit rate               : 64.0 Kbps Constant
Channel(s)        : 2 channels
Sampling rate  : 44.1 KHz