Helen Morgan (August 2, 1900 – October 9, 1941) was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s. She starred as Julie LaVerne in the original Broadway production of Hammerstein and Kern's musical Show Boat in 1927 as well as in the 1932 Broadway revival of the musical, and appeared in two film adaptations, a part-talkie made in 1929 (prologue only) and a full-sound version made in 1936, becoming firmly associated with the role. She suffered from bouts of alcoholism, and despite her notable success in the title role of another Hammerstein and Kern's Broadway musical, Sweet Adeline (1929), her stage career was relatively short. Helen Morgan died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. She was portrayed by Polly Bergen in the Playhouse 90 drama The Helen Morgan Story and by Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic based on the television drama.
Read more about Helen Morgan: Life and Career
Famous quotes containing the words helen and/or morgan:
“Excuse me while I slip into something more comfortable.”
—H. Behn, screenwriter, H. Eastabrook, screenwriter, and J.M. March, screenwriter. Howard Hughes, J. Whale, M. Nielan, and L. Reed. Helen (Jean Harlow)
“The subtlest and most vicious aspect of women’s oppression is that we have been conditioned to believe we are not oppressed, blinded so as not to see our own condition.”
—Robin Morgan (b. 1941)