Blackbird: Lena Horne and America

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Showtime is developing the limited series Blackbird: Lena Horne and America, based on the life of incomparable entertainer and activist Lena Horne. Blackbird: Lena Horne and America will be executive produced by Horne's granddaughter, Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married, Star Trek(R): Discovery), and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek: Picard, The Comey Rule), who together will write the first few episodes. The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios and Secret Hideout. Heather Kadin will serve as an executive producer on this project. Titled after Horne's favorite poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Blackbird: Lena Horne and America will span 60 years of her life, from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16, through World War II and stardom of the MGM years, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement and her triumphant return to Broadway. The series will encompass her deepest relationships: Paul Robeson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joe Louis, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Ava Gardner and Orson Welles, to name a few. A direct descendant of slaves and their enslavers, Horne had to navigate stardom during Jim Crow. She laid herself down and made herself a bridge for everyone who came after her, and finally achieved her own liberation to become one of America's greatest legends.