Happy Friday Everyone!
It's been such a hectic 2 weeks but I'm back and I'm honoring someone who was a real fox, who was also known as the "Queen of Las Vegas", the one & only Miss LOLA FALANA!
Lola Falana was born on September 11, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey. She is of Cuban and Black descent. Falana spent most of her childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lola was a natural dancer. By the time she was in junior high school, she was already dancing in nightclubs to which she was escorted by her mother. Pursuing a musical career became so important to Falana that she left a few months before graduation and moved to New York City.
While dancing in a nightclub, Falana was discovered by Sammy Davis Jr., who gave her a featured role in his 1964 Broadway musical Golden Boy. In the late 1960s Falana was mentored by Davis. In 1966 Davis cast her, along with himself, Ossie Davis, and Cicely Tyson, in her first film role in the film, A Man Called Adam. Falana became a major star of Italian cinema beginning in 1967. In Italy she learned to speak fluent Italian while starring in three movies. It was during this time she was known as the "Black Venus".
In 1969 Falana ended her close working relationship with Sammy Davis Jr., though the two remained friends. In 1970, Falana made her American film debut in The Liberation of L.B. Jones and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress for her performance. That same year she posed for Playboy magazine. She was the first black woman to model for a line of cosmetics that was not targeted solely to blacks, in the successful Faberge Tigress perfume ads.
Falana gained popularity during the early 1970s. She often appeared on The Joey Bishop Show and The Hollywood Palace, displaying her talent for music, dance, and light comedy. These appearances led to more opportunities.In those early years, she also starred in a few movies considered to be of the blaxploitation genre like "Lady Cocoa".
Throughout the mid-1970s Falana made guest appearances on many popular TV shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Laugh-In and The Flip Wilson Show. She also starred in her own television specials.
Check out Lola on "The Muppet Show":
With help from Sammy Davis, Falana brought her act to Las Vegas and became a top draw there. By the late 1970s, she was considered the Queen of Las Vegas. She played to sold-out crowds at The Sands, The Riviera, and the MGM Grand hotels. Finally The Aladdin offered her $100,000 a week to perform. At the time, Falana was the highest paid female performer in Las Vegas. Her show ran twenty weeks a year and became a major tourist attraction.
Around the mid 1980s Lola was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was so severe her left side was paralyzed, she became partially blind, and her voice and hearing were impaired. She recovered and it lasted a year and a half, during which she spent most of her time praying. Falana attributes her recovery to a spiritual experience which she described as "Being able to feel the presence of the Lord." She converted to Roman Catholicism and worked her newly-found spirituality into her everyday life. Though she performed again in Las Vegas shows in 1987, her practice of religion and faith became the center of her life.
After another bout with multiple sclerosis in 1996, Falana returned to Philadelphia and now tours the country with a message of hope and spirituality. Her last known musical performance was in 1997.
For her dancing prowess, stunning looks and being a groundbreaker for paving the way for female artists like Toni Braxton to perform in Vegas, this Foxxy Friday goes to Miss Lola Falana!
Check out Miss Lola:
