26 Facts About Gregory Hines

1.

Gregory Oliver Hines was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer.

2.

Gregory Hines is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time.

3.

Gregory Hines received many accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

4.

Gregory Hines was born in New York City, on February 14,1946, to Alma Iola and Maurice Robert Gregory Hines, a dancer, musician, and actor, and grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem.

5.

Gregory Hines began tap dancing when he was two years old, and began dancing semi-professionally at age five.

6.

The brothers were known as The Gregory Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances at venues in Miami, Florida, with Cab Calloway.

7.

Gregory Hines was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike.

8.

Gregory Hines's improvisation was like that of a drummer, doing a solo and coming up with rhythms.

9.

Gregory Hines improvised the phrasing of a number of tap steps, mainly to fit the unfolding sound.

10.

Gregory Hines successfully petitioned the creation of National Tap Dance Day in May 1989, which is celebrated in forty cities in the United States, as well as eight other nations.

11.

Gregory Hines was on the board of directors of Manhattan Tap, a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and a member of the American Tap Dance Foundation, which was formerly called the American Tap Dance Orchestra.

12.

In 1990, Gregory Hines visited his idol Sammy Davis Jr.

13.

Gregory Hines made his Broadway debut with his brother in The Girl in Pink Tights in 1954.

14.

Gregory Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called Severance based in Venice, Los Angeles in 1975 and 1976.

15.

In 1981, Gregory Hines made his movie debut in Mel Brooks's History of the World, Part I, replacing Richard Pryor, who was originally cast in the role but suffered severe burns just days before he was due to begin shooting.

16.

Gregory Hines appeared in the horror film Wolfen later that year.

17.

Gregory Hines had a large role in The Cotton Club, where he and his brother Maurice played a 1930s tap-dancing duo reminiscent of the Nicholas Brothers.

18.

Gregory Hines co-starred with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film White Nights, and co-starred with Billy Crystal in the 1986 buddy cop film Running Scared.

19.

Gregory Hines starred in the 1989 film Tap opposite Sammy Davis Jr.

20.

Gregory Hines appeared alongside Whitney Houston and Loretta Devine in the highly successful 1995 film Waiting to Exhale and opposite Houston, Denzel Washington and Courtney B Vance the following year in The Preacher's Wife.

21.

Gregory Hines won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for the role in 2003.

22.

Gregory Hines co-hosted the Tony Awards ceremony in 1995 and 2002.

23.

Gregory Hines died of liver cancer on August 9,2003 en route to the hospital from his home in Los Angeles.

24.

Gregory Hines was diagnosed with the disease a year earlier, but informed only his closest friends.

25.

Gregory Hines's funeral was held at St Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California.

26.

Gregory Hines was buried at St Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario.