Lady Sings the Blues

"Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born."

1972 2h 24m FR

👍

6.9

SOLID

🍅

73%

FRESH

⭐

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 80🍅73%Rotten Tomatoes★7IMDB · 5,141

DramaMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

“Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born.”

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Cast

Diana Ross
Billie Holiday
Billy Dee Williams
Louis McKay
Richard Pryor
Piano Man
James T. Callahan
Reg Hanley
Paul Hampton
Harry
Sid Melton
Jerry
Virginia Capers
Mama Holiday
Yvonne Fair
Yvonne

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sidney J. Furie
Writers: Terence McCloy, Suzanne de Passe, Chris Clark
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.9× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sidney J. Furie, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Argyle Nelson Jr. shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sidney J. Furie directs. John A. Alonzo behind the camera. Michel Legrand scores. Argyle Nelson Jr. cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 9.9× over at the box office.
354 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Sidney J. Furie, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Michel Legrand. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Argyle Nelson Jr. shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born.".
9IMDB entry: tt0068828 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 80 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 41 themes, including "new york city", "brothel", "jazz singer or musician", "mental breakdown".

The technical file

Cinematography: John A. Alonzo
Original score: Michel Legrand
Editing: Argyle Nelson Jr.
Production design: Carl Anderson
Costume design: Norma Koch
Makeup / hair: Don Schoenfeld
Runtime: 144 min · 2h 24m
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $19,726,490
Return: 986% of budget
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
Rotten Tomatoes: 73% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 5,141 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 5 Oscars. 5 wins & 8 nominations total

Also by

Sidney J. Furie

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-07-05
★ 7/10
I’ve never really be an huge fan of Diana Ross’s voice, but there’s no getting away from her personable and visceral performance here as the flawed jazz musician Billie Holliday. With Motown’s Berry Gordy at the helm it was always going to lead on the music and it does that effectively too for the most part whilst giving us the basic bones of her turbulent battle with narcotics. We start in that position so often inhabited by aspirational young black Americans, a poverty stricken environment where sex was all too often the way young women made a living, before she gets that lucky break in a Harlem nightclub. That introduces her to Louis McKay (Billy Dee Williams) who takes up the management of her career. Unlike with many of her contemporaries, though, he is genuinely interested in his protégée and tries to keep her on the rails as her success exposes her to bigotry and heroin. Gradually the headlines begin to turn against her, the pressures increase and her talent alone can no longer save her from this very sad, but predicable, path of self-destruction. Ross, helped often by some quite powerful make-up effects, is entirely convincing right through the stages of Holliday’s rise and fall, and Williams as well as an authentic looking production design also manages to evoke some of the trials and tribulations faced by an African American woman in a very much white man’s world. As you’d expect, the soundtrack reminds us of some of the gorgeous songs like “God Bless the Child” and the title song that made her famous. It’s a bit speculative when it comes to the private life of this woman, and can be a bit heavy weather towards the disappointingly rushed conclusion, but it’s still a classy production that largely steers clear of being adulatory.

Production companies