Nina Mae McKinney Net Worth is
$4 Million

Mini Biography

Nina Mae McKinney is recognized as the seductress “Chick” from Hallelujah (1929), the first all-black, all-sound music. Despite the fact that she was known as a great celebrity, vocalist and dancer by viewers in the U.S. and European countries, today she actually is mainly ignored. She certainly acquired the looks, passion, and acting skill to achieve success. But simply because she and various other black females of her period discovered, there wasn’t very much work for the black woman apart from being a maid, “mammy” amount, or prostitute. Hollywood was afraid to have a chance with an appealing black woman, to create her right into a gorgeous sex symbol because they would with a stunning white celebrity. There will be no accurate gorgeous black feminine sex image until Lena Horne’s entrance in 1942. Nina discovered, as did various other black stars, that there is little success to be enjoyed after a short big splash. McKinney was created in 1913 in the tiny city of Lancaster, SC, eventually to be an international amount as an celebrity, singer and music group leader. Her provided name was Nannie Mayme McKinney. Her parents, Hal and Georgia McKinney, transferred from Lancaster to NEW YORK and left the kid with her great-aunt, Carrie Sanders. “Aunt Carrie” resided in a little house in the back garden of Col. Leroy Springs, dad of businessman and traveling ace Elliott Light Springs. Aunt Carrie proved helpful as a prepare and housekeeper for the Springs family members. When Nannie Mayme was previous enough she went chores for Lena Jones Springs, who provided her a bike to ride towards the post office to get the email. Nannie Mayme’s initial public performances had been traveling stunts, or “reducing capers”, as surprised bystanders known as it. She made an appearance in plays on the dark Lancaster Industrial College (founded by Springs), where she quickly discovered the lines of the complete cast. At about age 13 she headed for NY to remain with her mom, Georgia Crawford McKinney. Choosing Nina Mae as her stage name, she got a job being a chorus gal in the Broadway play “Blackbirds”. Her exciting performance caught the interest of MGM manufacturer/director Ruler Vidor, who provided her a starring function in Hallelujah (1929). It had been the initial all-black audio musical features, despite the fact that many theaters billed the film as “a tale of murder and redemption in the Deep South.” This melodrama had not been widely acclaimed at that time, but film historians now view it as a fascinating introduction to dark movie theater (one critic defined it as having “a crude power”). Nina was signed by MGM to a five-year agreement, however in that period she made only two movies, Safe and sound in Hell (1931) and Reckless (1935) (where she didn’t even appear on display screen; she dubbed Jean Harlow’s music). Hollywood could accept dark character stars like Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen getting a close romantic relationship with white individuals within a film, but wouldn’t normally allow a lovely black celebrity the same organic role. Nevertheless, her initial film provided her the chance to surface in several all-black ensemble or black-themed movies, including Sanders from the River (1935) with Paul Robeson, Dark Waters (1944) and Pinky (1949) (as Rozelia), which is known as her finest film. She had a lot more success in stage. She performed Jeanne Eagels’ function in “Rainfall” at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater. She demonstrated that she may have become among America’s long lasting performers–she acquired the talent, the wonder, and the superstar power, but she understood that the doorways to real achievement were completely barred to her in Hollywood. She shortly still left the U.S. for European countries. She produced film and stage performances all around the Continent, from Paris and London to Dublin and Budapest, and became referred to as “The Dark Garbo”. When war broke away in Europe she returned to NY, where she married jazz musician Jimmy Monroe and come up with a band and toured the united states. In the 1950s and 1960s she resided in Athens, Greece, where she was referred to as the “Queen of Evening Lifestyle.” In the past due 1960s she returned to NY but didn’t perform, and passed away in NEW YORK in 1967, at age group 54, of the coronary attack. Her loss of life went virtually undetected; trade papers such as for example Variety and dark publications such as for example Plane and Ebony didn’t also print out an obituary, and one paper that did just known as her an “entertainer” and didn’t name the cathedral where in fact the funeral will be held. Not really everyone forgot her, though; in her city of Lancaster, SC, on a wall structure across in the Courthouse, is normally a mural with portraits of celebrities from Lancaster. Included in this two faces stick out. One is previous Leader Andrew Jackson. The various other is Nina.

Known for movies



Quick Facts

Full Name	Nina Mae McKinney
Died	May 3, 1967, New York City, New York, United States
Height	1.6 m
Profession	Actor
Nationality	American
Spouse	Jimmy Monroe
Parents	Hal McKinney, Georgia McKinney
Movies	Pinky, Night Train to Memphis, The Devil's Daughter, Pie, Pie Blackbird, Safe in Hell, Hallelujah