Tap Dancer Gregory Hines

While he's known best for his fancy feet, tap dancer Gregory Hines was a true renaissance man. Actor, comedian, musician, action hero, and mentor, his achievements are numerous and he made a great contribution to the arts.

Born in 1946, Gregory Hines was a terpsichorean at a very young age, taught by choreographer Henry LeTang to perform professionally with his brother Maurice and their father in a vaudeville-style act dubbed "Hines, Hines, and Dad". He hit Broadway at the age of eight with his brother in The Girl in Pink Tights, and already it was evident that Hines's talent lay not only in his dancing ability, but in his stage presence - his dancing conveyed both a great joy and a seeming ease that made him a pleasure to watch. Following in the footsteps of his idol, Sammy Davis Jr., he worked to expand his talents beyond that of a tap dancer. Gregory Hines became the lead singer for the R&B group "Severance", the house band for a bar in Venice, CA. In 1986 he reached the pinnacle of his singing career with a duet with Luther Vandross, which reached the top of the R&B charts. He would use his singing talents in tandem with his dancing quite often, whether performing numbers from Porgy and Bess in the movies or on the floorboards of the Great White Way.

Having proven his ability on the stage in both music and movement, Hines set his sights on the silver screen, landing a role in the Mel Brooks movie History of the World, Pt. 1 in 1986. His charm and charisma translated well to movies, and he landed several different roles in various genres, including:

• A buddy cop with comedian Billy Crystal in Running Scared
• A counter-terrorism soldier in Eve of Destruction
• A Prohibition-era tap dancer in The Cotton Club
• A modern-day dancer and choreographer in Tap

One of his best-remembered roles was as a Vietnam war defector in Soviet Russia opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov in White Nights. At the same time, he continued to perform and excel on Broadway, receiving Tony Nominations for roles in Eubiel, Comin' Uptown, and Sophisticated Ladies. Hines was also a very talented and prolific choreographer, nominated for many awards for his work on stage and screen. He even coined his own style of tap improvisational dance known as improvisography. He finally won his Tony Award in 1992 for Jelly's Last Jam, as well as numerous other theatrical awards. Hines also had recurring roles on TV, both in his own series for CBS and also as the character Ben Doucette on Will and Grace. He won a Daytime Emmy for his voice talent on the animated series Little Bill and the 2002 Image Award for Bojangles.

In 1990, as Sammy Davis Jr. lay on his deathbed suffering from throat cancer, Hines visited him. While Sammy couldn't speak, Gregory told of how he'd mimed "passing a basketball" to the fellow song-and-dance man. Hines said he felt humbled to be taking on such a mantle, but he took the idea of mentorship seriously. As a tap dancer, Gregory Hines managed to convey a level of dramatic inspiration that was to ignite the passions of a whole new generation of dancers, including his protege Savion Glover who won the Tony himself for the tap extravaganza Bring on da Noise, Bring on da Funk. When Hines saw the young man receive the award, he cried, speaking later of the continuing cultural heritage that had been shared.

Gregory Hines was married and divorced twice before becoming engaged to Negrita Jayde in 2003. He died unexpectedly on August 9th of that year from liver cancer. Aside from his fiancee, father, and brother Maurice, he was survived by a son, a daughter, a stepdaughter and a grandson. More than that, he is remembered by performers and audiences alike as one of the finest examples of a true master of the arts.

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