Gail Lumet Buckley is an American author and the daughter of Lena Horne. She is also the former wife of film director Sidney Lumet.

Buckley grew up in a privileged black middle class family that paved her entry into the elite society of the rich, famous, and politically connected. Despite the obvious benefits of such a lifestyle, including an Ivy League education and world travel, Buckley was not immune to racism in America. In 1986 she published her first book, which chronicled her family's history along with the story of the black middle class in America. Her second book, published in 2001, is a history of African-American involvement in the American military.

Buckley's life changed in 1946 when her mother, the first black Hollywood star, decided to marry Lennie Hayton, a white composer and conductor. "My mother and I therefore entered the great 'white' world, where we lived not as white people, but 'like' white people," Buckley explained in The Hornes. Since interracial marriages were illegal in California at that time, the new family moved back to the east coast. Horne and Hayton married in Paris in 1947.

In 1959 Buckley graduated from Harvard and began working for Marie-Claire magazine in Paris. The following year she returned to New York to play in a musical called Valmouth, despite the fact that she had little professional training. The show received mixed reviews and Buckley quickly tired of performing every night. Instead she decided to get a "regular" job in advertising. She also briefly worked on a speech-making tour in support of John F. Kennedy.

Awards

University of Southern Indiana, honorary doctorate, 1987.

Works

Selected writings

* Books
* The Hornes: An American Family, Knopf, 1986.
* American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm, Random House, 2001.

Further Reading

Books

* Who's Who Among African Americans, 15th ed., Gale Group, 2002.
* Writer's Directory, 18th ed., St. James Press, 2002.

Periodicals

* America, November 23, 1996, p. 2.
* Newsweek, June 25, 2001, p. 89.
* Smithsonian, August 1986, p. 126.

On-line

* "Gail Lumet Buckley," Contemporary Authors Online, www.galenet.com (February 12, 2003).




Tags: gail lumet buckley,lena horne, lena horne death, lena horne died, lena horn, lena horne pictures