Lena Horne's life in pictures

1935: A studio portrait of Lena Horne. Four years later, she was described in the New York Times as 'a radiantly beautiful sepia girl who will be a winner when she has proper direction'
Photograph: Frank Driggs Collection/Getty Images

1942: Performing in the film Panama Hattie, the first of several movies she made with MGM early in her career
Photograph: Cinetext/MGM/Allstar

1943: A poster advertising Horne's lead role in Stormy Weather. Her version of the title song was a major hit, and became her signature piece
Photograph: ITV/Rex Features

1947: At the Copacabana nightclub. Such appearances provided a lucrative addition to her income from film and radio
Photograph: Leonard McCombe/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

1947: Lena Horne on stage
Photograph: Yale Joel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

1948: Horne was considered Hollywood's first black sex symbol. 'I had the worst kind of acceptance,' she once said, 'because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked'
Photograph: Cinetext/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

1950s: During her 60-year career, Horne broke down numerous racial barriers
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

1951: Horne performs on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town
Photograph: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

1958: Horne was respected as both a jazz and blues singer, and had numerous hit showtunes
Photograph: Cinetext/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

1969: With Richard Widmark in the western Death of a Gunfighter. She would not return to the screen for almost a decade
Photograph: Univeral/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

1970: Performing on television
Photograph: David Redfern/Redferns/Getty

1981: Starring in the Broadway production Lena Horne: the Lady and Her Music. Her one-woman show won a special Tony award
Photograph: Christian Steiner/AP

1994: Horne in New York. 'My identity is very clear to me now,' she would say a few years later. 'I am a black woman. I’m free ... I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else'
Photograph: Garth Vaughan/AP