Gail lumet buckley children

Gail lumet buckley died
Gail lumet buckley cause of death
Gail lumet buckley obituary

•

Remembering writer Gail Lumet Buckley

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, professor of television Studies at Rowan University. Many of you may recognize this voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STORMY WEATHER")

LENA HORNE: (As Selina Rogers, singing) Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky - stormy weather since my man and I ain't together.

BIANCULLI: That's Lena Horne from the 1943 film "Stormy Weather." She became Hollywood's first glamorous Black movie star. We're going to listen back to an interview with her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, who wrote of her family's journey from enslavement to the Black bourgeoisie. She died last month at the age of 86. Gail Lumet Buckley grew up in New York, Los Angeles and Europe and graduated from Harvard. She worked at Life magazine before marrying the celebrated film director Sidney Lumet, with whom she had two daughters. Their marriage ended in divorce after 14 years. She later remarried.

The discovery of an old family trunk filled with artifacts going back six generations led her to write her first book, "The

•

“Extremism is nothing new. It is woven into the American tapestry.” These words were written by an America columnist just as a presidential campaign was heating up. “Olympic contests of extreme meanness flourish” in our politics, the author lamented, but suggested there was a solution to the polarization that seemed to be seizing the nation:

Catholics, called to celebrate reconciliation instead of differences, must wonder what to do in an atmosphere where indifference to the problem might lead to moral culpability. Extremism, of whatever origin, can only be cured by balance—by shoring up the middle. Happily, the middle is fighting back on several fronts—political, spiritual and personal. One reaction to the moral challenge of extremism, it seems to me, is to salute such acts of leadership.

Wise words. They were written in 1995.

The author, Gail Lumet Buckley, who died on July 18 at the age of 86, also wrote in America at the time that “While my politics remain pluralistic (left, right and center), I choose the cross of faith over the sword of ideology. In honor of St. Thérè

•

Buckley, Gail Lumet 1937–

Author

Descended from the Hornes of Brooklyn

Daughter of Hollywood’s First Black Star

Became a Budding Journalist

Took on the Role of “Director’s Wife”

Family History Inspired Two Books

Selected writings

Sources

Gail Lumet Buckley is the author of two books and a contributor to many periodicals. She is the daughter of Holly wood’s first black star, Lena Home, and she was married to the famous 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.

Descended from the Hornes of Brooklyn

Gail Lumet Buckley