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" Final Resting Place of Pearl Bailey"

Pearl Bailey
29th March 1918 - 17th August 1990
Jazz Singer
Rolling Green Memorial Park, Westchester, Pennsylvania.

Pearl Mae Bailey was an American singer and actress. She was born in Southampton County, Virginia, to Rev. Joseph & Ella Mae Bailey. She made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in Hello, Dolly! in 1968. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952. In 1954, she took the role of Frankie in the film version of Carmen Jones, and her rendition of "Beat Me That Rhythm on the Drum" is one of the highlights of the film. In 1959, she played the role of Maria in the film version of Porgy and Bess, starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge. Also that year she played the role of "Aunt Hagar" in the movie St. Louis Blues alongside Mahalia Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and Nat King Cole. During the 1970s she had her own television show, and she also provided voices for animations such as Tubby the Tuba (1976) and Disney's The Fox and the Hound (1981). Later in life, she earned a B.A. in Theology from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1985. She was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom on October 17, 1988.
She was married to jazz drummer Louie Bellson.
Pearl Bailey died from heart failure in 1990 at the age of 72.