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Bessie Smith was an American blues singer. Nicknamed the Empress of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. Bessie did not have access to an education because her parents had died and her elder sister was taking care of her. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.
Birth Name
Elizabeth Smith
Born
Sunday, 15 April 1894
Died
Sunday, 26 September 1937
Actress Filmography
| Title | Character | Year |
|---|
| Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America | Self / blues singer | 2022 |
| Billie | Self | 2020 |
| ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke | Self | 2019 |
| Jazz Britannia | Self | 2005 |
| The Blues | Self | 2003 |
| It's Black Entertainment | Self / Self (archive footage) | 2002 |
| Blues Odyssey | Self | 2001 |
| A Huey P. Newton Story | Self / Self (archive footage) | 2001 |
| Jazz | Self - singer / Self | 2001 |
| The Century: America's Time | Self | 1999 |
Actress Filmography
| Title | Character | Year |
|---|
| Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America | Self / blues singer | 2022 |
| Billie | Self | 2020 |
| ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke | Self | 2019 |
| Jazz Britannia | Self | 2005 |
| The Blues | Self | 2003 |
| It's Black Entertainment | Self / Self (archive footage) | 2002 |
| Blues Odyssey | Self | 2001 |
| A Huey P. Newton Story | Self / Self (archive footage) | 2001 |
| Jazz | Self - singer / Self | 2001 |
| The Century: America's Time | Self | 1999 |
| Blues Masters | (archive footage) / Self (archive footage) | 1999 |
| Wild Women Don't Have the Blues | Self (archive footage) | 1989 |
| That's Black Entertainment | Self | 1989 |
| American Masters | Self | 1986 |
| Before Stonewall | Self - standing at bar of speakeasy | 1984 |
| All You Need Is Love | Self | 1977 |
| Arena | Herself (archive footage) | 1975 |
| The Age of Ballyhoo | Self | 1973 |
| Sanford and Son | Self | 1972 |
| Great Performances | Self | 1971 |
| St. Louis Blues | Bessie - Battered Wife | 1929 |
