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IMDbPro

Ella Fitzgerald(1917-1996)

  • Music Artist
  • Actress
  • Music Department
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Ella Fitzgerald, June 1967.
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:02
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (2019)
3 Videos
62 Photos
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal style. Ella had extraordinary vocal skills from the time she was a teenager, and joined the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1935 when she was 16 years old. With an output of more than 200 albums, she was at her sophisticated best with the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, of George Gershwin, and of Cole Porter. Her 13 Grammy awards are more than any other jazz performer, and she won the Best Female Vocalist award three years in a row. Completely at home with up-tempo songs, her scat singing placed her jazz vocals with the finest jazz instrumentalists, and it was this magnificent voice that she brought to her film appearances. Her last few years, during which she had a bout with congestive heart failure and suffered bilateral amputation of her legs from complications of diabetes, were spent in seclusion.
BornApril 25, 1917
DiedJune 15, 1996(79)
BornApril 25, 1917
DiedJune 15, 1996(79)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 20 wins & 8 nominations

Photos62

Ella Fitzgerald in Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)
Ella Fitzgerald, Dick Foran, Anne Gwynne, and Richard Lane in Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)
Ella Fitzgerald in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Ella Fitzgerald and Jack Webb in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Ella Fitzgerald in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Doc Severinsen, and Joe Williams
Eubie Blake and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Sandler, and Ralph Young
Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald

Known for:

Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharon Stone in Sphere (1998)
Sphere
6.1
  • Soundtrack("I'm Making Believe")
  • 1998
Assassin's Creed (2016)
Assassin's Creed
5.6
  • Soundtrack("The Frim Fram Sauce")
  • 2016
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
When Harry Met Sally...
7.7
  • Soundtrack("Our Love Is Here To Stay", "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off", "Where Or When")
  • 1989
Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
Raging Bull
8.1
  • Soundtrack("Cow Cow Boogie", "Stone Cold Dead in the Market")
  • 1980

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Ella Fitzgerald: Frosty the Snowman (2020)
    Ella Fitzgerald: Frosty the Snowman
    • Singer
    • Music Video
    • 2020
  • The White Shadow (1978)
    The White Shadow
    • Maxine Jefferies
    • TV Series
    • 1981
  • Ella Fitzgerald - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 (1975)
    Ella Fitzgerald - Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1975
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Video
    • 1975
  • All My Life (1966)
    All My Life
    • Vocalist
    • Short
    • 1966
  • Ricardo Montalban, Shelley Winters, James Darren, Ella Fitzgerald, Burl Ives, and Jean Seberg in Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960)
    Let No Man Write My Epitaph
    • Flora
    • 1960
  • St. Louis Blues (1958)
    St. Louis Blues
    • Singer
    • 1958
  • Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
    Pete Kelly's Blues
    • Maggie Jackson
    • 1955
  • Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Anne Gwynne in Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)
    Ride 'Em Cowboy
    • Ruby
    • 1942

Music Department

  • Arts (2019)
    Arts
    • Music Department
    • Short
    • 2019
  • Trilogie De Tragedie (2016)
    Trilogie De Tragedie
    • musician
    • 2016
  • Moordterras
    • singer
    • TV Movie
    • 1991
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos3

St. Louis Blues
Trailer 1:56
St. Louis Blues
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things
Trailer 1:02
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things
The Savoy King
Trailer 2:24
The Savoy King

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Facebook
    • Last.fm
  • Height
    • 5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)
  • Born
    • April 25, 1917
    • Newport News, Virginia, USA
  • Died
    • June 15, 1996
    • Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(complications from diabetes)
  • Spouses
      Ray BrownDecember 10, 1947 - August 28, 1953 (divorced, 1 child)
  • Other works
    TV commercial: Kentucky Fried Chicken
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 4 Print Biographies
    • 4 Portrayals
    • 1 Interview
    • 1 Article
    • 2 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was close friends with Marilyn Monroe, who helped Fitzgerald in her musical career by arranging for her to sing in upscale nightclubs that were segregated at the time of their friendship.
  • Quotes
    I sing with my eyes closed, and my whole mind is concentrated on what I want to do. Any little noise can throw me.
  • Trademarks
      Scat singing
  • Nicknames
    • The First Lady of Song
    • The First Lady of Jazz
    • The Queen of Jazz
    • Lady Ella

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