ACTOR
Gregory Hines
25 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (25)
- #001
In 2004, Gregory Hines was inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame.
- #002
He and Maurice Hines were cast as brothers in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984), set in a Harlem club where their grandmother had been one of the elite Black performers who played to all-white audiences in the twenties and thirties. Coppola encouraged the brothers to improvise, so they based a scene on their real-life encounters in "Eubie!" and admitted the tears were real.
- #003
He was six years old when he and his brother Maurice Hines took the stage as the Hines Kids at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
- #004
He reunited with his brother Maurice Hines in 1978 when they were hired for the Broadway musical "Eubie!" This earned him a Tony nomination, as did his role in another musical, "Sophisticated Ladies."
- #005
He was buried in the family plot of Carmela and Michael Truszyk at St. Volodymyr's Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario, west of Toronto. Mr. Hines was buried in the Truszyk family plot because his fiancée was their daughter. Maria Truszyk Jayde was engaged to Gregory Hines at the time of his death; six years after his love, she died of cancer in 2009 and is now buried beside him in the same family plot.
- #006
He was considered for the role of "Winston Zeddemore" in Ghostbusters (1984).
- #007
He is pictured on a U.S. non-denominated "forever" postage stamp in the Black Heritage series issued on January 28, 2019. It cost 55¢ on the day it was issued.
- #008
He appeared alongside Eubie Blake on a 1979 episode of Saturday Night Live (1975) hosted by Gary Busey. He sang and danced to two Eubie Blake songs.
- #009
In 1985, Gregory Hines was paired with Mikhail Baryshnikov, another famous dancer of the time, in Taylor Hackford's Academy Award-winning film "White Nights."
- #010
In the late '60s, he decided to try performing rock 'n' roll music and writing his own songs.
- #011
"There's nothing better than love" is a duet he recorded with his friend Luther Vandross in the '80s. Gregory was known for his smooth, silky voice and recorded his self-titled album in 1987 on Epic/Sony.
- #012
His own stage show took him from New York's Bottom Line to far-flung spots such as Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Japan and Monte Carlo.
- #013
He won Broadway's 1992 Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) for "Jelly's Last Jam," and also shared a Best Choreography nomination with Hope Clarke and Ted L. Levy. He was nominated for three more Tonys: in 1979 for Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) for "Eubie!," which he recreated in the television version of the same name (1981); and for Best Actor (Musical) in 1980 for "Comin' Uptown" and in 1981 for "Sophisticated Ladies."
- #014
He made his professional debut at just 5 years old.
- #015
He won the Tony Award in 1992 for "Jelly's Last Jam."
- #016
He sings on the title track "So Nobody Else Can Hear" from legendary jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb's (Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue") recording of the same name. Bill Cosby and Freddie Hubbard also appear on the record.
- #017
He was the son of Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines. Gregory's father was of African-American descent. Gregory's maternal grandparents, Lionel Sidney Lawless and Bernice A. Walker, were from Trinidad and Saint Kitts respectively. Gregory's mother had Afro-Caribbean ancestry and smaller amounts of Welsh, Portuguese, English and Irish ancestry.
- #018
He was the father of Daria Hines, born in 1971, with Patricia Panella.
- #019
Hope Clarke, Ted L. Levy and he were honored with the 1993 New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Choreography for the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam" in New York City.
- #020
In his twenties, Gregory Hines worked on a farm.
- #021
In New York City, Gregory Hines won the 1992 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam."
- #022
Gregory Hines was the former stepfather of Jessica Koslow.
- #023
Gregory Hines's mother was named Alma.
- #024
Gregory Hines was Cheryl Davis's uncle.
- #025
Gregory Hines was Richard Nurse's cousin.
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