Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Legendary American Entertainer Lena Horne Dies Discrimination limited actress, singer's career VOA News 10 May 2010 Cropped screenshot of Lena Horne from the 1946 film "Till the Clouds Roll By." Photo: Public Domain Cropped screenshot of Lena Horne from the 1946 film "Till the Clouds Roll By." Legendary American singer and actress Lena Horne has died. She was 92. She began her career at 16, joining the chorus of the Cotton Club, the famed Harlem nightclub where blacks performed before white audiences. She became a favorite singer in clubs from the 1940s through the 1960s, comfortable in a wide musical range. Known for her seemingly everlasting beauty, Horne continued to record into the 1990s.  Her appearance in the all-black movie musical "Stormy Weather" in 1943 was a triumph. She sang the title tune, which became her signature song. Cropped screenshot of Lena Horne from the film Till the Clouds Roll By. Lena Horne from the 1946 film "Till the Clouds Roll By" Horne could have very well become a major movie star but her opportunities were limited by the U.S. practice of racial discrimination and segregation in the first half of the 20th century.  She appeared in a number of musical films in the 1940s, but her appearances were cut from the movies when they played in America's South, where the idea of a black performer in anything but a subservient role in an otherwise all-white cast was unthinkable. Horne was perpetually frustrated with the public humiliation of racism and famously threw a lamp at customer who made a racial slur at a Beverly Hill restaurant where she was performing.  Lena Horne appeared in a number of musical films in the 1940s, but her appearances were cut from the movies when they played in America's South. Lena Horne appeared in a number of musical films in the 1940s, but her appearances were cut from the movies when they played in America's South. In 1981, 50 years after her debut at the Cotton Club, Horne appeared in a one-woman Broadway show - "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music." She won Broadway's Tony Award for her performance. Besides "Stormy Weather," audiences loved to hear her sing "The Lady is a Tramp" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." In the late 1970s, she appeared in the film "The Wiz" as Glinda, the Good Witch. When Halle Berry became the first black actress to win the best actress Oscar in 2002, she thanked Lena Horne. Looking back over her life, Lena Horne said, "I'm me and I'm like nobody else." .