Juanita Hall (née Long, November , â€" February , ) was an American
musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in
the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musicals South Pacific as Bloody Mary â€" a role that garnered her the
Tony Award â€" and Flower Drum Song as Madame Liang.Born in Keyport,
New Jersey, to an African-American father and Irish-American mother ,
Hall (along with three siblings) was raised by her maternal
grandparents after her mother's death. She attended Bordentown
Industrial School and graduated from Keyport High School. She also
received classical training at the Juilliard School.Soon after she
finished high school, Hall worked in the Lincoln settlement house in
East Orange, New Jersey, teaching music to children during the day and
to and adult chorus at night.In the early s, she was a special soloist
and assistant director for the Hall Johnson Choir. A leading black
Broadway performer in her day, she was personally chosen by Richard
Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to perform the roles she played in
the musicals South Pacific and Flower Drum Song, as a Tonkinese woman
and a Chinese-American, respectively.[citation needed]
musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in
the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musicals South Pacific as Bloody Mary â€" a role that garnered her the
Tony Award â€" and Flower Drum Song as Madame Liang.Born in Keyport,
New Jersey, to an African-American father and Irish-American mother ,
Hall (along with three siblings) was raised by her maternal
grandparents after her mother's death. She attended Bordentown
Industrial School and graduated from Keyport High School. She also
received classical training at the Juilliard School.Soon after she
finished high school, Hall worked in the Lincoln settlement house in
East Orange, New Jersey, teaching music to children during the day and
to and adult chorus at night.In the early s, she was a special soloist
and assistant director for the Hall Johnson Choir. A leading black
Broadway performer in her day, she was personally chosen by Richard
Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to perform the roles she played in
the musicals South Pacific and Flower Drum Song, as a Tonkinese woman
and a Chinese-American, respectively.[citation needed]
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