Barbara McNair Wiki: Salary, Married, Wedding, Spouse, Family
Barbara McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and actress. Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfrey's TV show Talent Scouts, which led to bookings at The Purple Onion and the Cocoanut Grove.She soon became one of the country's most popular headliners and a guest on such television variety shows as The Steve Allen Show, Hullabaloo, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Hollywood Palace, while recording for the Coral, Signature, Motown, and TEC Recording Studios labels. Among her hits were "You're Gonna Love My Baby" and "Bobby". In the early 1960s, McNair made several musical shorts for Scopitone, a franchise of coin-operated machines that showed what were the forerunners of today's music videos.In 1967 McNair traveled with Bob Hope to Southeast Asia to perform for U.S. troops during the Vietnam War along with Raquel Welch, Elaine Dunn, Phil Crosby and 1967 Miss World Madeleine Hartog Bell. She said on stage that Hope talked her into going on the tour by promising her she'd get to meet royalty. "He let me walk his dog Prince," she joked. Among the songs she sang was an slowed-down, emotional version of "For Once in My Life."McNair's acting career began on television, guesting on series such as Dr. Kildare, The Eleventh Hour, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes and McMillan and Wife. McNair posed nude for Playboy in the October 1968 issue. She caught the attention of the movie-going public with her much-publicized nude sequences in the gritty crime drama If He Hollers Let Him Go (1968) opposite Raymond St. Jacques, then donned a nun's habit alongside Mary Tyler Moore for Change of Habit (1969), Elvis Presley's last feature film. She portrayed Sidney Poitier's wife in They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970) and its sequel, The Organization (1971), and George Jefferson's deranged ex-girlfriend Yvonne in The Jeffersons (1984).McNair's Broadway credits include The Body Beautiful (1958), No Strings (1962), and a revival of The Pajama Game (1973).McNair starred in her own 1969 television variety series The Barbara McNair Show, one of the first black women to host her own musical variety show. The show, which was produced in Canada by CTV (at CFTO/Toronto) lasted three seasons in first-run syndication in the United States until 1972, at the time she married Frederick Andrew Manzie (Rick Manzie), Mr. Manzie managed Barbara McNair and produced the show with Burt Rosen, they formed ABR Entertainment and the rights to the show are owned by the Manzie Family. The show starred A-list guests like Tony Bennett, Sonny and Cher, The Righteous Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Freda Payne, and many more entertainers that became superstars.On December 15, 1976, her husband, Rick Manzie, was murdered, in their Las Vegas Bruce Street Mansion and Mafia boss-turned-FBI-informant Jimm
Full Name
Barbara McNair
Net Worth
$11 Million
Date Of Birth
1934-03-04
Died
February 4, 2007, Los Angeles, California, United States
Height
1.6 m
Profession
Actor, Singer
Education
American Conservatory of Music, University of California, Los Angeles
Nationality
American
Spouse
Charles Blecka, Ben Strahan, Rick Manzie, Jack Rafferty
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Movies
The Organization, They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, Change of Habit, Venus in Furs, Stiletto, Spencer's Mountain, Neon Signs, The Lonely Profession, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!
TV Shows
The Barbara McNair Show
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Quote
1
When I'm working in a club, I must go from one song to another rapidly, and I don't have much time to express myself emotionally. In a movie, you can concentrate on one scene at a time. (from a 1969 interview with the Washington Post, explaining why she found movie acting more rewarding than singing)
2
Lenny Bruce used to say about me that I was a Caucasian, that someone took a paintbrush and painted me brown. White people are not aware that Negroes look all kinds of different ways.
3
When I was making a lot of movies, they didn't want the women to look too black. But black people objected to that policy, so then the industry did a reversal -- went all the way in the other direction. For the industry to limit itself to one look or another is unrealistic.
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Fact
1
Within a span of four years experienced the losses of her mother - Claudie McNair (August 12, 1976), husband - Rick Manzie (December 15, 1976), mother-in-law - Pearl Manzie (June 1977), and father - Horace McNair (November 14, 1979).
2
During her career Barbara experienced racism from time to time. When she appeared in "No Strings"--a musical by Richard Rodgers set in Paris in which a black fashion model falls in love with a white novelist--she endured obscene phone calls and hate mail. She once walked out of a hotel in Miami that offered her a room but forbade her to swim in the hotel pool. A few times she was forced to eat in the employees' dining room in hotels at which she was performing because blacks weren't allowed to eat in the main dining room.
3
Has a sister, Jacqueline Gaither.
4
Mafia boss-turned-FBI-informant Aladena Fratianno (aka "Jimmy the Weasel") wrote in his book, "The Last Mafioso", that McNair's late husband, Rick Manzie, was a Mafia associate who tried to put a contract on the life of a mob-associated tax attorney with whom he had a legal dispute, but he was murdered in 1976 before the contract was fulfilled.
5
She was once voted one of the most beautiful women in the world.
6
The 1970s were tragic times personally and professionally for her. Professionally, her TV variety show was canceled, she was out of recording contracts and could find no film work. On the personal side, her career suffered after she and husband Rick Manzie were charged in 1972 with heroin possession, even though she was later cleared of the charge. On December 15, 1976, Manzie, who had underworld ties, was executed gangland-style in their Las Vegas home while Barbara was in Chicago performing at a nightclub. Six months later she was testifying against her tax accountant, who cheated the IRS by compromising his rich clients (including Barbara, who wound up owing back taxes of over $137,000). In 1977 her brother Horace was arrested for forgery and burglary and imprisoned for a couple of years (he was found shot to death in 1981). Her father Horace died in 1979.
7
Won Talent Scouts (1948) (aka "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts") by singing "Lullaby of Broadway."
$11 Million