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CNN Live At Daybreak

Extraordinary Career of Gregory Hines

Aired August 11, 2003 - 05:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gregory Hines is being remembered as the greatest tap dancer of his generation. He was a veteran of the stage, film and television and he died over the weekend after losing a battle with cancer.
CNN's George Bauer (ph) has more on the extraordinary career of Gregory Hines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE BAUER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was born on Valentine's Day in 1946 and Gregory Hines danced his way into the hearts of millions. He was an actor and musician, but he'll be most remembered for his fancy footwork. Hines won a 1992 Tony award for the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam" and a year later he worked with another legend, Ben Vereen.

GREGORY HINES: I am exhausted. He exhausted me. He whipped me and threw me and shook me.

BAUER: Gregory Hines was born and raised in New York City. He said his mother urged him and his brother to learn to dance as a way to escape the ghetto. They danced together as children and appeared in musical acts with their father, known as Hines, Hines & Dad. The brothers first came to international attention in 1978 in the musical revue "Eubie!" They went on to other shows on the Great White Way, working together in "Sophisticated Ladies" and "Comin' Uptown." The brothers Hines also appeared together in the 1984 film "The Cotton Club."

On his own, he starred in "The Gregory Hines Show," a comedy which ran on CBS Television in 1997 and '98. And he was later a guest on the NBC drama "Law and Order" and had a recurring role on the peacock network's hit sitcom, "Will and Grace."

Gregory Hines directed two films and he produced another. And he credited his success in part to the civil rights leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

HINES: Every day in America I feel the effects of Dr. King's work and I find that things and aspects of life that were, when I was a child, were sometimes humorous at the notion that black people could achieve these things, are very real today.

BAUER: His dancing made him a legend. Hines teamed with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film "White Nights." And he recalled his younger days, when he realized, as he said, he could walk and talk and dance. "I don't ever remember not dancing," he once said, and dance he did.

Gregory Hines was 57 years old.

George Bauer, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 11, 2003 - 05:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Gregory Hines is being remembered as the greatest tap dancer of his generation. He was a veteran of the stage, film and television and he died over the weekend after losing a battle with cancer.
CNN's George Bauer (ph) has more on the extraordinary career of Gregory Hines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE BAUER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was born on Valentine's Day in 1946 and Gregory Hines danced his way into the hearts of millions. He was an actor and musician, but he'll be most remembered for his fancy footwork. Hines won a 1992 Tony award for the Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam" and a year later he worked with another legend, Ben Vereen.

GREGORY HINES: I am exhausted. He exhausted me. He whipped me and threw me and shook me.

BAUER: Gregory Hines was born and raised in New York City. He said his mother urged him and his brother to learn to dance as a way to escape the ghetto. They danced together as children and appeared in musical acts with their father, known as Hines, Hines & Dad. The brothers first came to international attention in 1978 in the musical revue "Eubie!" They went on to other shows on the Great White Way, working together in "Sophisticated Ladies" and "Comin' Uptown." The brothers Hines also appeared together in the 1984 film "The Cotton Club."

On his own, he starred in "The Gregory Hines Show," a comedy which ran on CBS Television in 1997 and '98. And he was later a guest on the NBC drama "Law and Order" and had a recurring role on the peacock network's hit sitcom, "Will and Grace."

Gregory Hines directed two films and he produced another. And he credited his success in part to the civil rights leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

HINES: Every day in America I feel the effects of Dr. King's work and I find that things and aspects of life that were, when I was a child, were sometimes humorous at the notion that black people could achieve these things, are very real today.

BAUER: His dancing made him a legend. Hines teamed with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film "White Nights." And he recalled his younger days, when he realized, as he said, he could walk and talk and dance. "I don't ever remember not dancing," he once said, and dance he did.

Gregory Hines was 57 years old.

George Bauer, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com