Loletha Elayne Falana, famously known as actress, singer, dancer and model Lola Falana, was born on September 11, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey. Falana’s mother and father are of African-American and Afro-Cuban heritage respectively. Falana was born the third of six children and got her start with performing at the age of five. When Falana was nine years old, her family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She studied Jazz, ballet, tap and modern dance throughout her school years. Falana began dancing at nightclubs while she was a junior in high school. In the early 1960’s, while dancing in a chorus line in Atlantic City, Falana was discovered by Sammy Davis Jr. She became his protégé and he cast her as the lead dancer in his 1964 Broadway musical Golden Boy. The mid-1960s brought unprecedented fame for Lola Falana. She released her hit single “My Baby” in 1965 and acted alongside Ossie Davis and Cicely Tyson in the 1966 film A Man Called Adam. Falana achieved international celebrity by acting and singing in Italian films. Her first picture in Italy was a 1967 spaghetti western called Lola Colt: Face to Face With The Devil. Two more Italian films followed in 1968. The Italians dubbed Falana as “Black Venus.” In 1987, Falana was struck with multiple sclerosis. The disease paralyzed the left side of her body, partially blinded her and temporarily impaired her voice and her hearing. She was forced to cancel all Las Vegas concerts and began her recovery for the next year and a half. During this time, Falana converted to Roman Catholicism because she believed that her faith and prayers to God restored her.
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