Was Diana Ross considered a great actress?

If she was, she wasn’t.

I always wondered why she didn't try a comedy film in the 1980s, she could've been the black Dolly.

She has a high-pitched speaking voice which may not have been good for a lot of serious roles.

OP...you are an idiot. She WAS nominated for Lady Sings the Blues

I sure didn't think so. But maybe it was more the movies she was in.

"The Wiz" killed her career.

She was good in LSTB, adequate in MAHOGANY and terrible in THE WIZ.

Hollywood didn’t make another film with a predominately black cast until A SOLDIERS STORY a few years later.

Thanks Diana.

It’s a very simple answer. She was not considered a great actress. And frankly while I like her music she was also not considered an outstanding singer. She was good but not great

She was good in that TV movie where she played a woman with schizophrenia.

Mahogany looked like it was filmed for $1.99.

Well she certainly thought so.

OP, no one "raved" about her performance in MAHOGANY. The film got mostly terrible reviews, with good reason.

She's like Beyoncé to me. Always "on", can't be vulnerable. She was awful in The Wiz and was responsible for it in ways because she insisted on getting the lead role rather than teenage Stephanie Mills.

My book of greatest movie stars of all time lists her as one of them. Granted, it was published in 1979.

Stephanie Mills would have been 21 when The Wiz came out.

Diana did four movies, one was a 1999 TV movie called Double Platinum where she plays a mother reunited with her daughter played by Brandi.

She play a schizophrenic in a TV movie. She was really good.

I agree r17

Say what you will. NO movie before or after Mahogany provded gay men 3 minutes and 47 seconds of cinematic excellence like this scene!!!

[Quote]She play a schizophrenic in a TV movie. She was really good.

"Out Of Darkness" was that movie. And yes, she was good in it. She should've done more movies. She had the talent to improve, I believe, and become a great actress.

I was taking a "prep. for an audition" class with that bitch, Stella Adler. Diana would sit silently in the back with Sally Kirkland. She attended two classes until Stella called her out by name "Deena, Sally tells me you are about to go into production for "Mahagonny." Kurt Weill was a friend of mine, why not sit here in the front row and we can discuss . . ." with that DIANA and Sally flew out the back door.

Call me Miss Ross, cunts.

Not anymore great than Liza Minnelli

Not really.

I thought she was a terrible actress. She doesn't have the vocal talents needed to portray Billie Holiday, she's far too average looking to be believable as a model and she was far too old for the role of Dorothy Gale. Maybe she isn't really terrible, just terribly miscast.

[quote] She play a schizophrenic in a TV movie. She was really good.

Oh honey, no. That was a Barbara Walters interview.

^^^😂

Years ago in the hey day of The Supremes, Berry Gordy had a number of big shot movie men watch the Supremes do their show so they could conclude who had the biggest potential to be in movies - and their overall answer was Florence Ballard. Berry got rid of them and their decision in a hurry and concentrated on Diana Ross.

OK, Stephanie Mills being 21 is not that old, Dorothy could have been aged up to a teen. Plus Stephanie is short. And yes Stephanie may not have been photogenic enough. There were still plenty of young black female unknowns they could have tried for the role. Diana was just selfish. She was way too old and making Dorothy a schoolteacher in her 30s didn't improve things because kids would not relate to a frumpy-looking schoolteacher.

Diana looked woefully unattractive in THE WIZ. Makeup made her.

[quote] OK, Stephanie Mills being 21 is not that old, Dorothy could have been aged up to a teen.

Wasn't Dorothy already a teen? Judy Garland was around 16-17 when she made the movie.

She was fantastic in Lady Sings the Blues.

She was considered a fabulous entertainer....just like Britney...not much talent wise but her presence was enough to carry her

Whitney should have done the remake: Lady Smokes the Pipe

R31 Actually, Dorothy is a little girl of about 8 or 9 in the original book series and in the more faithful adaptations like Return to Oz. Judy Garland was a teenager and the costume designers tried to make her up to look younger and she was directed to act younger. But clearly she looked her age at 16. Dorothy as a child or teen girl works either way imo. She's meant to a naive sweet young girl. Old ass Diana was miscast and it's her fault because she insisted on being fast.

I could definitely envision her in an 80s comedy with Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor, or Steve Martin. But "Princess Diana" and her Motown team took themselves waaaay too seriously for those shenanigans. Fast forward to Tracy Ellis Ross being a comedic actor.

Diana had a natural quality and was very good in the right role. Unfortunately, there weren't many right roles. She was excellent in Lady Sings the Blues and should have won the Oscar imho.

I've also read that Diana didn't have much self discipline when movie acting - like wanting to improvise because she didn't have the lines down - which certainly would have hurt her acting career if true. No director wants to work with that. Okay, maybe Robert Altman.

Viola Davis is returning to Broadway in a stage adaptation of MAHOGANY. Yes, a musical. Recently found unpublished score by Kander & Ebb.

Liza still deserved the Oscar for Cabaret over Diana

[quote] Diana looked woefully unattractive in THE WIZ. Makeup made her.

She really did. That short, tight 'fro was very unflattering.

[Quote]Berry Gordy had a number of big shot movie men watch the Supremes do their show so they could conclude who had the biggest potential to be in movies - and their overall answer was Florence Ballard.

R28, I believe that. Florence had a natural charisma and sensuality that Diana lacked. Unfortunately, Florence lacked the confidence to make that work for her. Her story is definitely that of "what could've been had things been different."

The Wiz was oddly conceived all around. I found the whole film sinister. When the wicked witch is the least frightening part of an Oz movie, there's something wrong. It was strangely shot, Dorothy being in her 30's and weepy makes everything feel so tragic and sad, and a lot of the magical creatures were eerie instead of charming. If you listen to the original Broadway score, it's bouncy and fun, but they slowed down a lot of the tempos in the film such as the "Soon As I Get Home" song Dorothy sings right after she lands in Oz. The film stretches that out in the same way Barbra Streisand would always slow down her covers of songs. I guess they were trying to make it more dramatic, but it slows down the pace of the movie.

She did a great job with "Home" and it's very moving, but the whole idea to have a 30-something woman playing that role cripples an otherwise fun show from ever taking wing.

[Quote]She did a great job with "Home" and it's very moving

I agree. She gave it her all for this number.

I tried to like The Wiz but it resisted my affection.

I liked her in Double Platinum with the murderer Brandy.

[quote] Actually, Dorothy is a little girl of about 8 or 9 in the original book series

True. Mainly because Baum was pedo who also rallied for the genocide of Native Americans. Little man behind the curtain, indeed.

No she was not

I think R42 is charlie, always dropping you-know-who's-name.

Billy Masters said that Diana’s close ups in DOUBLE PLATINUM were shot with a Navajo blanket over the lens!

Laura Mars would never have put up with Mahogany's bullshit.

I though Billy Masters was dead.

R9 She was excellent in that one - "Out of Darkness."

No, why would she? One good role and a couple bombs does not an acting career make.

I'm not a Ross fan, but I did think she was good in Lady Sings the Blues. The screenplay is what makes that movie bad. All biopics take liberties, but that one travels so far from the facts that it's worthless.

It was probably doomed from the start, no matter who was playing the lead role. At the time of her death, Holiday had still been legally married to her last husband, a pimp and low-level mob thug. He became beneficiary of her estate and was involved with the movie as a consultant. No shock that he got a heroic portrayal as the stand-up guy who's always trying in vain to keep poor Billie away from drugs (an obscene distortion, given their actual history together). No less than Billy Dee Williams was cast to play him.

Fuck NO!

I wonder if she was offered "Claudine."

R56 - I offered her my foot up her ass.

Hiring older actresses to play teenagers is very brave.

True dat r58

Actresses get older?

Diana could have played the Glinda the Good Witch though I like Lena in the role. That was her last role I think and the first she did in over two decades. She mainly did as a favor to her son-in-law Sidney Lumet.

How did Babs feel about Diana putting out The Supremes' Funny Girl album around the same the movie was released?

[quote]"Mahagonny."

Oh, dear.

She should do a hilarious sit-com with her daughter.

She was nominated for an Oscar for Lady Sings. It's Mahoganey where she wasn't nominated.

I would like to see Diana Ross as Mother Courage.

Her ego is so big she rents entire warehouses to store it.

And yet she has done very little promotion for her latest album. I think her ambition is largely gone, which is fine.

[quote] I would like to see Diana Ross as Mother Courage.

Well she already sleeps in a Caucasian chalk circle. It's to keep the ghost of Florence Ballard at bay.

[quote]She mainly did as a favor to her son-in-law Sidney Lumet.

Lena did no favors, she WANTED a role in that damned movie. She wanted to play the witch - the bad witch - and Sidney said NO. LH turned that into a joke in her mostly fabricated life story in the stage show The Lady & Her Music.

She’s a good entertainer, but hardly the best actress or singer.

Diana Ross then and now. She is 78 years of age.

Those are some cock sucking lips.

Her talent has always been her ability to land on her back when times or Barry got hard.

She must use a palette knife to apply all that makeup.

[quote]Diana had a natural quality and was very good in the right role. Unfortunately, there weren't many right roles.

That's not true. Diana was the original choice for The Main Event, but Sue Mengers got the producers to consider Barbra before Diana was even approached. She was then courted to do The Bodyguard with Ryan O Neal (who she actually fell in love with at one point, did she dodge a bullet with that) but Diana objected to the movies heavy nude scenes. They wanted her for The Witches of Eastwick, but Diana didn't want to do an ensemble movie with other women.

She had optioned the Josephine Baker story for years, to no avail. She also got the rights to a remake of Diva in the 90's but couldn't get anyone to do it.

Diane always did her best work on her knees.

R76 She was also offered the Jenifer Lewis role in her daughter's "Black-ish" TV series, but she turned it down, saying she didn't want to be a "gimmick" because her daughter was on the show.

[quote]Berry Gordy had a number of big shot movie men watch the Supremes do their show so they could conclude who had the biggest potential to be in movies - and their overall answer was Florence Ballard.

Those "ooh's" and "ahh's" must have been extremely compelling!

[quote] She was also offered the Jenifer Lewis role in her daughter's "Black-ish" TV series, but she turned it down, saying she didn't want to be a "gimmick" because her daughter was on the show.

What a terrible mother and a lousy team player!

R79 = Diana Ross