Hattie Noel

African-American singer and actor, born February 2, 1893 or 1896 in Monroe, Saint Martin Parish Louisiana, USA as Celeste Noel, died on November 13, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She sang with the Count Basie band at the Reno Club in Kansas City in 1936, had a spot on Eddie Cantor's radio show in 1938 and later appeared in films: Kitty Foyle 1940; The Return of Frank James 1940; Irene 1940; Lady for a Night 1941; King's Row 1942. She was in the show "Try and Get It" and shared the bill with Louis Armstrong in 1943. Recorded for M-G-M in 1948-1949 on sessions supervised by Dootsie Williams and made further recordings for Williams in c. 1949 (released on Dootone and Blue). She also sang duets with Billy Mitchell. >Married to Antina Parker. She was the live-action reference for the Hippos in the "Dance of the Hours" section of Disney's Fantasia (1940). According to IMDB.com, she also auditioned for the role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939), but lost the role to Hattie McDaniel.