Duke Ellington Movies

Beverly Ross, the switchboard operator at a local radio station, jumps at the chance to be the DJ for an early morning show before the soldiers at a...

Cabaret entertainer Ruby Carter shifts her operations to New Orleans and becomes exceedingly popular with the local men.

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots,...

Gracie Allen assumes the "management" of the shop owned by her papa Horatio Allen, turning it into a radio station and then an aviary---with the...

The life of two characters who follow each other beyond the walls.

A rising nineteen-year-old singer by the name of Billie Holiday made her screen debut in this musical landmark, which features Duke Ellington and his...

Duke Ellington and his orchestra play two jazz compositions plus 'Stormy Weather' (sung by Ivy Anderson).

Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier travel down memory lane to see what life was like back in the 1920s. Harry Belafonte introduces this musical,...

Improvisational jazz performance filmed in 1950 by Gjon Mili plus Duke Ellington Trio filmed in July 1966, Count Basie at the Montreux Jazz Festival...

Documentary portrait of the legendary jazz bandleader. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2000.

In 1999, on the occasion of the centenary of Ellington's birth, Franco Maresco commissioned Steve Lacy to perform ten songs by the Duke, which were...

In 1955, on his report, a medical examiner wrote in the box: age, “about 53 years”. Charlie Parker nicknamed Bird just died, at 34. His...

Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra perform "Bli-Blip" with Marie Bryant and Paul White

This short documentary by writer and archivist Ehsan Khoshbakht tells the story of Duke Ellington's concert tour of the Middle East in 1963 and the...

This documentary film features plenty of archival material, also showing Alice Babs from her private side: as a vivacious lady who has held on to her...

Restored film directed by Will Cowan in 1943

A compilation reel of television commercials produced by Story Board Inc.

Joined by the likes of saxophonist Ben Webster and trumpeter Cootie Williams, jazz giant Duke Ellington demonstrates in this collection of...

A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.