Actor

Big Mama Thornton

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Acting credits

Early stage

Smaller on-screen catalog so far.

TMDB popularity

0.6

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 4Series: 1

TMDB ID: 1882419

IMDb ID: nm1525286

Known for: Acting

Born: December 11, 1926

Died: July 25, 1984

Age: 57

Place of birth: Montgomery, Alabama, USA

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1968 - 2026

Years active: 59

Average TMDB rating: 6.81

Wikidata: Q237527

Also known as

Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton • Willie Mae Thornton

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", in 1952, which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. Thornton's other recordings included the original version of "Ball 'n' Chain", which she wrote. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia