- Although a light-skinned Afro-American, her two most famous roles saw her cast as a Pacific Islander ("South Pacific") and an Asian-American ("Flower Drum Song"), respectively. She reprised her roles in both productions in the movie versions.
- Married a young actor, Clement Hall, while in her teens. He died in the 1920s. They had no children and she never remarried.
- A leading black Broadway performer in her heyday, she was personally chosen by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein to perform the roles she played in South Pacific and Flower Drum Song.
- Trained classically at Juilliard.
- The role of Bloody Mary is based on the only true-life person whom James A. Michener met in Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, in the South Pacific. She was Tonkinese. Tonkin, at the time, was in China, and after the French left Vietnam, that area became part of North Vietnam. She arrived in the South Pacific to work on a French plantation owner's farm.
- In the early 30s, she was a special soloist and assistant director for the Hall Johnson Choir.
- Received a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in the Broadway stage version of "South Pacific". She sings in the cast album, but was dubbed in the film version by the actress from the London production.
- Inspired as a child by blues legend Bessie Smith, she only recorded one album of blues in her lifetime.
- American singer and actress, best remembered as Bloody Mary in Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'South Pacific', their Broadway musical version of James A. Michener's novel. She reprised that role in the 1958 film adaptation of the Broadway hit, but in the movie her singing was dubbed.
- Received a 1950 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in the Broadway stage version of "South Pacific". She sings in the cast album, but was dubbed in the film version by the actress from the London production.
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