Audrey Armstrong

Audrey A. Armstrong was born in the Bronx, New York. She was the second of 7 children for Lindsay Armstrong - an immigrant from Trinidad - and his wife Martha - originally from Brooklyn. Audrey left home at an early age to pursue a dance career. She performed in many of the contemporary clubs of Harlem and the Bronx in the Golden Age of Jazz. She was the club dancer (briefly) in the film "To Have and Have Not" (1944) - but most of her dancing was left out in the editing. Later, she danced - much more noticeably - in "Jivin in Bebop" (1946). She married and divorced musician Duke Garrett in the 1950's. She stayed in Harlem for the rest of her life - her last job was working as a hostess. Tragically, she fell off of her balcony and died after 2 months of hospitalization in January, 1973.