- Her brother was also an entertainer, Bill Bailey (1912-1978). He is generally credited with being the first to perform the "moonwalk" dance step on film in the classic musical Cabin in the Sky (1943), which starred Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Ethel Waters and Lena Horne.
- Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan (1988).
- According to her daughter Dee Dee Belson, she was highly amused by Garrett Morris playing her in drag on Saturday Night Live (1975).
- Very good friends with Joan Crawford. She sang the hymn "He'll Understand" at Crawford's funeral.
- Appointed as a special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford (1975).
- Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award (1989).
- She was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 1, 1994.
- Won a Special Tony Award for her performance as a replacement in the lead in "Hello, Dolly!" (1968). RCA released a new version of the Broadway Cast Recording with Bailey, the first time this was done during the Broadway show's original run (In 1964, Carol Channing had originated the role).
- In the 1980s, she was the commercial spokeswoman for Duncan Hines Cookies.
- Passed away after collapsing at a local hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- The singer's post World War II performances included 23 appearances upon The Ed Sullivan Show (1948), which included scenes of Ed Sullivan hugging and kissing colored performers sent shockwaves through conventional audiences and helped remove the 'Color-Bar' attitude.
- She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Carmen Jones (1954) & Porgy and Bess (1959).
- Following her death, she was interred at Rolling Green Memorial Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 47-50. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1999).
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