The 1948 short story "Blue Melody", by J. D. Salinger, and the 1959 play "The Death of Bessie Smith", by Edward Albee, are based on Smith's life and death, but poetic license was taken by both authors; for instance, Albee's play distorts the circumstances of her medical treatment, or lack of it, before her death, attributing it to racist medical practitioners. The circumstances related by both Salinger and Albee were widely circulated until being debunked at a later date by Smith's biographer. HBO released a movie about Smith, "Bessie", starring Queen Latifah, on May 16, 2015.