Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge (
November 9,
1922 –
September 8,
1965) was an
American actress. She was the first
African American to be
nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress.
She was born in
Cleveland, Ohio to Cyrus Dandridge and
Ruby Jean Butler. Cyrus and Ruby split up 5 months prior to Dorothy's birth. Dorothy had one sister:
Vivian Dandridge. Dorothy also had
multiracial ancestry. Her mother, Ruby was mixed with
Jamaican,
Mexican, and
Native American and her father, Cyrus was a first-generational
mulatto.
Beginnings
Dorothy Dandridge began singing in her church's choir. Ruby Dandridge—an ambitious, small-time local performer who would become a successful stage and screen actress—created an act with Dorothy and her sister that performed as "The Wonder Children"; Dorothy Dandridge was only age four. The "Wonder Children" toured in the South for five years with Ruby's lesbian partner Geneva Williams while Ruby, for the most part, continued working and performing in Ohio. Some biographies document this period as the start of the sexual abuse Dorothy would suffer from Geneva until adolescence. Dorothy toured non-stop and seldom attended school during this period.
With the start of the
Great Depression, work for the Wonder Children dried up as it did for many of the "Chitlin' Circuit" performers. Ruby Jean Butler Dandridge packed the family (Vivian , Dorothy, and her lesbian lover/friend Geneva Williams) and moved to Hollywood in search of a new career for her daughters and herself. In Los Angeles, Ruby found steady work, playing a domestic in small parts on the radio and in film. During this time Geneva continued to train and rehearse the girls; Dorothy was also re-enrolled in school. Dorothy's first on-screen appearance was as an extra in a
1935 Our Gang short called
Teacher's Beau.
The Dandridge Sisters
The Dandridge Sisters were formed when Dorothy and Vivian were joined by a dancing class classmate Etta Jones. The grouping would be auspicious for Dorothy as the Dandridge Sisters would place her in the public's eye for the first time not as a pretty child but as a startlingly beautiful young woman.
Dorothy's first important role was a small part in the
Marx Brothers'
A Day at the Races in
1937 which her sister, Vivian Dandridge, and Etta Jones appear as "The Dandridge Sisters". The Dandridge Sisters traveled all over the world and even performed at the
Cotton Club with the
Nicholas Brothers. They also appeared in the 1939 film
Going Places, with Maxine Sullivan and
Louis Armstrong. It was also during this time she would meet her future husband
Harold Nicholas.
Going Solo
Dorothy Dandridge did not receive another role until 1940, when she appeared in
Four Shall Die a
race film in which she played a murderer at the age of 19. All of her early roles were stereotypical parts for African American actresses, but her singing ability brought her popularity in nightclubs around the country. During this period, she starred in several "
soundies", video films designed to be displayed on
juke boxes, including
Paper Doll by the
Mills Brothers Cow Cow Boogie, "Jig In The Jungle," "Mr. & Mrs. Carpenters (Rent Party)".
Carmen Jones
|
Dorothy Dandridge and Pearl Bailey in Carmen Jones (1954) |
The most important role of her career nearly escaped her. Until
Carmen Jones, Dorothy Dandridge had maintained subtly different on-screen and off-screen personas. While her natural sensuousness was always apparent, her films to this point generally portrayed her as the "nice girl" in contrast to her club performer presence. Biographers write that she was directed to read for the character Cindy Lou (eventually cast with Olga James). However, Dorothy auditioned for Carmen in full costume and character.
Carmen Jones would also mark the beginning of her on-screen and off-screen relationship with director
Otto Preminger.
Dorothy Dandridge was cast in
Carmen Jones, the remake of the play of the same name, in November
1954, receiving a
Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Dorothy appeared on the cover of
Life magazine, the first African American to do so.
Other Movies and The Ed Sullivan Show
Despite the
Oscar nomination, Dorothy had to go to
Italy to make her next movie,
Tamango, in
1956. Dorothy agreed to play "Tuptim" in
The King and I, but later changed her mind (
Rita Moreno got the part instead). This reneging may have led to her lack of work in Hollywood, and she was once again forced to go on tour and perform at clubs across the nation. In
1957 she played in
Island in the Sun which created much controversy for its display of an interracial romance; in
1959 she starred in
Porgy and Bess starring alongside Sidney Poitier, for which she was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award.
In 1961, Dorothy, elegantly gowned and coiffed, looking relaxed and beautiful, guested on the popular
Ed Sullivan Show. She sang a ballad, giving viewers the chance to hear her real voice. (All the leads in
Carmen Jones had been dubbed with the exception of
Pearl Bailey.) While not operatic, Dandridge's voice was lovely all the same.
Dorothy would eventually marry
Harold Nicholas on 6 September 1942. The couple had one child, Harolyn Nicholas, Dandridge's only child. Harolyn was born on 2 September 1943; she was severely mentally handicapped. The couple divorced in October of 1951. After this marriage, Dorothy became involved with her director,
Otto Preminger, while he was still married. This affair lasted for years, but Preminger refused to divorce his wife and marry Dorothy.
Dorothy married Jack Denison, a white man, on 22 June 1959. Denison was physically abusive and took much of Dandridge's money to put into his restaurant business and into oil deals. Dorothy filed for divorce after two years, but was left in debt. She had to take Harolyn out of a private institution and place her into a public institution.
In 1965, Dandridge was found dead at the age of 42 in her home in
West Hollywood, California from an overdose of
Imipramine, a
tricyclic antidepressant. Modern analysts believe that she may have suffered from
bipolar disorder. As she was depressed and apparently destitute, many speculate that her death was a
suicide, but the official coroner's report did not make a final determination. Of great concern to Dandridge at the time was her financial situation, including home foreclosure and the prospect of having to institutionalize her daughter, a fate Dorothy dreaded throughout Harolyn's life.
However,
Fayard Nicholas maintains publicly that Dorothy's death was the result of accidentally taking pain medication (for a severely injured ankle) in conjunction with her other routine medications.
Fayard Nicholas cites Earl Mills' (then) recent scheduling of two high-paying films in Mexico and several well-paying club engagements as evidence that Dorothy had turned the corner financially and needed only to complete the work to restore her financial health. Her business manager at the time was Jerome Rosenthal, who years later would be found guilty of plundering the fortune of client
Doris Day.
Dorothy's cremated remains are interred in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in
Glendale, California. After her mother Ruby died in 1987, she was interred with Dorothy at Forest Lawn. Her father, Cyril, died in 1989 and her sister Vivian died in 1991 of a massive stroke while her daughter still lives in a California institution.
*She has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6719 Hollywood Blvd.
|
Halle Berry in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) |
*She was placed in the Black Film Hall of Fame in 1977
*Fellow Clevelander
Halle Berry played Dandridge in the made-for-TV movie,
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (
1999), for which she won an Emmy Award. Berry was noted for her striking resemblance to the late Dandridge, and for her engaging depiction of the actress' struggle to succeed in the racially biased industry of 1950s Hollywood. Coincidentally, Berry later became the first African American to receive the Academy Award for
Best Actress in a Motion Picture. In her speech, Berry paid tribute to Dandridge.
*She was an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
*
Teacher's Beau Hal Roach, 1935
*
The Big Broadcast of 1936 Paramount, 1936
*
A Day at the Races MGM, 1937
*
It Can't Last Forever Columbia, 1937
*
Going Places Warner Bros., 1938
*
Irene RKO, 1940
*
Four Shall Die Million Dollar, 1940
*
Lady from Louisiana Republic, 1941
*
Sun Valley Serenade 20th Century-Fox, 1941
*
Sundown United Artists, 1941
*
Bahama Passage Paramount, 1941
*
Ride 'Em Cowboy Universal, 1942
*
Night in New Orleans Paramount, 1942
*
Drums of the Congo Universal, 1942
*
Lucky Jordan Paramount, 1942
*
Happy Go Lucky Paramount, 1943
*
Hit Parade of 1943 Republic, 1943
*
Since You Went Away Selznick, 1944
*
Atlantic City Republic, 1944
*
Pillow to Post Warner Bros., 1945
*
Ebony Parade Astor, 1947
*
Tarzan's Peril RKO, 1951
*
The Harlem Globetrotters Columbia, 1951
*
Bright Road MGM, 1953
*
Remains to Be Seen MGM, 1953
*
Carmen Jones 20th Century-Fox, 1954
*
Tamango Hal Roach, 1957
*
Island in the Sun 20th Century-Fox, 1957
*
The Happy Road MGM, 1957
*
The Decks Ran Red MGM, 1958
*
Porgy and Bess Goldwyn, 1959
*
Moment of Danger Warner Bros., 1960
*
The Murder Men MGM, 1961
*
Biographical sketch*
Findadeath*
Dorothy Dandridge's Gravesite
