The film was controversial for its time period, and the script was revised numerous times to accommodate the Motion Picture Production Code requirements about interracial relationships. Ruby Jean Dandridge (née Butler; March 3, 1900 – October 17, 1987) was an American actress from the early 1900s through to the late 1950s. Her Family Was Full Of Performers. They split in 1962. As children, Dorothy and her older sister, Vivian, traveled to schools and churches around the country performing in song-and-dance skits scripted by their mother, who longed for a career in show business. She was an actress, known for Beulah (1950), Dead Reckoning (1947) and Cabin in the Sky (1943). [25], Dandridge had not testified during her civil lawsuit earlier in 1957, but in September she gave testimony in the criminal trial that further strengthened the prosecution's case. Dorothy Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio. The character was largely inspired by and based on Dandridge.[69][70]. We strive for accuracy and fairness. [36] She filed for bankruptcy and went into seclusion before appearing as a lounge act in Las Vegas in 1964. Under consideration, but available to director and writer Otto Preminger to view for suitability was Dandridge's starring role from the previous year, Bright Road. Dandridge signed a new contract in Mexico and was scheduled to appear as the female lead in a film based on outlaw Johnny Ringo. [14] She had small roles in Lady from Louisiana with John Wayne and Sundown with Gene Tierney (both in 1941). Dorothy Dandridge’s father, Cyril. The Dandridge Sisters continued strong for several years, and were booked in several high-profile nightclubs, including the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. Dandridge is best known for her radio work in her early days of acting. Dorothy Height was a civil rights and women's rights activist focused primarily on improving the circumstances of and opportunities for African American women. Seeking to find a cure, Dandridge had Harolyn receive expensive private care for many years. These films were noted not only for showcasing Dandridge as singer and dancer and her acting abilities, but also for featuring a strong emphasis on her physical attributes. They divorced in 1962 amid financial setbacks and allegations of domestic violence. She and her sister appeared in the Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races (1937), as well as Going Places (1938), with Louis Armstrong. Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born on November 9, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio. Trump is live! [59], In 1995 movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! [65], Recording artist Janelle Monáe performs a song entitled "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes" on her 2013 album The Electric Lady, with Esperanza Spalding. River Phoenix was an Academy Award nominee and promising young actor who died at the young age of 23 from a drug overdose. On September 8, 1965, Dandridge was found dead in her Hollywood home at age 42. When Dandridge threatened to leave the film, the script and her wardrobe was retooled to her liking. Born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, her father Cyril was a minister and cabinetmaker of European (British) and African heritage. In 1958, she recorded a full-length album for Verve Records featuring Oscar Peterson with Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Alvin Stoller (Catalogue #314 547-514 2) that remained unreleased in the vaults until a CD release in 1999. On her own, she danced with Harold Nicholas of the dancing Nicholas Brothers in the 1941 Sonja Henie musical Sun Valley Serenade. Less than two years after they married, their daughter, Vivian, was born in 1921. [8] There occurred, however, an extremely intimate loving embrace between Dandridge and Justin that succeeded in not breaching the code. Some pre-release publicity invited the belief that Dandridge received her first, and only, on-screen kiss with a white actor (Howard) in this film. Dandridge first gained fame as a solo artist from her performances in nightclubs, usually accompanied by Phil Moore on piano. Following her star turn in the 1954 musical Carmen Jones, she became the first African American to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. A.I. [56] A Los Angeles pathology institute determined that the cause of death was an accidental overdose of the antidepressant imipramine,[2] while the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office concluded that she died of a fat embolism resulting from a right foot fracture sustained five days previously. Actress and singer Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. As an international star, Dorothy Dandridge rejected the two lesser roles and they were eventually given to Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno. When the initial director, Rouben Mamoulian, was replaced with Otto Preminger, he informed Dandridge that her performance was not credible, and that she needed intensive coaching to handle such a role. When the Motion Picture Production Code tut-tutted about the film's "blunt sexuality",[citation needed] Dandridge received considerable attention for wearing what was considered "provocatively revealing" clothing. https://www.biography.com/actor/dorothy-dandridge. "[11] Several hours later, Dandridge was found naked and unresponsive in her apartment by her manager, Earl Mills. Although she lost out to Grace Kelly (The Country Girl), Dandridge seemed well on her way to achieving the level of fame and superstardom enjoyed by white contemporaries like Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner. As Walter Winchell recalled, her performance was "bewitching" and Variety said her "performance maintains the right hedonistic note throughout".[21]. [48] Dandridge was private about her daughter's condition, she didn't publicly speak about it until an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show in 1963. Dorothy had a sister named Vivian. Initially reported to be the result of an embolism, additional findings pointed to an overdose of an antidepressant. As a teenager, Dandridge began earning small roles in a number of films. Her mother Ruby--strong-willed and outspoken--left her husband Cyril Dandridge when she was five months pregnant with Dorothy. He was a Baptist minister and cabinetmaker by trade. My mother was a fan of the beautiful and talented, Dorothy Dandridge .. And there will always be a soft spot in my heart for her. Adding to the strain, after Dandridge gave birth to daughter Harolyn in 1943, they discovered that the girl had brain damage. This CD also included four tracks from 1961 (with an unknown orchestra) that included one 45 rpm record single and another aborted single: The tracks "It's a Beautiful Evening" and "Smooth Operator" were aborted for release as a single and remained in the Verve vaults until the Smooth Operator release in 1999. Ruby believed her husband was a spoiled mama's boy who would never leave his mother’s house, so she left. [10], The Wonder Children were renamed The Dandridge Sisters in 1934, and Dandridge and her sister were teamed with dance schoolmate Etta Jones.[7]. She is the subject of the 1999 HBO biographical film, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Branton told biographers that during the long conversation, Dandridge veered from expressing hope for the future to singing Barbra Streisand's "People" in its entirety to making this cryptic remark moments before hanging up on her: "Whatever happens, I know you will understand. As part of the Dandridge Sisters singing group. Denison was abusive and mishandled her money, with Dandridge losing much of her savings to an investment in her husband's failed restaurant. Ruby Dandridge was born on March 3, 1900 in Wichita, Kansas, USA as Ruby Jean Butler. At the 27th Academy Awards held on March 30, 1955, Dandridge shared her Oscar nomination with Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman. ", Hollywood icon Sidney Poitier was the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, receiving the honor in 1964 for his performance in 'Lilies of the Field. Merle Dandridge spent her childhood in different places in the United States, like Wheatland, California, and Bellevue. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born in 1922 to Ruby Dandridge and her estranged husband, Cyril. Her mother was an aspiring actress named Ruby Dandridge. Although Kelly won the award for her performance in The Country Girl, Dandridge became an overnight sensation. The act was managed by her lover, Geneva Williams. ], On April 11, 1955, Dandridge became the first black performer to open at the Empire Room inside New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Although she is remembered today as an entertainment pioneer who paved the way for many Black actresses, her success was oftentimes overshadowed by racism and financial mishaps. [35], By 1963, Dandridge's popularity had dwindled and she was performing in nightclubs to pay off debts from numerous lawsuits. But, if you are familiar with films like Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess of the 1950s, you must also be able to remember the lead characters Carmen Jones and Bess, both portrayed by one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood, Dorothy. Her mother was a struggling entertainer Ruby Butler and father, a minister and cabinetmaker, Cyril Dandridge, but they separated even before Dorothy was born. Actress and singer Dorothy Dandridge found early success in show business by performing with her sister, leading to her first appearances in film. Dandridge did appear in one more role worthy of her talents, opposite Sidney Poitier in the Academy Award-winning Porgy and Bess (1959). This performance, and the general audience's acquaintance with it, did not find Preminger considering Dandridge for Carmen, feeling her presentation in 'Bright Road' would be better suited for the smaller role of the quiet Cindy Lou. [67], In the February 2016 episode of Black-ish, "Sink or Swim," Beyoncé is referred to as the Dorothy Dandridge of her time, citing the star power Dandridge wielded in her day. When Dorothy Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 9, 1922, her parents had already separated. Vivian Dandridge April 22 1921 - Oct 26 1991. With her sultry looks and flirtatious style, Dandridge became the first African American to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Dandridge died under mysterious circumstances at age 42.[4]. Her Father, A Baptist Minister, Left the Family. He's best known for his soft baritone voice and for singles like "The Christmas Song," "Mona Lisa" and "Nature Boy. With Hollywood filmmakers unable to create a suitable role for the light-skinned Dandridge, they soon reverted to subtly prejudiced visions of interracial romance. Alleged by Confidential to have fornicated with a white bandleader in the woods of Lake Tahoe in 1950, she testified that racial segregation had confined her to her hotel during her nightclub engagement in the Nevada resort city. [48], While filming Carmen Jones (1954), she began an affair with director Otto Preminger that lasted four years, during which Preminger advised her on career matters, demanding she accept only starring roles. Even before she was born, Dorothy Dandridge was at the center of a domestic storm. Malaga was her final completed film appearance. Julie Newmar, BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium, "Dorothy Dandridge Hollywood's Tragic Enigma", "Ohio Deaths 1908–1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2002 [database on-line]", "Social Security Death Index [database on-line]", "Dorothy Dandridge's Story A Hollywood Tragedy", "Hollywood's Tryst With Dorothy Dandridge Inspires Real Love at Last", "Dorothy Dandridge Stars in Paramount Picture and Ellington-Anderson Stage Show "Jump For Joy, "Dorothy Dandridge: A Bio of the 1950s Screen Siren", The Confidential Magazine Trial: An Account by Douglas O. Linder, 2010, "Taming the Tabloids, by Darcie Lunsford, American Journalism Review edition of September 2000", "Loew's State Offers 'The Decks Ran Red'; Film About Mutiny on a Freighter Arrives Broderick Crawford, James Mason in Cast", "Dandridge Makes Toughest Movie of Her Career", "Ailing Dot Bows Out After Chicago Debut", "Why Dorothy Dandridge Is Broke: Star's Beauty And Charm Hide Numerous Problems", "Success Was Up And Down For Beautiful Dorothy Dandridge", "The Mystery and Real-Life Tragedy of Dorothy Dandridge", "Tragic Story Of Dorothy Dandridge's Retarded Daughter: Daughter Never Recognized Actress As Mother", "Classic Hollywood's Secret: Studios Wanted Their Stars to Have Abortions", "Cicely Tyson reflects on 'Life of Dorothy Dandridge, "Actress Dorothy Dandridge Honored Posthumously in Hollywood Walk of Fame", "Creative Feature: #BlackMusicMonth – Dorothy Dandridge", "Laura Harrier on Studying Dorothy Dandridge, Halle Berry to Play a Star on the Rise in Netflix's 'Hollywood, "Laura Harrier on Rewriting Hollywood in Netflix's 'Hollywood, "Commodity, Tragedy, Desire – Female Sexuality and Blackness in the Iconography of Dorothy Dandridge", LifeStory: Honor Dorothy Dandridge's Life, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dorothy_Dandridge&oldid=1018992999, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Articles with dead external links from November 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2015, Articles lacking reliable references from September 2015, Articles needing additional references from July 2014, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "F.D.R. Dandridge found it difficult to replicate that success, and her final years were marred by personal and professional problems, until her death at age 42 in 1965. Merle Dandridge was born on May 31, 1975, in the Okinawa, Japan. Pushed into show business at a young age by her mother, Dandridge performed with her sister, Vivian, as a song-and-dance team called the Wonder Children. [37], Dandrige was a Democrat who supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election. Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an African American of Mexican, Jamaican and Native American descent. First, she never knew her father because her parents parted ways shortly before she was born. On the rebound, Dandridge married her second husband, Jack Denison, in 1959, though that proved to be another troubled relationship. © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. Carmen Jones became a worldwide success, eventually earning over $10 million at the box office and becoming one of the year's highest-earning films. [a] This success seemed a new turn to her career and she appeared in New York and at Café de Paris in London with equal success. Meanwhile, Dandridge agreed to play the role of Tuptim in a film version of The King and I and a sultry upstairs neighbor in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts. Her next role, as the eponymous lead in Carmen Jones (1954), a film adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen that also co-starred Belafonte, catapulted her to the heights of stardom. Her mother was Ruby Dandridge, a performer who later found a considerable amount of work in Hollywood herself, and her father had left before Dorothy ever came to know him. Ruby created a song-and-dance act for her two young daughters, Vivian and Dorothy, under the name The Wonder Children. She appeared in several poorly received racially and sexually charged dramas, including Island in the Sun (1957), also starring Belafonte and Joan Fontaine, and Tamango (1958), in which she plays the mistress of the captain of an enslaved ship. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister Vivian Dandridge began performing publicly, usually in black Baptist churches throughout the country. She continued to appear occasionally in films and on the stage throughout the rest of the 1940s, and though performing as a band singer in some good company, Count Basie in Hit Parade of 1943 and Louis Armstrong, Atlantic City 1944 and Pillow to Post 1945. Her father is a former U.S. Air Force serviceman from Memphis, Tennessee. The group landed gigs at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem and performed with top acts such as the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra and Cab Calloway. She won her first starring film role in 1953’s Bright Road, playing an earnest and dedicated young schoolteacher opposite Harry Belafonte. She is recognized for her role in the 1959 movie A Hole in the Head as "Sally". [7] Williams was said to have had a bad temper and to have cruelly disciplined the children. [31] Despite being universally panned, the film generated a respectable audience due to the controversy surrounding Dandridge's wardrobe. [17] In a return engagement at the Mocambo in December 1952, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio agent saw Dandridge and recommended to production chief Dore Schary that she might make an appearance as a club singer, in her own name, in Remains to Be Seen, already in production. She has also starred in 'Swordfish,' 'Die Another Day,' 'Gothika' and the 'X-Men' film franchise. Dandridge soon suffered a nervous breakdown. The Black Belt Treadmill Born in Cleveland in 1922, Dorothy Dandridge had what she called a “crying childhood.” Her father was absent; her mother, Ruby … Relegated to second-rate lounges and stage productions, Dandridge's financial situation grew increasingly worse. In 1959, Dandridge starred in a low-budget British thriller, Malaga, in which she played a European woman with an Italian name. [60], In 1999, Halle Berry produced and starred in the HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. As an African American singer, Dandridge confronted early on the segregation and racism of the entertainment industry. The couple had been … She died on October 17, 1987 in … Dandridge was married and divorced twice, first to dancer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne) and then to hotel owner Jack Denison. [25] Dandridge's testimony along with O'Hara's testimony proved beyond any doubt that Hollywood Research had committed libel at least twice. When it was released in June 1959, it drew mixed reviews and failed financially. They lived with his mother and he did not have steady work to support them. The duo's tap-dancing routine was cut from the version of the film shown in the South. [49] She became pregnant by him in 1955, but was forced to have an abortion by the studio. [25] Four months after her out-of-court settlement for $10,000, she and actress Maureen O'Hara, the only other star who testified at the criminal trial, were photographed shaking hands outside the downtown-Los Angeles courtroom where the highly publicized trial was held. [24], Dandridge was one of the few Hollywood stars who testified at the 1957 criminal libel trial of Hollywood Research, Inc., the company that published Confidential and other tabloid magazines from that era. ', Diahann Carroll was an actress of stage, screen and TV known for her show 'Julia' and films such as 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.'. Dandridge appeared as part of a Specialty Number, "Chattanooga Choo Choo", in the hit 1941 musical Sun Valley Serenade for 20th Century Fox. Ruby had left Dorothy’s father five months before, taking her other daughter, Vivian, with her. Darryl F. Zanuck, the studio head, had personally suggested the studio sign Dandridge to a contract. The film was withheld from a theatrical release abroad until 1960, but went unreleased in the United States until 1962. [12] As a part of The Dandridge Sisters, she also appeared in The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1936) with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, A Day at the Races with the Marx Brothers, and It Can't Last Forever (both 1937) with the Jackson Brothers. [27][28], In 1957, after a three-year absence from film acting, Dandridge agreed to appear in the film version of Island in the Sun opposite an ensemble cast, including James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, and Stephen Boyd. The life of Dorothy Dandridge is a bittersweet tale of career highs and societal induced lows. Dorothy Dandridge, American singer and film actress who was the first black woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress. Her acceptance of the role angered the black community, who felt the story's negative stereotyping of blacks was degrading. With this meeting, and a subsequent viewing of her freer, looser appearances in the 'soundies' material,[19] Preminger gave her the role. [54], On September 8, 1965, Dandridge spoke by telephone with friend and former sister-in-law Geraldine "Geri" Branton. 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