Dorothy Dandridge

Actress

• Born: November 9, 1922
• Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
• Died: September 8, 1965
• Place of death: West Hollywood, California

Actor, entertainer, and singer

Dandridge rose to stardom for her title role in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. She was the first African American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Area of achievement: Film: acting

Early Life

Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 9, 1922. Her parents, Cyril and Ruby Dandridge, separated before her birth. Ruby created an entertainment act for Dandridge and her older sister, Vivian, to perform on the Chitlin Circuit, a nationwide vaudeville tour route for African American acts. The Dandridge girls’ act, called the Wonder Children, toured the circuit throughout the Great Depression.

Eventually Ruby moved with her children to Hollywood, California, where she hoped to make a career for herself in acting. There they lived with Geneva Williams, Ruby’s female partner. Because of Ruby’s long hours making contacts in the film industry and attempting to secure acting parts, the girls were often left alone with Geneva, who was strict and sometimes cruel. She kept an exacting schedule for the girls, that included lessons in singing and dancing. Soon the girls became a trio that included aspiring singer Etta Jones. Called the Dandridge Sisters, the group sang at exclusive clubs in New York and performed in several, usually uncredited, film roles, including in The Big Broadcast of 1936 and the Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races (1937).

While performing at the Cotton Club in New York in 1938, Dandridge met Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Dandridge later pursued a solo career and performed with the Nicholas Brothers in the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade, which starred Glenn Miller. Dandridge and Harold dated and eventually married on September 6, 1942. A year later, Dandridge gave birth to a daughter, Harolyn (nicknamed Lynn), who was found to be mentally challenged. Emotionally distraught, Dandridge eventually decided to commit Lynn to the care of a full-time nurse. Harold often was touring throughout Europe, and he urged Dandridge to move there with him, insisting that she would find it easier to get work since there was no segregation in Europe and African American artists were better treated. Although Dandridge did have several performances in London, she often returned to the United States to visit Lynn. The marriage dissolved in 1951.

Life’s Work

After her divorce, Dandridge enrolled in acting classes with the Actors’ Laboratory in Hollywood. She hired a manager, Earl Mills, who took control of her bookings. When she appeared on April 11, 1955, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, it was the venue’s first presentation of an African American entertainer. She also performed throughout Las Vegas, which was segregated at the time. Ever the professional, Dandridge made a name for herself despite prejudicial treatment, and her shows became so popular that they were often standing room only.

Eventually Dandridge obtained several acting jobs, beginning with the portrayal of Helen Fielding inFour Shall Die(1940), which featured an all-black cast. She had numerous smaller, often uncredited parts until she was cast in the film Bright Road (1953). Her role as Jane Richards brought her to critics’ attention. Dandridge was then cast in the 1954 film Carmen Jones, a role for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Although Dandridge lost to Grace Kelly, who starred in A Country Girl, Dandridge’s nomination was heralded as a success for the black community, who originally rejected the film. Dandridge’s nomination was later celebrated by Life on November 1, 1954; Dandridge was the first African American to appear on the magazine’s cover.

The Academy Award nomination and Life cover were the peak of Dandridge’s career. Although she continued acting, her films failed to gain positive critical attention. She signed a three-picture contract with producer Darryl F. Zanuck, but she turned down the role of Tuptim in The King and I (1956). Dandridge soon regretted the decision because the film later won five Academy Awards. Film offers were not as steady as she anticipated, and she accepted work where she could find it. She played the lead role of Bess in Porgy and Bess (1959). The film (based on a 1935 opera of the same name) was directed by Otto Preminger and was criticized by the black community, so Dandridge accepted the role with reservations. Work on the film was emotionally draining, and she was relieved when production finished, even though it resulted in a Golden Globe nomination for her performance (she lost to Marilyn Monroe in 1959’s Some Like It Hot). Dandridge later met nightclub owner Jack Dennison, and they married on June 22, 1959; the marriage lasted two years. Dennison often beat Dandridge and stole most of her fortune. Dandridge was left with no choice but to sell her house and move into a small apartment.

Dandridge was the original actor in mind to play the title role in the epic Cleopatra (1963), a role that eventually went to Elizabeth Taylor. During this time Dandridge starred in several low-budget films, notably the cult classic Tamango (1958), where she portrayed Aiche, a captive on board a slave ship en route to Cuba. The role of slave was similar to that of Tuptim, which she had previously turned down because she did not want to be stereotyped in “black” roles; however, she accepted the part because she needed the money. Dandridge was in the throes of a depression and could think of nothing other than her daughter, who, because Dandridge was strapped financially, had been placed into state care. She began drinking heavily and taking antidepressants prescribed by her doctors. Her former manager, Earl Mills, tried to arrange a comeback for her; however, before the start of a tour to New York, he found Dandridge dead in her apartment in West Hollywood. Initially an autopsy revealed that she had died of a blood clot from an ankle injury she had sustained just prior to her death. Later investigations concluded that she died as a result of an accidental overdose of the antidepressant Tofranil.

Significance

Dandridge’s life was testimony to the racism that prevailed throughout the history of the entertainment industry and to the dedication required to overcome it. When Dandridge tried to avoid playing stereotypical roles for African Americans, she ended up having to choose roles that merely showcased her physical attributes. Two of her prominent films, Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess, were criticized by the black community for portrayals of promiscuous characters who had few morals. The Academy Award for Best Actress, for which Dandridge was first nominated, was not given to an African American until 2001, when Halle Berry won for her role in Monster’s Ball. Berry had portrayed Dandridge earlier in a film on her life, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999). However, even Berry’s Academy Award-winning performance included explicit sex scenes, a possible indication that little had changed in the fifty years since Dandridge had been nominated.

Dandridge’s premature death was a loss to the motion-picture industry, even though at the time of her death her name had become obscure. Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, presented posthumously in January, 1984, was celebrated by a large gathering, including former costars such as Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. Dorothy Dandridge Day was observed in Los Angeles on January 18, 1984.

Bibliography

Bogle, Donald. Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography. New York: Amistad Press, 1997. The rights to Bogle’s book were purchased by Whitney Houston and made into a film for Home Box Office (HBO).

Dandridge, Dorothy, and Earl Conrad. Everything and Nothing: The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy. 2d ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Dandridge’s life story is told in her own words and originally was published shortly before her death.

Mills, Earl. Dorothy Dandridge: A Portrait in Black. Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1970. Written by Dandridge’s manager, this is a firsthand account of many of her performances and gives an intimate look at her personal life.