Dorothy J. Dandridge |
Shortly after working in the film "Irene" (1940), the trio split up. Early in her solo career, Dandridge appeared in more than a dozen short musical films, notably as dream girl of the Mills Brothers singing group in "Paper Doll" (1942). She also played bit parts in feature movies, such as "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941), "Drums of the Congo" (1942), "Lucky Jordan" (1942), and "Hit Parade" of 1943 (1943). In 1942, she married the dancer Harold Nicholas from the Nicholas Brothers. The marriage later ended in divorce and the couple's severely brain-damaged daughter Harolyn, was eventually put in a private institution. Dandridge had long aspired to be a film actress, and after her divorce devoted herself to fulfilling that dream. To support herself and to make contacts, she established herself as a nightclub singer, appearing at important clubs throughout the country. After appearing in a couple of low-budget films, her major breakthrough came when she was cast opposite Harry Belafonte in "Bright Road" (1953). Soon afterward, Dandridge won the coveted title role in Otto Preminger's "Carmen Jones" (1954), an all-black adaptation of George Bizet's opera "Carmen." Her performance in Carmen Jones won her an Academy Award nomination, the first for an African-American. She continued to work in nightclubs, but it was three years before she made another film. One of Dandridge's most important later roles was in "Porgy and Bess" (1959). That same year, she won the Golden Globe Award for best actress in a musical film for her role in the film. Also in that year, Dandridge married the white nightclub owner Jack Denison, who is reported to have been abusive to Dandridge. In 1962, the couple divorced and shortly thereafter Dandridge filed for bankruptcy. By 1965 her career was on the upswing again, but she also continued to drink heavily and would call various friends at night and talk for hours about everything that was going on in her life. During this time period, Dandridge was a very lonely woman and often sounded disoriented. She was given a prescription anti-depresent drug which seemed to lift her spirits. She did nightclub work again but many critics noticed her performances did not contain the magic that they once held. Also in 1965, Dandridge sprained her ankle which resulted in a fracture in her foot. On the morning of Sept. 8, 1965, she rescheduled an appointment she had for that morning to have a cast put on her foot for later that day. A friend of hers later went to Dandridge's Los Angeles apartment but could not get an answer. He later returned around 2pm that afternoon and finally forced his way in the apartment where he found Dandridge dead lying on the bathroom floor in the nude with a blue scarf around her head. Her death was first attributed to a blood clot caused by the fracture in her foot but an autopsy revealed that she had died of an overdose of Tofranil, the antidepressant that she was taking. Whether the overdose was accidental or intentional remains a mystery to this day. Dorothy Dandridge made historic contributions to her profession and her race despite being stereotyped and having only a small number of significant roles. She blazed a new path by showing that African-American women could handle starring roles in white-dominated films. By the end of her short life, Dorothy Dandridge had brought the black actress in films from behind the shadows and had emerged as Hollywood's first authentic movie goddess of color. --courtesy, The Biography of Dorothy Dandridge, a book I read from cover to cover a few years ago
8 comments:
I have not seen any of her work. But I need to!
Wow, I had no idea about 1/2 of this info. She's awesome. Happy B-day Dorthy.
I read Donald Bogle's bio of Dorothy several years ago. I really enjoyed reading about her life. She endured a lot of pain in her life.
Happy birthday, Dorothy!
I love how you recognized one of the most prolific black entertainers of all time. If it wasn't for Dorothy, there'd be no Halle, Angela or Sicily. :-)
On film, her beauty remains hypnotic. I only wish life & the times had be kinder to her. She deserved her rainbow.
Happy Natal Day, Miss Dandridge!
One.
I agree Moanerplicity. @ Juliette Samuel, you're so right.
She was an absolutely gorgeous woman!!!
yes, she was
Post a Comment