Dorothy Dandridge
In 1941, Dorothy Dandridge began her movie career with a role in LADY FROM LOUISIANA. She came to the movies from a long career as a stage entertainer. Her mother was a comedienne and her father was a Cleveland minister. She performed in vaudeville with her sister Vivian. At fifteen she, her sister, and another black girl appeared as the Dandridge Sisters and toured the country in a musical performance. She was sixteen when she performed at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. There she met Harold Nicholas of the Dancing Nicholas Brothers. They married and had one daughter.
Besides her first film, she acted in BAHAMA PASSAGE (1942), DRUMS OF THE CONGO (1942), EBONY PARADE, and THE HIT PARADE OF 1943. She got her first starring role playing a grade-school teacher in MGM’s all black BRIGHT ROAD (1953). Her performance revealed a radiantly complex character. Playing the title role in CARMEN JONES (1954) made Dorothy Dandridge a star. Her nomination for an Oscar as best actress marked the first time a black performer had been nominated for a leading actor award.
“The irony that overshadowed Dorothy Dandridge’s career was that although the image she marketed appeared to be contemporary and daring, at heart it was based on an old and classic type, the tragic mulatto. In her important films Dorothy Dandridge portrayed doomed, unfulfilled women. Nervous and vulnerable, they alway battled with the duality of their personalities. As such, they answered the demands of their times. Dorothy Dandridge’s characters brought to a dispirited nuclear age a razor-sharp sense of desperation that cut through the bleak monotony of the day. Eventually and here lay the final irony she may have been forced to live out a screen image that destroyed her.
Sadly, after her triumph in CARMEN JONES, very few film offers came her way. Bigotry was still strong in Hollywood. The movies offered to her were variations on the exotic, self-destructive woman. In 1957 she played Margot in ISLAND IN THE SUN. She made films abroad, including THE DECKS RAN RED (1958), TAMANGO (1959), and MALAGA (1962). As we saw with Paul Robeson, Dorothy Dandridge left Hollywood, seeking chances to play more complex characters. Unfortunately, these roles never materialized, and she was disillusioned. Her last important American film role was Bess in PORGY AND BESS (1959). In 1965, at the age of 41, Dorothy Dandridge died of an overdose of anti-depression pills.