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Humble beginnings -

Dorothy Dandridge was born in Ohio on November 9, 1922. Her mother Ruby was an aspiring actress but had limited outlets for her talent as it was the height of the Jim Crow era. She found a few jobs on the radio and appeared in one movie. Ruby’s father had been a performer in minstrel shows.

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Ruby Dandridge -

Ruby (pictured) struggled to support her two daughters as a single mother. Both children were talented and Ruby had some show business experience herself, so she started a singing and dancing act with the children called The Wonder Sisters.

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Single mother -

Unlike Dorothy’s mother and grandfather, her own father was a traditional man. He worked as a Baptist minister and a carpenter, but his Christian values didn’t stop him from abandoning the family while Ruby was pregnant with Dorothy (left). Their first daughter, Vivian (right), was one year old at the time. 

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The "Chitlin' Circuit" -

The young sisters traveled and performed on the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” This was a series of venues across the US that were friendly to Black performers. The girls started working at such a young age that they didn’t get the chance to attend school.

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The Dandridge Sisters -

As they got older, the girl group morphed into The Dandridge Sisters, adding a young Etta Jones to their lineup in 1934. They performed together for six years until Dorothy outgrew the group and wanted to pursue a solo career in acting.

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Hollywood and school -

Work started to dry up on the “Chitlin’ Circuit” when the Great Depression hit, so Ruby moved her family to Hollywood. There, Dorothy was able to get some small acting roles and finally attend school for a short period.

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Typecasting -

Dorothy landed her first role in the 1940 movie ‘Four Shall Die.’ Black actors were often cast as violent criminals during these troubled times, and Dorothy was immediately typecasted as a villain. She tried to break out of this stereotype but struggled to find more exciting leading roles.

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'Carmen Jones' (1954) -

This changed when she landed her breakthrough role in the hit film ‘Carmen Jones.' Although this would become another stereotypical casting for Black actresses, Dorothy played the lead role of a sultry woman who plays with the hearts of two men. At the time, it was a huge win for her to be cast as a romantic female lead.

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Lip-syncing -

Despite Dorothy’s proven talent as a singer, the director wanted a more operatic voice. He chose the white opera singer Marilyn Horne and had Dorothy lip-sync. The most famous song from the movie is their adaption of Habanera from the opera ‘Carmen.’ The song was called 'Dat's Love.'

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Life Magazine -

‘Carmen Jones’ was a critical and financial success. Dorothy shot to stardom and became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Life Magazine.

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Oscar nomination -

She went on to break another record by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress. She was nominated alongside other stars of the day such as Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn. Grace Kelly won the award for her role in ‘The Country Girl’ (1954).

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Halle Berry -

Despite this historical milestone, it was almost 50 years later when a Black woman finally won the award for Best Actress for the first time. Halle Berry won it in 2002 for her role in the movie ‘Monster's Ball’ (2001). She mentioned Dorothy Danbridge as a trailblazer in her acceptance speech. Berry had already played Dorothy in the 1999 film 'Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.'

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Tabloid target -

Back to the 1950s, Dorothy was experiencing newfound levels of fame, which meant she had to deal with a lot more tabloid coverage. While tabloids have never been particularly kind, they were even nastier in the 20th century. Black stars were often the focus of even more vicious character attacks and false rumors.

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The Confidential lawsuit -

A popular tabloid called Confidential ran an “exposé” on Dorothy and other female stars, claiming they were having extra-marital affairs with men in Hollywood hotel rooms. Thankfully, libel laws did exist at the time. Dorothy sued the magazine and won her case by unusual means.

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Jim Crow laws -

The segregation laws that existed at the time actually worked in Dorothy’s favor in this case. She pointed out that Black people were not permitted to enter the hotels that Confidential claimed she was frequenting for her affairs.

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The Motion Picture Production Code -

Other equally discriminatory regulations existed within the film industry. The Motion Picture Production Code decreed that movies could not depict interracial relationships, putting them in the same category as explicit sexual material and gratuitous violence. In essence, the idea was considered offensive to common decency.

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'Island in the Sun' (1957) -

In 1957, Dorothy starred in a movie called ‘Island In the Sun’ alongside Joan Collins and Harry Belafonte. She was cast as an Indian woman who falls in love with a white man. While the choice to cast her as Indian is problematic, it was a step forward for the portrayal of interracial relationships on screen. The movie had to tread very lightly around the romance to avoid outright defiance of the Motion Picture Production Code.

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Fighting for modesty -

Dorothy Dandridge fought an uphill battle to earn the same dignity and respect that would be given to a white actress. (Although at the time, that still wasn’t much.) In the same way that she stood her ground against typecasting and slander, she also fought for her own modesty.

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'Tamango' (1958) -

She was expected to appear in a tattered bikini and even swim without any bathing suit in one scene of the movie ‘Tamango,’ but she refused. She still kept the leading role and had the wardrobe tailored to her preference.

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The 'Tamango' ban -

Even without the more risqué scenes, the 1958 film ‘Tamango’ became infamous. It was banned in the US for showing an interracial kiss between Dorothy Dandridge and her white co-star, Curd Jürgens. The movie wasn’t played in the US until 1962, when the outdated laws were finally scrapped. 

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Activism -

Given how hard Dorothy fought for her rights in the film world, it’s no surprise that she was an active member of the civil rights movement. She worked closely with the NAACP, and even gave an address alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a freedom rally in 1963.

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Private life -

Dorothy worked incredibly hard to have a successful career and overcome the endless obstacles facing a Black woman in her profession. However, she didn’t have as much success in her personal life. In 1942 she married the dancer Howard Nicholas and temporarily left acting to start a family.

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Harold Nicholas -

Nicholas (right) was prolifically unfaithful and did not commit to family life in the same way. Dorothy gave birth to their daughter Harolyn in 1943 but the labor was difficult and required forceps, which reportedly resulted in brain damage. Harolyn required constant care for the rest of her life. Nicholas left them in 1948.

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Otto Preminger -

Dorothy returned to acting and landed her role in ‘Carmen Jones’ in 1953, along with her next serious relationship. She fell in love with the film’s Austrian director, Otto Preminger. They dated for four years while Preminger was still married to Mary Gardner.

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The studio system -

When Dorothy became pregnant with Preminger’s baby in 1955, her studio forced her to have an abortion. It’s now common knowledge that the film studios employing the actors wielded immense power over their personal lives. They arranged marriages, forced weight loss and abortions, and put them on drugs to make them work longer hours. This incident was the end of the line for Dorothy and Preminger.

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Financial abuse and fraud -

Dorothy also suffered financially at the hands of her treacherous managers. As she was struggling through a nasty divorce, her financial managers had been stealing from her and incorrectly submitting her taxes. They stole over US$150,000 from her earnings and even left her in debt to the IRS for US$139,000.

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Devastating consequences -

Dorothy was in dire straits at this point and was forced to sell her Hollywood home to pay off her debts. She also made the devastating decision to put her daughter in a state-run asylum as she was unable to provide around-the-clock care and work to pay the bills.

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Jack Denison -

Dorothy continued to work in an effort to pay off the rest of her debts and get back on track, but her success was starting to dwindle. She worked as a lounge act, singing in Las Vegas hotels. During that time, she was wooed by the Las Vegas restaurant owner Jack Denison. He sent flowers to her dressing room every single night and they were married in 1959. 

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From bad to worse -

By 1962, Dorothy was going through another nasty divorce. There were allegations of both verbal and physical abuse on Denison’s part. He had also mismanaged her money and lost her savings in bad restaurant investments.

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Bankruptcy -

This only put Dorothy under even greater financial strain and she was continuously moving from one rental apartment to another. Friends reported that she believed her landlords and neighbors were stealing from her which caused her to move frequently. In 1963, she filed for bankruptcy.

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The end -

On September 8, 1965, Dorothy Dandridge was found dead in her L.A. apartment. Just hours earlier she had spoken to friends on the phone and said, “Whatever happens, I know you will understand.” One pathology institute stated that she died of an accidental overdose of her antidepressant medication. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office argued that she died of an embolism after an injury to her foot. She was cremated shortly after her death, so sadly, we’ll never really know.

Sources: (History Collection) (Biography) 

See also: Hollywood scandals that history forgot

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