Star of the Month: Dorothy Dandridge
When I first began this blog, I knew that it was imperative that I create a post dedicated to the one and only Dorothy Dandridge. She's in my Top 5 Icons of All Time in pretty much all aspects of life--personally and style wise. She's one of those Old Hollywood stars who never seem to get enough credit for the many talents she possessed. She was a marvelous actress, singer, dancer, and performer. Her life bore a lot of sadness and tragedy juxtaposed with a brief moment of stardom for her most popular and noted performance as Carmen in Carmen Jones (1954). There are so many layers to this woman and I wanted to unpack some of them in this post.
Fascinated and immensely saddened by Dorothy Dandridge's life, I've read and watched many media sources about her childhood and her time in Hollywood. I watched Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1998) when I was younger. The biopic starred Halle Berry (who played Dorothy fantastically!) and was pretty accurate to the documentaries and biographies I read on her. Recently I was gifted Dorothy Dandridge's own autobiography, Everything and Nothing: The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy, written by Earl Conrad and Dorothy herself before her death. Earl Conrad published the book in 1970. I HIGHLY recommend giving this a read!
Dorothy discusses growing up in Cleveland, Ohio as a child performer along with her sister, Vivien Dandridge. Her mother, Ruby Dandridge, was also a performer best known for playing maid roles in films. Dorothy's upbringing consisted of traveling the country as a child performer, having no father actively in her life (he became a part of it much later), and being abused mentally, physically, and sexually by her mother's lady companion, Geneva Williams. She eventually married one of the Nicholas Brothers, Harold Nicholas, and birthed a braindead daughter which resulted in divorce and much of Dorothy's own grief, self blame, and shame. All of these challenges led to Dorothy spending her adult years seeking love in all of the wrong men (including Harry Belafonte who would later become one of Dorothy's dearest friends) and in Hollywood.
Before Dorothy became a film actress, she was a noted singer. She sung all around Harlem in clubs such as, Cotton Club with her group The Dandridge Sisters before branching off on her own. She performed at big venues such as, the Mocambo where she was eventually discovered. Her first starring role was in a beautiful film called Bright Road (1953) starring her and Harry Belafonte (the first of three films they starred together in). This is probably my favorite of her short filmography list as it is a delicate film about a new school teacher, Jane Richards (played by Dandridge), who has high hopes for her first grade class. She has a problem student (played wonderfully by Phillip Hepburn) who she pays extra attention to and tries desperately to not only pass him into second grade but to provide him with a more idealistic view on life.
In her autobiography Dorothy discussed how being on set with all of those lovely, small black children made her cry constantly. She thought a lot about her own daughter and all of the problems she had. Dorothy loved her daughter, Harolyn, more than anything in the world but felt so powerless. She longed for motherhood and a connection with Harolyn. That sensitivity is brought to the film and will make you think about racism, good vs. evil, religion, and children's perspectives on life. I highly recommend and the entire film is on Youtube in three parts (here).
Carmen Jones is Dorothy's biggest hit and resulted in her being the first African American to earn an Oscar nomination in the "Best Actress" category! Dorothy also co-starred in Island in the Sun (1957) which deals with interracial relationships, Tamango (1958) which was a compelling slave tale, Porgy and Bess (1959) which was a controversial slave musical, The Decks Ran Red (1958) which was a sea drama, and a few other films. Her filmography is quite short because post Carmen Jones, she was offered a three deal contract including a slave role in The King and I (1956). She turned down the role because she said that she'd never play that kind of slave role and it was given to Rita Moreno.
In the midst of declining film offers, Dorothy Dandridge was also in a very mental and possibly physical abusive marriage with Otto Preminger (director of Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess). He controlled many of her decisions to turn down film opportunities resulting in Dorothy getting less and less work. She ended up going back to singing in clubs primarily. Her final marriage with Jack Denison (also abusive both mentally and physically) resulted in her losing tons of money due to trying to support both of them and bad business deals. In the end, Dorothy was forced to file for bankruptcy and her daughter no longer had a caregiver placing all of the weight on Dorothy.
Dorothy was a very resilient woman. Before her death, she was preparing for film deals overseas. She was back to training with her personal trainer and accounts of the people around her, says that she seemed ready to begin her career again. Sadly Dorothy died in 1962 at age 42 due to a mysterious drug overdose. Her final film was a British crime drama, Malaga or Moment of Danger (1960). There's also a beautiful performance of her performing "The Man I Love" in 1962 that can be watched here.
I do not want to end discussing Dorothy Dandridge's life on a sad note. She provided America one of the first REAL starring roles of an African American woman. She unapologetically broke boundaries and vowed that she would never play the roles that her mother was forced to play. She wanted romantic roles, dramatic ones too. She wanted the same opportunities that her friend, Ava Gardner had and while she was not really granted it all, her films have stood the test of time! Her performances have inspired so many black actresses and will continue to. She was an activist both in the black community (working with NAACP and National Urban League) as well as for mentally ill children due to her own daughter's ailments.
Dorothy's book revealed so many wonderful and personal facts about Dorothy that I never knew! For instance, she loved soul food and found cooking to be therapeutic. Sometimes in Hollywood she felt that she was losing her roots as a black woman. As a way of grounding herself and making herself feel at home again, she'd cook some of her favorite meals including, chitterlings, pig feet stew, collard greens, etc. She loved dancing and taking care of herself physically. She was also a huge fan of fashion and putting together her own looks. She never had a stylist, all of Dorothy's looks you see in photographs are her own. Her home was a source of pride for her. She loved decorating her space in Hollywood Hills and making it her own. She's just an overall fabulous woman who had to overcome many hardships and sacrifices to get to the place that she briefly had in Hollywood. I look to her for much inspiration, her story and films are definitely worth looking into if you haven't before!
Hope you enjoyed and learned a bit from this post. And I'll see you next week! xx
Disclaimer: I do not own the photographs in this post.