Friday, January 8, 2016

Flashback Friday: The Gorgeous & Talented Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandrige was not crazy beautiful but she was also an incredibly talented singer and actress.

Dorothy was born in Cleveland Ohio on November 9, 1922



Via Pop Sugar "As a child in the 1930s, she and her sisters toured the country as The Dandridge Sisters, and at age 13, Dorothy had her film debut in an Our Gang short. As she matured, she appeared in several films, but was mostly cast in stereotypical parts for African Americans"

“Dorothy Dandridge’s looks made the other actresses jealous. She had the most beautiful face and the perfect body, and her smile and eyes were totally mesmerizing.” - Diahann Carroll In 1954


 Dorothy's big break came via the all-black production of Carmen Jones (1954) in the title role. She was so superb in that picture that she garnered an Academy Award nomination but lost out to Grace Kelly in The Country Girl.




"She was beautiful, she could dance, she could sing, and she could act. Most importantly, she had that indefinable magnetism that attracts an audience and holds their attention. In short, she had everything it took to be a major star in the 1950s. Everything, that is, except white skin" via TCM.  




"Right woman. Right place. Wrong time."




Dorothy was married twice in her lifetime and her second marriage to Jack Denison her first was to Harold Nicholas. Their union was plagued with rumors of domestic violence and the couple divorced in 1962. Around that she discovered that her finances were being mishandled and she owed the IRS in back taxes.


Poor investments, financial woes, and a problem with alcohol plagued her short life. She was found dead in her West Hollywood apartment on September 8, 1965 with just $2 in her bank account. The cause of death was ruled a drug overdose, she was only 42 at the time of her passing.



Dorothy once said "If I were white, I would capture the world"


"I don't think a black woman has ever paid as great a price for her blackness than Dorothy Dandridge" - Harrry Belafonte

Wasn't she just gorgeous?!

Gone but never forgotten!
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