Women's History Month: Dorothy Dandridge

Here's to pioneering African American film star and performer Dorothy Dandridge.

Dorothy's mother, Ruby Dandridge created an act for her two young daughters, Vivian and Dorothy, under the name of "The Wonder Children." The daughters toured the Southern United States for five years. During this time, they toured almost non-stop and rarely attended school.

At the onset of the Great Depression, work virtually dried up for the Dandridges. "The Wonder Kids" were renamed "The Dandridge Sisters" and booked into such venues as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City.

Dorothy first gained fame as a solo artist from her performances in nightclubs.

Her first screen appearance was a bit part in an Our Gang comedy in 1935. In 1937, Dorothy appeared as one of the many singers in the Marx Brothers' feature film A Day at the Races. She played a murderer in the race film Four Shall Die — her first credited film role. Though the part was a supporting role and the film was somewhat of a success, Dorothy struggled to find good film roles.

The following year, she was cast opposite John Wayne in Lady From Louisiana (1941), playing the small part. That same year Dorothy teamed with her future husband Harold Nicholas in Sun Valley Serenade.

She married Nicholas in 1942, and gave birth to her only child, Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, in 1943. Harolyn was born brain-damaged, and the couple divorced in 1951.

In 1951, Dorothy was cast as Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba, in Tarzan's Peril. Her role was somewhat minor, but she would be noticed by many. One night while at a party, Dorothy was introduced to music manager Earl Mills. Mills had agreed to get her a career started as a singer, but Dorothy preferred to focus on the motion picture industry. Despite this disagreement, she signed Mills as her agent.

In 1954, Dorothy signed a three movie deal with 20th Century Fox. Soon after, director and writer Otto Preminger cast her along with Harry Belafonte and Pearl Bailey in an all-black production of Carmen Jones. However, Dorothy's singing voice was dubbed by opera singer.

The film received favorable reviews, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming only the third African American to receive a nomination in any Academy Award category but the first African-American to be nominated for best actress.

In 1955, 20th Century Fox selected Dorothy to play the supporting role of Tuptim in the film version of the Broadway hit The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner. The character was a slave, which made her decline the offer.

In 1959, Columbia Pictures cast Dorothy in the lead role of Bess in Porgy and Bess; she was again nominated for an award, this time for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Dorothy lost, this time to Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot.

Despite positive reviews, Porgy and Bess was a box office failure. The film's characters were described by several African-Americans as "stereotypical": Bess was a drug addict, Porgy a crippled drunk. Many believed these characters pandered to stereotypes about African-Americans, adding to its controversy.

The actor who got the most blame for the failure of Porgy and Bess was Dorothy. Before the film, many other African-American actresses and actors looked up to her as someone who had proved that an African-American woman could achieve what a white woman or man could. But many thought Dorothy was "selling out" when she accepted the role of Bess.

A few weeks after the box-office disappointment of Porgy and Bess, she was released from her 20th Century Fox contract.

Dorothy married Jack Denison in 1959, although the pair divorced amid allegations of domestic violence and financial setbacks. At this time, she discovered that the people who were handling her finances had swindled her out of $150,000, and that she was $139,000 in debt for back taxes. Dorothy was forced to sell her Hollywood home and to place her daughter in a state mental institution.

On September 8, 1965, Dorothy was found dead by her manager in her home. Los Angeles pathology institute determined the cause to be an accidental overdose of Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. She was 42 years old.

Many years passed before the entertainment industry acknowledged Dorothy's legacy and contributions to the role of African-Americans in film. She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her impact on the motion picture industry.