Old Hollywood Glamour: Dorothy Dandridge
My first introduction to old Hollywood glamour came from Audrey Hepburn. I was absolutely in love with Hepburn’s charming behavior, transatlantic accent, and classy style. And while I discovered many more female actresses that made up classic American cinema, it was rare to find an ethnic actress that was glammed up the same way these other stars were. Usually the minority or mixed actresses played their character parts with indigenous accents or uncultured behaviors. When I look back on the films now, its clearly a mistake on the part of American cinema for continuing racial stereotypes. While people were glued to the silver screen, they were only seeing colored actresses portrayed in certain ways.
So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered Dorothy Dandridge while watching a young Joan Collins in Island in the Sun. Beautiful, perfectly coiffed, well educated, and just as classy as the other women in the film, (except for that limbo scene, but it was so awesome), Dandridge was an actress that I felt connected to in a new way.
Dorothy Dandridge began her career in a singing performance group alongside her sisters. They booked gigs at the Cotton Club and Apollo Theatre. When she started to book small roles in films, Dandridge courageously rejected stereotypical black roles. Work was hard for her to find, especially for a black actress who did not want roles that would cast her in a negative light. She continued working and performing in nightclubs around the world like Cafe de Paris in London and the prestigious Mocambo nightclub in West Hollywood. Through her talent, she was able to gain recognition from big Hollywood directors and eventually landed a big starring role in Bright Road.
Her breakthrough role however was starring in Carmen Jones, a musical film adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein II's 1943 Broadway musical with an all-black cast. The role led to Dandridge’s nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first African American nominated in the history of the show. She shared her Oscar nomination with other Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman. Although she lost the Oscar to Grace Kelly, the nomination secured Dandridge’s place in Hollywood History and she became an overnight sensation.
Despite all of her outward success, Dandridge had various troubles in her personal and professional life. Her marriages and relationships were haunted with unreciprocated love and respect. As one of Hollywood’s sex symbols, she became a trophy for the men she was involved with, but never treated as a true partner. Some believe her constant heartbreak and tragic relationships led her to self medicate resulting in her tragic death at the young age of 42. One office claimed the cause of her death was an accidental overdose of antidepressant medicine, while another coroner’s office concluded that she died of a fat embolism from a foot fracture she had sustained some days prior. While she was gone too soon, Dorothy Dandridge left a legacy for the actresses that were to follow in her Hollywood footsteps. Many of the black actresses today, such as Halle Berry and Laura Harrier, mention Dandridge as a source of inspiration for their craft and carry on her elegant dynamic spirit in the breakthrough roles they take on today.
