Dorothy Dandridge was the first Black film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Carmen Jones (1954).

Her mother created a song-and-dance act for Dorothy and her sister Vivian, “The Wonder Children,” which toured Baptist churches throughout the South, during which they rarely attended school. The Great Depression spurred their move from Cleveland to Hollywood, where a third girl, Etta Jones, whom they knew from a dance class, was added. The act became known as the Dandridge Sisters and played in high-profile nightclubs like the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater, as well as being featured in movies.

Her first break as a solo artist came with Sun Valley Serenade in 1941. The big-budget film featured her with the Nicholas Brothers singing “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

Dorothy’s first credited film role was in Four Shall Die, a 1940 race film that cast her as a murderer. She also had small roles in John Wayne and Gene Tierney movies, but had limited options, especially since she refused to portray stereotypical black roles.

She gained popularity in several “soundies” (film clips that were displayed on jukeboxes), which showcased her song and dance talents, not to mention her remarkable beauty.

Dorothy’s unhappy 1942 marriage to dancer/entertainer Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers turned tragic in 1943 when Dorothy went into labor, and he dropped her at a friend’s without a car while he went golfing. She attempted to delay the birth until he got back, but hours later, they had to find their own way to the hospital where forceps were required for the birth. The baby daughter was born with brain damage that required lifelong constant care for which Dorothy blamed herself. By 1948, the womanizing Nicholas had abandoned his family and Dorothy filed for divorce.

Depressed and frustrated with her slim career choices, she fell into dependence on alcohol and pills. She wanted to act, and joined the Actors’ Lab in LA, along with Marilyn Monroe, with whom she was often compared. In fact, she wanted to do Bus Stop, but what she got was Ebony Parade and Tarzan’s Peril. She concentrated on upgrading her nightclub act, teaming up with jazz musician and stagecraft coach Phil Moore to develop a classy, but sultry image, performing in New York, London, and Paris. MCA signed her and booked TV appearances.

Her successful run at the Mocambo in Hollywood led to her acquaintance with MGM production chief Dore Schary which led to her first starring movie role in 1953’s Bright Road directed by Gerald Mayer, Louis B. Mayer’s nephew. This story of a small-town school teacher was the first time she appeared opposite Harry Belafonte.

In 1953, a nationwide talent search to cast the all-black musical film adaptation of the Broadway musical Carmen Jones (Bizet’s opera Carmen set in a World War II Black setting) brought Dorothy to the attention of director/writer Otto Preminger.  Initially, he did not see her as Carmen, but new manager Earl Mills helped Dorothy transform herself into the character and she burst into Preminger’s office, winning the role. The movie was a success, she got positive reviews and became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Life magazine. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first Black to be nominated for a leading role.  Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl, but Dorothy ended up signing a three-movie deal with 20^th Century Fox, where studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had big plans for her, showcasing her in significant supporting roles in large productions, at an impressive salary.

However, Otto Preminger, her former director and now her lover, insisted she only accepts leading roles. She declined the role of Tuptim in the blockbuster The King and I, which went to Rita Moreno. Dorothy would later view this decision as to the beginning of her fall from grace. 

She went forward with her nightclub career. She became the first black performer to headline at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Empire Room, opening the door for Count Basie, Lena Horne, and other Black performers.

After a three-year absence from film acting, Fox cast her in Island in the Sun, portraying an Indian shop girl who has an interracial love affair with a white man played by John Justin. Controversial for its time, it got favorable reviews and was a success. 

She next starred opposite German actor Curd Jürgens in Tamango. Again, this was about an interracial romance, and she and Jürgens had an affair in real life. Since U.S. production code requirements did not apply to the 1958 Italian film, this film showed Dorothy’s first and only on-screen kiss with a white actor, but the film was banned in the U.S., and Jürgens was married so the affair ended.

Porgy and Bess would become her first major Hollywood film in five years. Director Otto Preminger disparaged her performance, destroying her confidence. The Black community decried the story’s negative stereotyping. Continuous rewrites plagued the production, not to mention the sets and costumes being destroyed in a fire. The film lost money and got lukewarm reviews. Despite this, Dorothy was nominated for a 1960 Golden Globe for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical.

She married Jack Denison, a white Las Vegas restauranteur in 1959, but they divorced in 1962 amid allegations of domestic violence. During this second unhappy marriage, Dorothy was expected to perform in his debt-ridden and shoddy nightclub, which was a humiliating comedown from the classy venues she was accustomed to playing. She also discovered her financial managers had swindled her out of $150,000 and she owed $139,000 in back taxes. Dorothy ended up having to file for bankruptcy and was forced to sell her home and place her daughter in a state mental institution.

Dorothy’s final film was Malaga, a low-budget British jewel heist thriller. Despite some strong sexual chemistry between her and co-star Trevor Howard, the film went unreleased in the U.S. until 1962 and was not a success.

Dorothy was broke, living in a cheap rental apartment, and dependent on alcohol, prescription drugs, and anti-depressants. She struggled to find work and she tried to get her life together, starting to exercise and take voice lessons. She called Earl Mills who had been excluded during her marriage to Denison to help manage her comeback. She got an advance to write her autobiography and signed an independent two-picture deal.  She did a well-received concert in Albuquerque and planned to leave LA the next day for an engagement at New York’s Basin Street East.

On September 8, 1965, Earl Mills found Dorothy dead in her apartment at the age of 42.  The cause of death was thought to be an accidental overdose of an antidepressant, but notes of instruction were placed around in case of her death, and only hours before, she had phoned her old friend Gerry and said, “Whatever happens, I know you will understand.”

Dorothy was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. She will be remembered for her incandescent talent and for opening doors for today’s Black actresses.