Dorothy Dandridge, First Black Nominated for Best Actress Oscar

Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) could sing and dance with the best of them. Though her marriage to Harold Nicholas was brief, she could more than hold her own on stage with the famed tap duo, The Nicholas Brothers.

Dandridge started performing as a child in local variety shows, and then eventually made a career for herself in films. Her portrayal of the lead role in Carmen Jones brought her positive acclaim, including the honor of being the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award as best actress.

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Dorothy Dandridge: Childhood

Dorothy was born in Cleveland in 1922 to parents who separated shortly before Dorothy’s birth. Her mother, Ruby, was an entertainer who had appeared in nightclubs, radio, film and early television. (She was best known for her role on the radio show, “Amos ‘n’ Andy.”)

When Dorothy’s mother and father split, her mother took the two children, Vivian and Dorothy, to live with a woman who became Ruby’s partner, Geneva Williams. Ruby and Williams saw performance potential in the girls and started working with them on an act. Billing them as the “Wonder Children,” Ruby and Geneva soon put them to work in vaudeville.

A few years later, Ruby spotted another child, Etta Jones, in the girls’ dance classes. She felt Jones would complement the act. When Ruby and Geneva moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s, they took with them Vivian and Dorothy and the other little girl. (This is not the Etta Jones who went on to be a jazz singer.)

The three children began performing as the Dandridge Sisters. In 1934 they won a radio contest over stiff competition (including “white” competition), and their bookings grew.  Eventually they toured Europe and performed at New York’s Cotton Club as well as the Apollo Theater. They also traveled to perform in the South where the girls were permitted to appear on stage but had difficulty finding a restaurant to serve them a meal or a lodging house where they could stay. (See The Green Book: A Travel Guide for African Americans.)

Dorothy Dandrige: On Her Own

In 1940, Dorothy wanted to go out on her own, and this broke up the group. She and sister Vivian began getting small non-credited roles in several films. In 1941 she appeared in the filmed musical, Sun Valley Serenade, and danced with Harold Nicholas of the famed tap duo, the Nicholas Brothers.

Here is their scene, Chattanooga Choo Choo with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers:

The musical number is spectacular, but at that time, the Motion Picture Production Code reviewed all films. Those sent to southern states usually had scenes with Black actors edited out. Some theaters removed the entire tap number from the film because the performers were Black.

First Marriage

Harold Nicholas and Dorothy Dandridge married in 1942.  Dandridge cut back on performing, but rumors filtered back to her that Harold was cheating on her.

Dorothy was expecting their first child, but when she went into labor Harold had a golf game so he dropped her off at her sister’s instead of taking her to the hospital. With the delay, Dorothy did not have medical help. After Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas was born, it became clear that the baby suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen during the birth.

Dorothy cared for the baby at home for a time, until she realized institutional care was necessary. Dandridge placed her daughter in a private hospital that could guarantee round-the-clock care.

In 1951, she divorced Harold Nicholas and returned to performing in night clubs. She was a sensation at the Mocambo nightclub on the Sunset Strip when she opened with Desi Arnaz’s band. For the next several years, she was booked at all the best clubs in L.A., New York, London, and Rio de Janeiro.

Continued Career Success

In 1953, she was cast in her first starring dramatic film role, Bright Road, appearing opposite Harry Belafonte. She played the part of a teacher in the South helping a troubled boy. Belafonte was the principal.

After Bright Road, she auditioned for the role of Carmen Jones in a film of the same name. It was to be a remake of a stage musical adapted from the opera, Carmen. Otto Preminger was casting the film, and the story goes that when Dandridge first auditioned for the role, Preminger pronounced her wrong for the part. He wanted a more “earthy” character.

Dandridge did not take no for an answer, so she went home, chose clothing that seemed more down to earth, and re-did her hairstyle. Preminger loved it. She again played opposite Harry Belafonte. Though both had wonderful voices, the operatic nature of the film meant that all the songs were dubbed by professional opera singers.

For this role, Dorothy Dandridge was nominated by the Academy for Best Actress in 1955.

Many believed that Dandrige should have won, but the competition was stiff. Also nominated were Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman. Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl. However, the nomination catapulted Dandridge into a new public arena. She graced the covers of many magazines including Ebony and Look. She was the first Black woman to be featured on the cover of Life (11-1-1954).

Dandridge also began a four-year affair with Preminger which caused a lot of whispering. Interracial dating raised eyebrows, and affairs needed to be well hidden.

Challenges After Nomination

After Carmen Jones, Dandridge expected great roles to come her way, but film producers were not comfortable casting a Black woman opposite a white man. In addition, the films with Black stars generally did not do as well at the box office so fewer films were made.  

When the first big part came to her, that of Tuptim in The King and I, Dandridge was inclined to take it.  But Preminger insisted she turn it down, telling her she shouldn’t accept a role as a slave.

Rita Moreno took the part, however, and went on to stardom.

Finally in 1959, she was offered the part of Bess in Porgy and Bess, playing opposite Sidney Poitier. The film encountered many delays, which led to Preminger coming in to direct. He and Dorothy had broken off before this, and the work did not go well. Porgy and Bess was a bust.

New Try at Marriage

In 1959, she married Jack Denison, a restaurateur, who took over her life. He started managing her money and had her perform in his restaurant in an effort to save it. When that didn’t work, he drained her bank accounts. 

Dandridge finally divorced him in 1962, but by this time she was bankrupt. After years of her daughter being cared for in a private institution, there was no longer money to pay for it. Harolyn (1943-2003) had to be moved to a state institution.

After the divorce from Denison, she tried to revive her nightclub career, but she was drinking heavily. One morning she was to leave Los Angeles for a booking in New York. When she did not come down to the car, someone went up to check on her. She was found dead in her apartment from a likely barbiturate overdose. She was 42.

Dorothy Dandridge once said, “If I were white, I could have captured the world.”

Dandridge’s Legacy

By the 1990s, people were beginning to realize that Dorothy Dandridge deserved to be remembered for her pioneering work in entertainment.  In 1997, a biography of Dandridge was published, and that year the New York City Film Forum sponsored a two-week retrospective of her films.

Today she has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and her image is part of a sculpture by Catherine Hardwicke that is located at the corner of Hollywood and La Brea. The sculpture was built to honor multi-ethnic ladies in the cinema, and in includes Mae West, Dolores del Rio, Anna May Wong, and Dorothy Dandridge.

In 1999 Halle Berry won Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Dandridge in HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

For the story of the first African American to win an Academy Award, read about Hattie McDaniel who won for her portrayal as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

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