Just 10 years later, she died penniless and all but forgotten.
Yes, that noble Blacktress, who never played domestic help.
And then who’s career was crushed by the white Hollywood machine."
Credit:©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection; Design: Alex Sandoval
Noxeema Jackson,To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!
Julie Newmar
What Dorothy Dandridge accomplished was extraordinary.
“Carmen Joneswas the best break I’ve ever had,“Dandridge once said.
Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte in ‘Carmen Jones’.getty
“But no producer ever knocked on my door.
There just aren’t that many parts for a Black actress.”
Directed by Otto Preminger,Carmen Jonesturned Dandridge into a sensation, the first Black leading lady.
Jeni Le Gon.getty
The rest of Hornes run at MGM was less auspicious.
The part ultimately went to Hornes good friend, the very white Ava Gardner.
In 1953, Dandridge had her first starring role in the dramaBright Road, playing a demure school teacher.
Lena Horne.Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
After the director was sufficiently blown away, he cast Dandridge as Carmen Jones.
As the titular femme fatale inCarmen Jones, Dandridge eats the screen alive.
Shes seductive and ferocious, in love only with her own freedom.
Dorothy Dandridge c. 1945.Hulton Archive/Getty
And so of course she has to pay for it.
This being an opera, and this being the 1950s, Carmen [70-year-old spoiler alert!]
dies at the end at the hands of a young, inexperiencedHarry Belafonte.
Dorothy Dandridge on the cover of ‘Ebony’.
Pearl Bailey, whosebirthday should be a national holiday).
But that doesn’t take away from Dandridge’s performance.
everett
Carmen Jonesshouldve been the beginning of an illustrious career for Dandridge.
Dorothy Dandridge in ‘Tarzan’s Peril’.everett
Dandridge was also the first Black woman featured on the cover ofLifemagazine.
She was a new kind of Black actress: a leading lady.
And, also importantly, a sex symbol.
Dorothy Dandridge on the cover of ‘Life’.
While experiencing what seemed to be a full acceptance, I encountered not-yetness, Dandridge wrote.
All that promise, all that talent, all for naught.
youtube
Dandridge died in 1965, penniless and all but forgotten.
Dorothy Dandridge at the 1955 Academy Awards.youtube
Not a single Black performer was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars in the 1960s.
But more on that later.
