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Dorothy Dandridge: Act
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Dorothy Dandridge was both goddess and trailblazer - - Magical in a nightclub, on television or in film - - Mysterious away from the lights, camera and action. Here is the Dorothy you haven't been introduced to - - a close-up look at her triumphant and tragic life.
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Two years' study at the Actors' Laboratory in Los Angeles confirmed Dandridge's ambition to be a film actress in the tradition of earlier black stars such as Fredi Washington and Lena Horne. Like the latter, Dandridge made her way into film via her talents as a singer, which were greatly benefited at this time by a professional and romantic relationship with black composer Phil Moore. As a singer Dandridge had previously lacked range and passion, but under the guidance of Moore she developed her trademark style of sophisticated romance, concentrating on elegant renditions of torch songs by composers such as Moore and Cole Porter. She built a wardrobe of stunning costumes to accent her shapely figure and played at many of the more glamorous nightclubs around the country, generally, as she acknowledged in her memoirs, "singing Caucasian songs for Caucasian listeners."
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Few actresses have dominated the camera as powerfully as Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones. Her polished beauty plays in irresistible contrast to her title character's leonine sexuality and fluid emotions; a man can't decide from moment to moment if he wants to save her from doom, build her a castle, or never let her out of bed. Of course, that's the problem with the boys in this semi-experimental adaptation of Bizet's opera, Carmen.
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Though there are too few of them, considering the times she lived in, there are some powerful scenes depicting those times - including one where Dandridge says that as an Oscar-nominated actress, she shouldn't have to play the Slave anymore. Whoopi, are you listening?
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