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Dorothy Dandridge: Carmen Jones
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Dorothy Dandridge was an African-American singer and actress. She began her career performing in clubs such as The Mocambo, Cafe de Paris, and La Vie en Rose. After gaining popularity, she was offered film roles. In 1954, Dandridge played the lead role of Carmen Jones, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Dorothy's life came to an unfortunate end in 1965 when she died of a drug and alcohol overdose.
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Dorothy Dandridge is an icon, the first black actress to be nominated for an Academy Award (Carmen Jones 1954). Coming up through the chicken circuit at a time when black actresses were relegated to black films, she refused to be contained. Krisztina (who grew up in Hungary) has always admire Dorothy Dandrige and shot these photos in honor of her spirit - a spirit that lives on today.
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The smoldering beauty of Dorothy Dandridge could set off fire alarms. She was one of Hollywood's first Black sex symbols, starring in films such as Carmen Jones (1954). She was the first Black woman to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category and the first to become part of the Hollywood social set. She was indeed an astonishingly talented and beautiful woman with wide sex appeal.
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When Dorothy Dandridge played a 1953 engagement at the glamorous Mocambo nightclub in Los Angeles, cigarette girls sold copies of Charles Alfred Kinsey's ''Sexual Behavior of the Human Female'' as a publicity stunt. That was one small measure of Dandridge's phenomenal sultriness, thanks to her rare mix of poised elegance and voluptuous beauty. Reviewing her great triumph on the movie screen, The Hollywood Reporter put it succinctly: ''Dorothy Dandridge in 'Carmen Jones' -- Wow!'' Describing another of her nightclub appearances, Time said aptly that she ''came wriggling out of the wings like a caterpillar on a hot rock.''
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The troubled life of Dorothy Dandridge, the first African-American woman to garner an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress (for CARMEN JONES) is dramatized in this fine made-for-HBO film from director Coolidge (RAMBLING ROSE). Gorgeous Berry shines as Dandridge in a role she seems born to play. Dandridge's close relationship with her manager (Spiner) is examined, as is her affair with director Otto Preminger, along with her first marriage to dancer Harold Nicholas, with whom she gave birth to a mentally disabled daughter. Aside from her personal struggles, the film ... demonstrates the rampant racism of 1950's Hollywood which she had to endure throughout her short career.
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Thanks to black pop-culture authority Bogle?not to mention Whitney Houston, who purchased the film rights to this biography?Dorothy Dandridge's name is on the lips of adoring fans as well as of those who know little about her. Dandridge (1922-65) led a life of glamour and stardom, beginning as a child performer when her mother, Ruby, put her and her sister Vivian on stage as the Wonder Kids. Her nightclub act made her famous, and she was at the height of her career in 1954 when she played the starring role opposite Harry Belafonte in Carmen Jones. She made the cover of LIFE magazine and was the first African American to be nominated for a Best Actress OscarR. Dandridge was never comfortable with the media's obsession with her sex appeal... and she forever blamed herself for having mothered a brain-damaged child. This and other tragedies overwhelmed the star, and, despite a comeback attempt, Dandridge gave up on life.
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Carmen Jones