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Dorothy Dandridge: Los Angeles
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Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio on November 9, 1922. Under the prodding of her mother, Dorothy and her sister began performing publicly usually in black Baptist churches throughout the country. Her mother, an entertainer herself, would often join her daughters on stage. As the depression worsened, Dorothy and her family picked up and moved to Los Angeles where they had hopes of finding better work, perhaps in film. Her first film was in the Marx Brothers comedy, A DAY AT THE RACES in 1937. It was only a bit part but Dorothy had hopes that it would blossom into something better.
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With the dramatic roles she wanted to play in short supply, Dandridge resumed her singing career after Porgy and Bess was released. It was while she was on tour in Las Vegas that she met white restaurateur Jack Denison, who, in 1959 became her second husband. Much like her first marriage, this one was a failure almost from the very beginning. Always fearful of poverty, Dandridge had saved much of the money she had earned as an actress, but soon lost everything after making a series of bad investments in her husband's business. Denison then took off, leaving her alone, broke, and depressed; she divorced him in 1962 and was forced to declare bankruptcy the following year. An attempt to revive her acting career went nowhere, and before long Dandridge had turned to pills and alcohol to ease her despair, which took a heavy toll on both her mental and physical well-being.
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Dandridge was one of the few Hollywood stars who testified at the 1957 criminal libel trial of Hollywood Research, Inc., the company that published all of the tabloid magazines of the era. She and actress Maureen O'Hara, the only other star who testified, were photographed shaking hands outside the downtown Los Angeles courtroom where the well-publicized trial was held. Testimony from O'Hara, as well as from a disgruntled former magazine editor, revealed that the magazines paid for what turned out to be false information provided by hotel maids and clerks who were paid for stories. The stories most often centered around alleged incidents of casual sex. When the jury and press visited Grauman's Chinese Theatre to determine whether O'Hara could have performed various sexual acts while seated in the balcony, as reported by the magazine, it was discovered that this would have been impossible. The result was damaging to the tabloid press.
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Dandridge's mother was an entertainer and comedic actress who, after settling in Los Angeles, had some success in radio and, later, television. The young Dorothy and her sister Vivian began performing publicly as children and in the 1930s joined a third (unrelated) girl as the Dandridge Sisters, singing and dancing. In the 1940s and early '50s Dorothy secured a few bit roles in films and developed a highly successful career as a solo nightclub singer, eventually appearing in such popular clubs as the Waldorf Astoria's Empire Room in New York City.
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In September 8,1965 Dandridge was found dead in West Hollywood from an overdose of Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. She was only 42. Biographers believe that she may have suffered from bipolar disorder and that her death was the result of accidentally taking pain medication (for a broken ankle) in conjunction with the other medications. A friend, Geri Branton, said decades later that the ankle injury, sustained while Dandridge was working out at a Los Angeles gym was not serious, and Earl Mills stated that Dorothy was healing and was scheduled to have the cast removed prior to fulfilling scheduled engagements. The Sheriff and Coroner's comment was: "Dorothy Dandridge? She was some kind of a colored singer."
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Dandridge did not completely lose faith in herself... until 1962, when her second husband left her; Dandridge had lost more than half of her savings earlier that year when his restaurant went out of business. Soon after their separation, Dandridge began to drink heavily and take antidepressants. She eventually overdosed and committed suicide on Sept. 8, 1965. Dandridge was 43 years old.
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