Dorothy Dandridge

Notable people · Entertainment · Film · Music · African American History

Dorothy Dandridge

Cleveland-born singer and actress who in 1955 became the first African American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Carmen Jones.

Born November 9, 1922, Cleveland City Hospital (now MetroHealth Medical Center), Cleveland
Died September 8, 1965, her apartment on Fountain Avenue, West Hollywood

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: November 9, 1922, Cleveland City Hospital (now MetroHealth Medical Center), Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) source
Died: September 8, 1965, her apartment on Fountain Avenue, West Hollywood source
Buried: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale (Freedom Mausoleum, Columbarium of Victory, niche 32269, shared with her mother Ruby) source
Also known as: Dorothy Dandridge
Known as: Entertainment, Film, Music, African American History

Life story

Dorothy Dandridge was born at Cleveland City Hospital in November 1922, months after her mother Ruby Dandridge left her father, Cyril. As small children she and her older sister Vivian were trained by their mother as the 'Wonder Children', performing songs and acrobatic dances at Cleveland churches and schools and then touring the South, managed by Ruby's companion Geneva Williams. When the Depression ended the bookings, Ruby took the girls to Los Angeles around 1929-30, so Dorothy's Ohio years were her first seven or so. In California she sang with the Dandridge Sisters, worked nightclubs and small film parts, and in 1954 starred in Carmen Jones, which made her the first African American nominated for Best Actress. Her later career was hampered by Hollywood's limits on Black leading women, and she died in West Hollywood in 1965 at 42.

Ohio ties

Cleveland (1919-about 1929)
her parents settled in Cleveland after marrying in 1919; birthplace of Vivian (1921) and Dorothy (1922) Cuyahoga County · source
Cleveland City Hospital (now MetroHealth) (1922)
birthplace Cuyahoga County · source
Cleveland churches and schools (late 1920s)
performed songs and acrobatic ballet with her sister as the 'Wonder Children' Cuyahoga County · source
Palace Theatre, Cleveland (1954)
Carmen Jones, her Oscar-nominated film, played the Palace Cuyahoga County · source

Timeline

1919 Her parents, Ruby Butler and Cyril Dandridge, married on 30 September and moved to Cleveland. source
1921 Her sister Vivian was born in Cleveland on 22 April. source
1922 Born Dorothy Jean Dandridge on 9 November at Cleveland City Hospital, about five months after her mother left her father. source
late 1920s Toured Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and other states with Vivian as the Wonder Children, earning $400 to $500 an appearance. source
1930 Was attending McKinley Junior High in Pasadena after her mother moved the family to California during the Depression. source
1934 The act became the Dandridge Sisters, with dance-school friend Etta Jones. source
1940 Opened at the Cotton Club in New York City. source
1941 Married dancer Harold Nicholas and appeared in the 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' number of Sun Valley Serenade. source
1954 Starred opposite Harry Belafonte in Carmen Jones, which played the Palace in Cleveland that year. source
1954 Became the first Black woman on the cover of Life, on 1 November. source
1955 Lost the Best Actress Oscar to Grace Kelly at the ceremony of 30 March, the first African American nominated in that category. source
1959 Co-starred with Sidney Poitier in Porgy and Bess and married nightclub owner Jack Dennison on 30 June. source
1963 Filed for bankruptcy with debts of more than $100,000. source
1965 Found dead on 8 September in her West Hollywood apartment by her manager Earl Mills. source
1992 The Library of Congress added Carmen Jones to the National Film Registry. source
1999 HBO's Introducing Dorothy Dandridge starred and was produced by Halle Berry, born in the same Cleveland hospital. source

Stories

The Wonder Children

Ruby Dandridge drilled her two Cleveland-born daughters in acrobatics, songs and skits and billed them as the 'Wonder Children'. Her companion Geneva Williams, known as Neva, played piano for them and managed the act, and both girls suffered under her harsh discipline. In the late 1920s the sisters toured Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and other states, earning $400 to $500 an appearance. The 1929 crash ended the bookings. Ruby bought four bus tickets and took the family to Los Angeles, hoping for film work, and in 1934 the girls re-formed as the Dandridge Sisters with Etta Jones.

Source

Two Clevelanders and one role

Halle Berry was born in the same Cleveland hospital as Dorothy Dandridge, almost half a century later. As a child she saw Dandridge in Carmen Jones and remembered her as someone who 'jumped off the screen'. In 1999, at 33, Berry starred in and executive-produced the HBO film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She told Newsweek she saw parts of her own life in Dandridge's, from the scarcity of leading roles for Black actresses to the despair that followed a failed marriage.

Source

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Birthplace: Cleveland City Hospital, now MetroHealth Medical Center main campus
2500 MetroHealth Drive (Scranton Road site), Cleveland Cuyahoga County · source

Ohio places

Where Dorothy Dandridge was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Cleveland City Hospital, Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County
Connected: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
Connected: Cleveland City Hospital, Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County
Connected: Cleveland churches and schools, Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County
Connected: Palace Theatre, Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Dorothy Dandridge, and what the record shows.

Often said Dandridge was born in 1923 (the year given by the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History).

The record Find a Grave and Wikipedia put her birth on 9 November 1922. Wikipedia's article on her mother says Dorothy was born in 1922, about five months after Ruby and Cyril Dandridge divorced, and her sister Vivian was born in April 1921. source

Often said Dandridge was the first Black performer nominated for an Oscar.

The record Hattie McDaniel was nominated for, and won, Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind at the February 1940 ceremony. Dandridge's 1955 nomination was the first for an African American in the Best Actress category. source

Often said Dandridge died of a deliberate drug overdose.

The record The cause was disputed and never ruled a suicide. A Los Angeles pathology institute found an accidental overdose of the antidepressant imipramine, while the Los Angeles County Coroner concluded she died of a fat embolism from a recently fractured right foot. source

Often said Dandridge grew up in Cleveland.

The record She spent only her first seven years or so in Ohio, much of it touring the South with her sister while her mother worked in Cleveland. By 1930 she was at school in Pasadena, California. source

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Screenshot of Dorothy Dandridge from the trailer for the film The Decks Ran Red.
Public domain
Theatrical poster for the film Carmen Jones (1954).
Public domain
Publicity photo of Dorothy Dandridge
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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Jet magazine
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