An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 7/25/2020
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"I can't play a slave."
As a counterpoint to Lesson #19 in this series, Dorothy Dandridge holds the distinction of being the first-ever black actress to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (Carmen Jones, 1954). The popularity and acclaim from that role also landed her on the cover of the November 1954 issue of Life --another first for an African-American woman.
Dandridge was born in 1922, to a dedicated show business family in Cleveland. She and her sister Vivian were encouraged by their mother Ruby --also an entertainer-- to sing in black churches during the Depression, but then the family moved west to Hollywood to pursue the cliche. Dandridge's musical talent eventually led to small stage roles and then to small film roles --one early head-turner was her beguiling appearance in a 1951 Tarzan film, Tarzan's Peril.
In 1957 Dandridge featured in a remake of Island of The Sun, which drew harsh criticism for its depiction of interracial romance --a stringent taboo in Hollywood at the time. In 1959 she starred in a film adaptation of the musical Porgy and Bess with Sidney Poitier; while the film itself fared poorly at the box office, it did garner the first-ever Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for a black woman --another first for Dandridge. Sadly while Dandridge's later life fell into many of the stereotypical Hollywood tragedies (including failed marriages, salaciously-reported affairs, bankruptcies, and other tabloid fodder), her career marked a turning point for black actors: proof that black women could be cast as something OTHER than giggling maids or sexless nurturers. Dandridge's brief but incandescent life very much blazed a trail for later superstars --such as Angela Bassett and Halle Berry-- to follow.
Recommended reading: Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography by Donald Bogle (1997)
Next page - Lesson 22: Crispus Attucks