A young Dorothy Dandridge with a group of beauty queens in the 1940s. Photo: Clyde Woods.
(Source: sunshinerepublic)
A rare find on Twitter today via @DandridgeDaily, audio of Dorothy Dandridge introducing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. circa 1963. You know I’m going to look into this further, right?
Dorothy Dandridge and actor Curd Jürgens (her co-star in 1958’s Tamango) enjoy hors d’oeuvres at a party thrown by producer Mike Todd (then-husband of Elizabeth Taylor) for his film “Around the World in Eighty Days” during the Cannes Film Festival in May 1957. Photo by Red Grandy, who has a great story about crashing the party to take this and other pictures.
Dorothy Dandridge presenting an Oscar at New York’s Century Theater on March 30, 1955. She was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Carmen Jones but lost to Grace Kelly who won for Country Girl. Photo: Ebony
Dorothy Dandridge stretching in preparation for her Porgy and Bess role with Walter Saxer, in the January 22, 1959 issue of Jet. Saxer was a Swiss-born personal trainer whose Hollywood clientele included Ingrid Bergman and Jennifer Jones. In 1948, the legendary gossip columnist Hedda Hopper reported that Saxer was hired by Elizabeth Arden as the Physical Director of her Beverly Hills location with plans to put his “rhythmic exercises” on television. I need to pay a visit to the Paley Center to see if that ever happened. I also need to stop by and see their Bill Cosby tribute before it closes.
“Blow on ‘em sugar…” Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge in that iconic scene from Carmen Jones, 1954.
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Dorothy Dandridge as Bess from “Porgy and Bess” for LIFE magazine, 1959.
(via funkchunk)
Dorothy Dandridge being fitted for a gown by designer, Zelda Wynn Valdes in a photo from a 1954 issue of Hue. Ms. Valdes designed for Josephine Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Maria Cole (Mrs. Nat and Natalie Cole’s mother) and other celebs of the day before capping off her career by designing costumes for the Dance Theater of Harlem. I encourage you to pick up Threads of Time, The Fabric of History: Profiles of African American Dressmakers and Designers, 1850 to the Present by Rosemary E. Reed Miller for more information.
Dorothy Dandridge and Harold Nicholas on their wedding day, September 6, 1942. Hattie McDaniel is on Harold’s left.
Dorothy Dandridge with Harry Belafonte and Joe Adams of “Carmen Jones.” Mr. Adams can be seen in the 2003 documentary Dorothy Dandridge: An American Beauty (available on Netflix) discussing Ms. Dandridge and her career.
Dorothy Dandridge singing and dancing “Oh-Ah-Oh” at the Riviera in Las Vegas, 1955.
Dorothy Dandridge and Sarah Vaughan Jet, April 16, 1953.
At Sarah Vaughan Opening: Glamorous singer Dorothy Dandridge was among the scores of well-wishers who welcomed home star songstress Sarah Vaughan, just back from Paris, in her opening at New York’s Birdland Cafe.
