Black History Month Day 4 : Dorothy Dandridge



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an African-American film and theatre actress, singer and dancer. She is perhaps best known for being the first black actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1954 filmCarmen Jones. Dandridge performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. During her early career, she performed as a part of The Wonder Children, later The Dandridge Sisters and appeared in a succession of films, usually in uncredited roles. In 1959, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Porgy and Bess. She is the subject of the 1999 HBO biographical film, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dandridge was married and divorced twice, first to dancer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne) and then to hotel owner Jack Denison. Dandridge died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 42.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Perry Blackwell

Image
I love the 1959 movie "Pillow Talk" which starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
 One of the reasons why it's in my top movie selection is because of the Singer/Actress Perry Blackwell.
She only had one scene in the movie and she sang for most of that scene, but what she did with her expressions and mannerisms spoke much much more. She was also in the 1960 movie "Dead Ringer" with Bette Davis and Karl Malden. There is not much info on her available, but I did discover via a message written by her daughter, that she is a classically trained Pianist and self taught organist.
She played Hammond Organ for years. Also she played with  Sonny Stitt, Wes Montgomery Bros. , Roy Milton and  Louis Jordan.
She worked many gigs around such people as Nancy Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Joe Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie Wilson and Red Foxx.
She worked on the New York jazz scence for a few years, Best known for her 7 year stint at The Parisian Room in Los Ange…
Read more

LaWanda Page

Image
LaWanda Page (October 19, 1920 – September 14, 2002), born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedienne best known for her portrayal of Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Page was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She began her career in show business working small nightclubs, billed as "The Bronze Goddess of Fire," an act which included her eating fire and lighting cigarettes with her fingertips. She performed the cigarette feat on an episode of Sanford and Son, in which Fred held a circus in his front yard.
LaWanda Page and Redd Foxx were very close friends from the time they were pre-teen age. They attended school and grew up together in St. Louis. Later on, they both entered the field of comedy separately and performed stageacts. Page later recorded several live comedy albums for the Laff Records label in the late 1960s and early 1970s under the LaWanda stage name. One release, a gold-selling album called…
Read more