Dorothy Dandridge: Bronze Beauty Quiz

Answer: November 9, 1922

Dorothy Jean Dandridge was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Ruby Dandridge,also an actress. Her mother left her father, Cyril before Dorothy was born, however Dorothy did see him a few times throughout her life. She had a sister, one year older, Vivian Alfretta Dandridge.

Answer: The Wonder Kids

They traveled throught the midwest and southern USA in halls and churches and for other social events. This began when Dorothy was at least four years old. They would sing, dance, do acrobatics, and do skits that Ruby, their mother, wrote. This continued throughout the Great Depression, when they later had Etta Jones, a third member join.

They were renamed "The Dandridge Sisters". Dorothy was opposed to this and never really talked to Etta because she never considered her "a sister".

Answer: Harold Nicholas

She married Harold Nicholas, of the brother tapdance-duo, "The Nicholas Brothers" at the age of 19 in 1941. They bore a mentally retarded daughter, Harolyn. After Dorothy grew tired of Harold's philandering she divorced him after a few years of marriage. Jack Denison became her second husband in 1959. Peter Lawford dated her for some time. Fayard was Harold's brother. Harold passed away in 2000, Fayard in 2006.

Answer: Jane Richards

This film gave Dorothy more notice. She played a school teacher helping a struggling student in her class. Her short-time boyfriend, Harry Belafonte played the principal. It was one of the first all-black movies in which the characters were not stereotyped. Before that time the only roles available and accepted for Blacks were as maids, mammies, and Uncle Tom style characters. Margot Seaton was the name of her character in "Island In The Sun" (1957), Suzanne Nicholas was the middle and last name of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, and Geraldine Branton was the name of her former sister-in-law and best friend.

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

The term was probably coined by Lena Horne when she referred to her as..."our Marilyn Monroe". They were both famous sex symbols who became victims of their own circumstances, both tragically dying of barbituate poisoning. Dorothy, Marilyn, and Ava Gardner became friends early in their careers in the mid to late 1940s when going to the Actors Laboratory.

The friendship later drifted apart due to Marilyn and Ava's quick success, Dorothy's slow success, and the promiscuous behaviour both Ava and Marilyn displayed, that Dorothy just couldn't be a part of.

Answer: "Carmen Jones" (1954)

Dorothy played the title role of Carmen Jones, and her short-time boyfriend, Harry Belafonte played Joe. Carmen Jones was based on George Bizet's opera "Carmen". "Carmen Jones" was also a Broadway play. Dorothy's character was a parachute factory worker and prostitute who tried to seduce Joe, a Corporal in the army who had a girlfriend, Cindy Lou. It would be Dorothy's most memorable role.
Pearl Bailey, who played Frankie, didn't like Dorothy. She accused her of trying to "take her husband" several years before this film, when Dorothy had her star as a nightclub entertainer.

Answer: Halle Berry

Coincidentally, Halle Berry portrayed the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category, and 48 years later, Halle would be the one to win it! Whitney, Jasmine, and Janet were all in the running for the role.

Answer: Everything And Nothing

Before Dorothy even began writing, her friends tried to convince her not to do it, to save her image. Dorothy felt it was something she had to do. It was rumored that Dorothy even changed a few details, like stating that her mother's lover's name was Eloise Matthews, when records show that it was really Geneva Williams. Dorothy finished the autobiography weeks before her death, and it was originally published in 1970, the copyright renewed in 2000 by Earl Conrad, who wrote the foreword of the book.

Answer: September 8, 1965

Dorothy died of an overdose of anti-depressent pills in her Sunset Strip apartment. It was declared an "accident" but the thought of suicide still lingers in the minds of people. She was 42 years old, and would have turned 43 exactly two months and a day later.

Answer: True

Dorothy was cremated and interred at the Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California. Her mother was interred beside her in 1987. Her sister Vivian passed away in 1991, her father in 1989. Her daughter Harolyn was still in an insitution when Dorothy died. Dorothy Dandridge never saw her sister, Vivian for at least six or seven years before her death. Vivian never made it to the funeral because she only found out days afterward.

Her father Cyril didn't attend because her mother Ruby gave him the wrong date. Whether it was intentional or an accident will never be known.