Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965)

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge – also known as Face of an Angel - is a television movie that is based on a true story: the life and career of Dorothy Dandridge, who was an African-American singer, dancer, and actress. It was shown on US television (HBO) in 1999 and released on DVD in 2004 and 2010. 

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Directed by Martha Coolidge

** Produced by Halle Berry (and five others)

** Screenplay written by Shonda Rhimes and Scott Abbott

** Based on the book Dorothy Dandridge by Earl Mills (1970, 2000)

** Run time: 115 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

** Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965)

** Brent Spiner as Earl Mills – her manager

** Klaus Maria Brandauer as Otto Preminger (1905-1986) – a film producer

** Obba Babatunde as Harold Nicholas (1921-2000) – he was married to Dorothy 1942-1951

** D. B. Sweeney as Jack Denison – hotel owner – he was married to Dorothy 1959-1962

** Loretta Devine as Ruby Dandridge – her mother

** Cynda Williams as Vivian Dandridge – her sister

** William Atherton as Darryl Zanuck (1902-1979) – a film producer

** Andre Carthen as Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) – an actor, a singer, and a civil rights activist

** Benjamin Brown as Sidney Poitier (born 1927) – an actor

PART ONE

This movie is a biography of Dorothy Dandridge. We follow her life and her career as a singer, a dancer, and an actress. Her career began when she was still a child. Dorothy and her sister Vivian performed as The Wonder Children. Later a friend Etta Jones joined them and the duo became a trio known as the Dandridge Sisters, who performed from 1934 to 1940. In the duo and well as in the trio, Dorothy always stood out. In 1940 she began a solo career. Something similar happened with Diana Ross in The Supremes and with Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child.

Dorothy had talent, it was easy to see, but at the time when she began her career, the US was still dominated by segregation and it was not easy for a black woman make it as a national star. Dorothy tried to break down the walls of segregation, but it was a hard struggle. She managed to break down a few walls, but not all. Most importantly, she drew attention to the walls, which would be broken down by others who followed in her footsteps.

In this movie we see the high points and the low points in her life and in her career. We see her triumphs and we see her when there is trouble. We see her when things are going well for her and we see her when she faces so many obstacles that she does not know what to do. She turns to alcohol and pills.

When she was invited to perform at a hotel in Las Vegas, she was told that she could perform on stage, but she would have to enter through the kitchen door. She could not use the front door, she could not use the restaurant, she could not get a room, and she could not use the swimming pool.

When Dorothy and her manager Earl Mills complained about these absurd conditions, hotel management temporarily suspended one rule: Dorothy could have a room, but she could still not use the restaurant and she was still not allowed to use the swimming pool. When she dipped her toe in the water, hotel management drained the pool and closed it for repairs!

She was unlucky with the men in her life: her first husband Harold was more interested in golf than in his wife. She had a complicated relationship with Otto Preminger, but after several years she realised that he was just using her and that he was never going to divorce his wife and marry her. He was afraid it would hurt his career if he was married to a black woman. Her second husband Jack Denison lost his hotel and began to drink. Dorothy was the breadwinner in a relationship that was going quickly downhill.

PART TWO

What do reviewers say about this movie? On IMDB it has a rating of 71 per cent. It was nominated for 27 awards and it won 21 of them. Halle Berry won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for her role as Dorothy Dandridge.

If you ask me, the positive reviews and prestigious awards are fully justified. This is a great movie: dramatic, emotional, heart-breaking, and (to top it all) based on a true story. Some parts of this movie you can enjoy, but other parts are painful to watch.

Two scenes are absolutely horrible: the first occasion is in 1940 when Dorothy is 18. She is abused by her mother’s friend and lover; the second occasion is in 1960 when she is 38. She is abused by her second husband Jack. The viewer may well ask: are these scenes really true? Did something like this really happen to her? I am afraid the answer is yes.

As far as I know, this film is fairly close to the true story. It portrays the major facts about Dorothy’s life and career: the good, the bad, and the ugly. This film is honest, sometimes brutally honest, about what happened in her life.

Dorothy was the first African-American woman to receive a nomination for an Academy Award (an Oscar) for the lead role in the film Carmen Jones in 1954. She did not win, but that was not so important. The fact that she was nominated was a major accomplishment, a major break-through.

Halle Berry, who plays Dorothy in this film, won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in the film Monster’s Ball (2001). As of today (2017) she is still the only woman of colour to win a Best Actress Academy Award.

When she received the Oscar, she was deeply moved. In fact, she was crying. When she was able to compose herself, she said: “This moment is so much bigger than me. It is dedicated to Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll,” some of the women of colour who had gone before her, but who were never given this honour.

CONCLUSION

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is a biography of a woman who experienced great triumphs and suffered terrible tragedies, but it is much more than that. It is also a portrait of US society during four decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s; the time when civil rights activists were trying to break down the barriers of segregation.

Dorothy was not a perfect person. She made some bad choices in her life, but she was also a person who had hopes and dreams, who had ideals about fairness and justice, and in this film we see her as she struggles to fulfil her hopes and dreams. There was no happy ending for her. But she made a difference; she paved the way, so others could follow in her footsteps.

This film shows her as a human being. We see not only the talent and the triumph, but also the weakness and the difficult moments. Halle Berry plays the role very well. In some ways, I think, her own life has been a lot like Dorothy’s, with triumphs and tragedies. I cannot say you will enjoy this film, because some parts are painful to watch, but I do think you can appreciate the qualities of both parts. 

 

It is highly recommended.

PS # 1. Dorothy Dandridge was a singer and there are several songs in this film. While Halle Berry plays the role of Dorothy, she does not sing the songs that are included in the film. They are performed by Wendi Williams. But the dubbing is done very well. You cannot tell by looking at Halle Berry that she is not singing these songs herself.

PS # 2. Little Girl Lost is a documentary film about Dorothy Dandridge that is available online; narrated by Peter Graves; released in 1999.

PS # 3. For more information, see the following books:

** Everything and Nothing by Dorothy Dandridge with Earl Conrad (1971) (2000)

** Dorothy Dandridge by Donald Bogle (1997) (1998)

** Dorothy Dandridge by DeAnn Herringshaw (2011)

 

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 Dorothy Dandridge

(1922-1965)

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