StatsBirth Name: Dorothy Jean Dandridge Born: 9 November 1922 Died: 8 September 1965 Country of origin:  United States Height: 5' 5" Ethnicity: Black / African descent
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About:
Born: Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Died: West Hollywood, California, USA.
Father: Cyril Dandridge (25/10/1895 to 09/07/1989) a cabinetmaker and minister
Mother: Ruby Dandridge (née Butler) an aspiring entertainer.
Sister: Vivian
Spouse(s):
Harold Nicholas (1942-1951)- divorced: 1 daughter (Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas - born on 02/09/1942)
Jack Denison (1959-1962) - divorced
Dandridge's parents separate
Born: Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Died: West Hollywood, California, USA.
Father: Cyril Dandridge (25/10/1895 to 09/07/1989) a cabinetmaker and minister
Mother: Ruby Dandridge (née Butler) an aspiring entertainer.
Sister: Vivian
Spouse(s):
Harold Nicholas (1942-1951)- divorced: 1 daughter (Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas - born on 02/09/1942)
Jack Denison (1959-1962) - divorced
Dandridge's parents separated shortly before her birth. Ruby Dandridge soon created an act for her two young daughters, Vivian and Dorothy, under the name of "The Wonder Children." The daughters toured the Southern United States for five years while Ruby worked and performed in Cleveland. During this time, they toured non-stop and rarely attended school.
With the start of the Great Depression, work dried up and Ruby Dandridge moved to Hollywood, where she found steady work playing domestics in small parts on radio and film. "The Wonder Kids" were renamed "The Dandridge Sisters" and booked into such venues as the Cotton Club and The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.
Dandridge's first on-screen appearance was a bit part in a 1935 Our Gang short. In 1937 she appeared in the Marx Brothers feature 'A Day at the Races'.
In 1940, Dandridge played a murderer in the race film 'Four Shall Die'. All of her early parts were stereotypical African-American roles, but her singing ability and presence brought her popularity in nightclubs around the country. During this period, she starred in several "soundies", film clips designed to be displayed on juke boxes, including "Paper Doll" by the Mills Brothers, "Cow Cow Boogie", "Jig in the Jungle", "Mr. & Mrs. Carpenter's Rent Party."
In 1954, director and writer Otto Preminger cast Dandridge in his production of 'Carmen Jones'. Dandridge's singing voice was dubbed by Marilyn Horne. The film received favorable reviews, and Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming only the third African American to receive a nomination in any Academy Award category.
Dandridge married dancer and entertainer Harold Nicholas on 6th September 1942 and gave birth to her only child, Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, on 2nd September 1943. Harolyn was born brain-damaged and the couple divorced in October 1951.
Dandridge married Jack Denison on 22nd June 1959 but the pair divorced amid allegations of domestic abuse and financial setbacks.
At this time, Dandridge discovered that the people who were handling her finances had swindled her out of $150,000, and that she was $139,000 in debt for back taxes. Forced to sell her Hollywood home and to place her daughter in a state mental institution in Camarillo, California, Dandridge moved into a small apartment at 8495 Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood, California. Alone and without any acting roles or singing engagements on the horizon, Dandridge suffered a nervous breakdown. Shortly thereafter, her manager Earl Mills started arranging her comeback.
On 8th September 1965, Dandridge spoke by telephone with friend Gerry Branton. Dandridge was scheduled to fly to New York the next day to prepare for her nightclub engagement at Basin Street East. Several hours after her conversation with Branton ended, Dandridge was found dead by her manager Earl Mills. Two months later a Los Angeles pathology institute determined the cause to be an accidental overdose of Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. She was 42 years old.
On 12th September 1965 a private funeral service was held for Dandridge at the Little Chapel of the Flowers, then she was cremated and her ashes were entombed in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, USA.
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 Premature Deaths (Actors) (124 person items)" Died: September 8, 1965 (aged 42)
Cause of death: Embolism or Overdose (Suicide)
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 All Time Hottest Women (99 person items)"
Born into poverty during the Great Depression, Dorothy Dandridge may have seemed like an unlikely candidate to inspire future generations of black entertainers like Halle Berry, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Janet Jackson. Her parents gave her an early start in showbiz—acting in a troupe that toured the South, which eventually led to steady film work. Dandridge’s career peaked in 1954, when she won an Academy Award for her role Carmen Jones—the first black actress to do so. Until then, Dandridg"
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