Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress and singer. She was the first African American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Carmen Jones (1954), a performance which also earned her a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. Dandridge had also 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, Dandridge was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and a Laurel Award for Porgy and Bess. She was the subject of the 1999 biographical film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, with Halle Berry portraying her. In 1983, she was recognized, posthumously, 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 in 1965 at the age of 42.