Dorothy Dandridge: Carmen Jones Lobby Card
The beautiful and talented Dorothy Dandridge was born on this date in 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio. I try never to think about things that can’t be changed (it does nothing but drive a person mad!) but it is such a shame that Dorothy Dandridge wasn’t given all of the films and roles she deserved. As beautiful and as talented as any, she wasn’t given the chance to shine she should have been given. While I will forever be thankful that she had the opportunity to shine in the films she had (particularly in Carmen Jones, Bright Road, and Porgy and Bess), I’ll always wish she had been awarded more films worthy of her great talent and screen presence.
I’d love to have seen her in… let’s say… a great romantic comedy, a musical (in which she could do her own singing), and a film-noir or two.
Maybe three!
She was simply phenomenal and worked under conditions that had to have been less than ideal. Trailblazers such as Dorothy leave me speechless – the courage, determination, and backbone it took to show up every day and have to fight at least twice as hard as everyone else.
Suffice to say, this lady has all of my respect and then some and I want to simply celebrate her memory today and everyday, for that matter!
Dorothy Dandridge was taken from us far too soon – dying on at the ridiculously young age of 42.
Dorothy Dandridge