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Blast from the past

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

KARIM WAHEED
Before there were Beyonce Knowles, Halle Berry, Tyra Banks, Vanessa Williams and other dazzling black superstars, there was an immensely talented singeractress who turned every head around in 1940's Hollywood. Her name was Dorothy Dandridge. She was strikingly beautiful, charismatic and her acting skills were no less than her contemporaries like Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Judy Garland. She was everything America wanted in a movie star -- everything except for being white.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is her story -- the
story of dreams unfulfilled, the accounts of double standards in Hollywood and the tale of a woman who was left broken by adverse times. And who better to play Dorothy, the very first African-American Actress to be nominated for an Oscar in the best actress category, than Halle Berry, the first African American actress who won an Oscar as best actress.
The film depicts the private and professional life of Dorothy from the early '40s to her untimely demise in 1965. Her mother Ruby Dandridge, was a busy character actress. Unfortunately for Ruby, the characters offered to black actresses then were mostly of maids and household help. Dorothy and her sister Vivian
werelooked after by their abusive "Auntie".
Dorothy gets married to singer-dancer Harold Nicholas, but soon learns of Harold's promiscuous ways. They have a child together and as her fate would haveit, she discovers her only daughterisintellectually challenged.
Dorothy's luck takes a turn uphill, when she comes across Earl Mills. Millsis determined to make Dorothy a star and convinces her to proceed with 'night club' singinginstead of pursuing acting. Reluctantly Dorothy follows his suggestions and becomes a hit for her vivacious performances. Her success as a performer fetches offers from Hollywood. Soon, Dorothy finds herself working with famed Austrian director Otto Preminger and studio mogul Darryl Zanuck. She has a brief affair with Otto, who cannot accept Dorothy publicly, as Dorothyis not white.
Dorothy makes history as the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Actress in 1955 for her portrayal of Carmen in Carmen Jones. She ultimately lost to Grace Kelly. As her career takes its ups and downs, the pressure begins to be too much for Dorothy and she sets herself on a course of self-destruction. She dies virtually unnoticed, on September 8, 1965 from an overdose of Tofranil, an anti-depressant she was taking.
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge does an amazing job of depicting not only the life of a star, but of a period in American history that saw racial minorities being treated as third class citizens. The racism that Dorothy had to face makes the film extremely eye-opening. The thought that Dorothy couldn't swimin a pool with whites due to "health reasons" or was not let to get into clubs through the main entrance or having to use paper cups as she couldn't use "white only" restrooms, might seem insane to us today, but it is exactly the kind of humiliating treatment she received.
Although Halle Berry is widely known for her remarkable performances in Jungle Fever, Losing Isaiah and the Oscar winner, Monster's Ball, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge presents a Halle Berry who is not just an actress, she becomes Dorothy Dandridge. For the role, Halle won a Golden Globe award, an Image Award, and was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild in 2000 as best actress and she deserves all of those honours. Brent Spiner as Earl Mills shows that he is capable of doing more than playing a pale android in Star Trek. Klaus Maria Brandauer is fantastic as Otto Preminger.
The soundtrack of the movie is a 'must have' for music aficionados who are heavily into the '40's 'swing music' and jazz. Besides classics such as I Got Rhythm and Chattanooga Choo Choo, there are also a few new swing compositions by Bill Elliott. Halle's singing voice in the movie was that of Wendi Williams, making for a credible portrayal of Dorothy as a night club singer. The original compositions by Elliott fit seamlessly into the movie.