About Dorothy Dandridge

Lena Horne called Dorothy Dandridge"Our Marilyn Monroe"

Click on photos to get full view :)

I am so grateful that my mother introduced me to Dorothy Dandridge at a very young age (4years old to be exact). My mom even named me after Dorothy's Carmen Jones, only with a "K" instead. Ever since I can remember I have admired her hypnotic beauty and couldn't wait to see her work when I got older. One of the first times I viewed many of her movies was on TNT. Ted Turner honored Black History Month by showing alot of our movies on that channel over ten years ago.

When Dorothy was featured, I made sure I taped them. Was fortunate to get the Cain's Hundred episode that Dorothy did (Blue's For A Junkman). For this I must Thank Ted Turner. Now am an avid fan of TCM. Author Donald Bogle has been featured on there many times giving his opinion and expertise on all of his favorite flix and artists; Dorothy without question is always one of them.]

Also my Dearest Uncle Kenneth gave me the original four part series (PBS Documentary) of Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of A

merica's Black Female Superstars. It was such a great gift and will forever remain in my vault of DD's memorabilia.

I dedicate this page to Dorothy Dandridge. Also, am hoping that Donald Bogle, Geri Branton and Earl Mills will get a chance to view this page and find it in their favor. Also, I dedicate this to all of Dorothy's fans and to all that ever knew her.Karmen

ps - Just found out that Jayne Kennedy starred in a film portraying Dorothy Dandridge in the never released movie "The Dorothy Dandridge Story" in 1980. Utimately,the story was produced by HBO and starred another Cleveland native, Ha

lle Berry. The layout was chosen by me and I did not know what type of flower this was. Not until recent did I discover that it was a chrysanthemum. One of DD's favorite flowers. What a coincidence. http://www.myspace.com/dorothyjeandandridge

Dorothy could enter a room and literally have it turn silent. Her measurements were 34.22.36 and her height was 5.4 or 5.5.5

Dottie: A screen writer once grabbedhold of me by the waist, looked closely at my color, and this is what he said I looked like, even after all those trials:"Your skin is neuter. It is all the skin colorings of the world. It is chameleon, it changes in each swath of light, ranging white to dark by the instant. It is buff color, it is East Indian soft, it is South American blend, it can be Israeli, Gypsy, Egyptian, Latin. What is your color? It is a blend of the world's skin tones. Your hair is black, soft, universal. Your eyes are black and white flames; your nose is pert; the color in your cheeks, crimson, is your own and it sets off the tan. You have three small moles, like beauty marks, one just below your right eye, a second below that near the lips, and a third on the chin at the right. These three moles set off the rest of your face."

DNA 1/4 English, 1/4 Jamaican (Mixtures of Indian, English, African), 1/4 American Negro, 1/8 Spanish, 1/8 Indian (Creole Look) "Mulatto" look: lighter skin, the keen features, the straighter hair.

Through childhood her skin color (which friends and associates in later years described in different ways) went from a deep burnt yellow to a startling golden brown, richer, neither dark nor extremely light. Her skin also would take to lights, camera filters, and makeup extraordinary well, and she would be blessed, like most film stars, in having the type of beauty that could be heightened with makeup.

DOTTIE: I could play the part of an Egyptian or Indian or a Mexican, and i'm certainly not the only one. There are other actors and actresses who can do the same thing. There is no reason why a Negro has to just play a Negro because he's a Negro. White people don't do it. They even played Negroe's.

BEAUTY SECRETS Dottie's maid once told her n

ot to conceal her facial moles, but to exaggerate them. She used no cosmetics-nothing but a granular facial scrub which kept her skin smooth, her cheeks red, and the skin tone vibrant. Nothing but that scrub, a little thickening of her eyebrows.

Sydney Guilaroff who served as chief hairstylist at MGM Studios from 1934 to the late 1970s worked with Dorothy. They took pictures. And then Dorothy would take it to the studio and tell them this was just how she wanted to look. By 1953 Dorothy acquired a sumptuous collection of fifty-six gowns that were insured for some $250,000. Among Dorothy's favorite talented clothing designers were Black designer Zelda Wynn, Oleg Cassini, Don Loper, Travilla and Rudi Gernrich.

Dorothy studied modern dance and ballet with dance instructor Olga Lunick. DOROTHY'S OTHER TALENTS Could play the piano very well. She secretly wanted to scat sing. DOROTHY'S PERSONALITY Delicate

Everything and Nothing : The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy By Dorothy Dandridge, Earl Conrad "What, an autobiography? Who are you to do an autobiography? What have you accomplished? If you tell your story, you'll set Negro womanhood back a hundred years. You will do us no good. Nothing in your career has any meaning for the Group." Dorothy was told this by her so called friends when she broke the news that she was doing an autobiography. Me personally, I am so glad she did this book. Feel as though she is speaking to me only. No one in Dorothy's family showed at her funeral. No sign of Ruby, Vivian or Jack. Dorothy: I had everything and nothing. How many human beings are wandering around in the stratosphere of ephermeral fame, with everything and nothing? The tragedies, the suicides, the upset lives that constantly emerge from the celebrity and jet sets suggest that is is a legion of its own. "There was only one decision I could make: I must either kill myself if I was that unworthy, or die of attrition then and there-simply will myself to death, which I felt like doing-or tell my story. Let outsiders decide whether my life, my work, my motherhood, my quest for security, my friendships were so reprehensible, so poor a human story." "The sad theme of my life is the man who wasn't there. My father was not there. My first husband, Negro, wasn't there. My second husband, white, was around for awhile, but at last he wasn't there." "One child had I, and what a wonderful thing it is to bear and rear a human being-but a normal, feeling human being. All the rest is nothing, and all the rest has been nothing. The work was nothing, the applause nothing, the fortune made, that was nothing, and who knows, perhaps in my fury I let it all go." "I am weary now as any river that ever flowed: the disasters, the mistakes, the fortune made and misplaced, the loves held and lost. What do you do when you are still young, and, so they say, still beautiful, and nothing much has meaning except to stay, to last, to hold on, to carry on regardless each day, wondering what for. Then what do you do? Why, of course, you pray."

Earl Mills, Dorothy Dandridge: A Portrait in Black, Holloway House, 1970 Dorothy had a duplex apartment on Sunset Strip. The color scheme of the living room was pink, white and gray. An antique gold sunburst clock stood on the mantel over the fireplace. Grand piano was near a window through which you could see the lighted forest of Los Angeles as it looks in the evening from the Strip. On the walls were a couple of original pictures - a delicate 

scene of Champs Elysee by John Morris (above) and a concept of Cuernavaca by Johannes Schafer. In vases here and there were gladioli and chrysanthemums. Dorothy always had an eye for great detail. Great decorator. The walnut-paneled downstairs den where she read scripts or played records, the shelves were loaded with good books and an ornamental candelabra. Knickknacks were put on special shelves. A Hollywood Hills Home Dorothy owned from 1956 - 1963. It is a four-bedroom 4 1/2 - bath home (built in 1926). Mediterranean-style home, Cerulean Blue exterior, which is about 3,000 square feet in a city-to-ocean view from every room. Her showplace house overlooking Los Angeles cost her sixty-five thousand dollars (now worth over 1.5 million dollars). The custom furniture inside and the added improvements to the house cost in excess of ten thousand. Long living room in beige carpeting that was deep enough to twist an ankle in, the beige walls, the cream-colored frames on the pictures, the long brown sofa, the low round marble-topped table on brown oak legs, the decanters of brandy and wine on the table, the translucent ash trays, the ornamental lamps, the vase choking with flowers she grew in the side yard, the four tan and white square cushions piled in the center of the room, where she sat mostly on the top cushion and the roofed patio.

Among Dorothy's guests to her home were Nat King Cole and his wife Maria, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and his wife Elaine, Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, Hazel Scott, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and many others. Dorothy shared her luxury home with two dogs-Cissy, a mongrel and Duke, a husky. WHAT DOROTHY ATE Corned Beef Sandwich on Rye, not fat, mustard, pickles and peppers. Dorothy served chitlings in a tall stemmed glass. She chopped them up fine and made them into an hors d'oeuvre. Putting a little paprika on top, some Tabasco sauce, and parsley on the side. Chitlings-in fact, all pig products-represented emotional food to Dottie. She turned to pork when she is in some kind of distress. It was a reversion to her childhood when pig products, greens, and blackeyed peas were her usual or most frequent diet. She turned to chitlings after she came home from night club engagements. She could relax with pigs' feet, pigs' knuckles, the smell of pig meat cooking on the stove. She also ate oxtail stew as a child. When she ate she could let down. She could stop being the elegant lady up on the platform singing Caucasian songs for Caucasian listeners. When she got into her own kitchen, she could find corn bread and hush puppies and rice, and it helped her to get her footing again. She could sit around a kitchen and spit those bones out and just be. During the forties Dorothy seldom went to parties and when she did she drank Seven-Up. Some show folk gave her the tag of 

"The Lady", Dorothy secretly liked that. As an adult she would only indulge in soul food once a week.

Vivian Dandridge VIVIAN, SIS Vivian Alferetta Dandridge caused Dottie heartache. Dorothy never heard from Vivian after the premier of Carmen Jones. The last that she heard from her was that she was living in Southern France. Dottie tryed to reach as many friends as she could in France to find Vivian, but never found her. Vivian was married four times: Jack Montgomery(1942-1943), Warren Bracken(?-?),Ralph Bledsoe(1946-1947), and Gustav Friedrich(1958-?). All of her marriages ended in divorce. She was also romantically linked to actor Emmett "Babe" Wallace with whom she had a son, Michael Wallace. "My sister worked twenty-four hours a day to become a star." - Vivian Dandridge Ruby raised her daughters with Dorothy as the little princess and Vivian as her handmaiden. Ruby had pictures of Dorothy all over the house. When Dorothy strolled with Vivian and Etta along the avenues of Harlem or in downtown Manhattan, all eyes fell on Dorothy. Sometimes, Vivian recalled, people actually stopped and stared. "My sister was just gorgeous," said Vivian. "When she woke up in the morning, she was gorgeous." Vivian was one of the vocalists in Phil Moore's act "The Sepia Tones" Author Donald Bogle got a chance to interview Vivian via Otto Preminger. Bogle found her to be very sexy and she possesed a wicked sense of humor and down to earth naturalness. Vivian's skin was smooth and clear. Her hair was pulled back from her face and tied in the back in a neat bun. Vivian had no pictures of Dorothy, Ruby or of her own son. She had to ask Donald Bogle for a picture of Dorothy. Vivian was so skeptical of Donald that she had planned to be with hom for only an half hour interview and wound up being with him for eight hours. Vivian discussed that she had left Los Angeles after having a terrible disagreement with Dorothy. Ten years later, she picked up a newspaper and learned that her sister was dead. "I felt guilty for a long time", said Vivian. As she was developing when younger she was considered sexy with her full hips and breasts. Often self-conscious about her voluptuousness. Vivian had a breast reduction. Vivian Dandridge did not attend the funeral of her sister, admitting that it was just too painful to return. She said, "I grieved in my own way, in my privacy. Dottie knew that I loved her." Vivian later rekindled a relationship with her mother (albeight an adversarial one) until her mother died penniless in a Los Angeles nursing home of a massive heart attack in 1987. Vivian was Ruby's only surviving child, but she left nothing to her in her will. Under the alias "Marina Rozell," later settled in Seattle, Washington, where she lived for the rest of her life. Author Donald Bogle did an interview with Vivian discussing her sister and mother in 1991; later that year when Donald returned, he found that Vivian Dandridge died of a massive stroke, a sad ending to a painful life.

Geri Branton BEST FRIEND, GERI When many had turned their backs on Dorothy in her final desperate years Geri didn't. Geri has always been into politics and books. Geri remembers Dorothy being very generous. "It was pure cafe au lait. Absolutely gorgeous. She had the most beautiful color imaginable. That there is nobody that she have ever seen who had that coloring." Dorothy and Geri bought a house together on 51st Street in Los Angeles, primarily to provide a place for their respective sisters-Vivian and Eloise-to live. The house was a triplex with two apartments in the front and one in the back. "Dottie was pretty", said Geri. "And she had the makings but, Herb Jerffries taught Dottie and Lena to makeup. And Dottie wore makeup like a dream." "Dorothy didn't hold grudges although people did her in all the time. She was never the jealous type either", Geri said. "Frenchmen were crazy for Dorothy. Literally following her down the street or stopping to stare and engage her in a conversation." Geri would go with Dorothy to the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles, with its outdoor restaurants and its quaint boutiques where the two sometimes shopped for children's clothes. Dorothy gracefully walked through the spacious open area looking serene and gorgeous. Men-White men-would catch a glimpse of her and then literally push aside chairs at their table and turn around just to look at her again. Geri believed that people especially men responded to Dorothy's vulernability. People were so drawn to her. And everyone wanted to protect her. One morning, Geri discovered Dorothy still in bed, dazed and disoriented; her face was pale and swollen. Geri tried to get Dorothy up. Then she realized her friend had taken an overdose of sleeping pills. She called for help and got Dorothy to a hospital where they pumped her stomach. Afterwards, Dorothy shrugged off the incident, saying to Geri, "Well, I made a mistake. You know, I couldn't sleep." But it was clearly a suicide attempt. She made another suicide attempt when the tour took her, Geri, Harold and Fayard to Switzerland. Another trip to the hospital. Again her stomach was pumped. Dorothy and Geri use to read books together and played checkers as well. They were both intellects who analyzed alot and were politically active. Geri buried herself in books and classes, which she took at universities in Switzerland and later Italy.

Dorothy Dandridge and Lena Horne DOROTHY and LENA Dorothy occasionally saw Lena Horne at Brother's (an after hours joint ran by a Black male diva). Dorothy was compared to Lena many times. Geri recalled that they'd be friendly with each other, but nothing big. Geri liked Horne whom she thought was an intelligent woman. Geri got invited to Lena's house. But Dorothy was never invitged. The two goddesses would never be close friends. "Dorothy imitated Lena, until you could hardly tell that it wasn't Lena. Her whole personality and everything. She was a great impressionist." - Herb Jeffries The two were constanty compared which Dorothy detested. The national Black publication Our World ran a feature titked "Dorothy Dandridge Learns to Dance." The article read. "She has the voice, looks and sophistication to rival Lena's. And she has something La Horne lacks-pretty legs. What's more, they're dancer's legs." The media-created rivalry between Horne and Dandridge. Two glamorous and desirable Black goddesses were pitted against each other. The media coverage of the Dandridge/Horne rivalry suggest that only one Black goddess at a time could reign. Kind of remind you of Naomi and Tyra. To Horne's credit, she never allowed silly hype to eat away at her confidence. When interviewed by the Los Angles Daily News in March, 1951, Dorothy had said, "Who can improve on Lena Horne?" Privately, though, Dandridge was flattered but uneasy with the comparisons. They merely added to her sense of self-doubt. Dottie: There is no feud between Lena and I. I don't know her too well, but I think that she is an absolutely beautiful woman. I don't know why there is this feeling of similarity, because actually we don't look anything alike. We have absolutely no features that are the same. We may be a little bit similar in color. I don't believe, of what I have seen Lena do on television-and I've never seen her in a nightclub-that I work anything like Lena.

Phil Moore PHIL, Dorothy's Accompanist and Musical Director, lover Phil was an accompanist and musical director for Lena Horne as well. He had a realtionship with Dorothy Dandridge and was instrumental in the success of her nightclub singing career.

Earl Mills EARL MILLS, MANAGER Earl Mills was raised in an orphanage in Chicago. Became a musician with his own band, and later began managing performers. Earl Mills about meeting Dorothy in April 1951"It seemed she became more beautiful each week." November 17, 1951 Dorothy Dandridge signed a contract with Earl Mills establishing him as her manager. "Many memories of being abused or disrespected stayed with Dorothy. No psychiatry could cast them out." - Earl Mills

GREAT FRIENDS

Marilyn Monroe

MARILYN Marilyn Monroe and Dottie became friends when they met as students at The Actors Lab. As two young aspiring actresses enduring the hassles and disappointements of the business, Dandridge and Monroe talked about their careers, ambitions, and aspirations. And sometimes the talk turned to men. They had exercised together. Sometimes Marilyn would forget to bring her leotard, so Dorothy would lend her hers. Marilyn wasn't as neat as Dorothy. Dorothy was a perfectionist, and if somebody used something like that, she was through with it. Dorothy discarded the leotards. Marilyn and Dorothy both took lessons from Phil Moore which whom was a music arranger. Moore coached both Monroe and Ava Gardner at Dottie's Hollywood duplex. According to Moore he remembered Dorothy, rarely the jealous type, raise concerns and an eyebrow about each woman.

Ava Gardner

AVA Once sharing an apartment with Dottie though they maintained two separate apartments in their house off Sunset Boulevard. At one time Dottie came through the back door of the house and found Ava alone with Phil Moore (then Dottie's lover)together in the dark.

Billie Holiday

BILLIE When the cops were after Billie Holiday, shaking her down, she'd stay at Dottie's house until Geri and Dorothy picked her up and got her out of town. Billie would be so high, she wouldn't even know what was happening. While in Philly Dottie visited Billie giving her money and a lof of beautiful wardrobes. She spent alot of time talking to her. Dorothy was considered for the role of Billie Holiday in a movie; however, the project didn't materialize in her lifetime. When the movie did come to pass, the role was portrayed by Diana Ross.

Fredi Washington

FREDI One of Fredi Washington's favorite actresses would be Dorothy Dandridge. They had first met at the Cotton Club in the 1930's. 

Etta Jones 

ETTA, DANDRIDGE SISTERS MEMBER Etta's mother was of German and Jewish descent and her father was Black.

Peter Lawford

PETER Actor Peter Lawford (pictured above) was married to one of the Kennedy sisters but before the marriage, he only had eyes for Dorothy Dandridge, some say, she was the true love of his life. One evening, they almost went public with their relationship up until the last minute when they decided-it would be a bad career move for both of them. They arrived at a Cole Porter party separately. When Dorothy walked in, every man in the room (including Richard Burton and William Holden) couldn’t keep their eyes off her. Peter Lawford found her irresistible. Lawford was far more taken with her than she was with him. He even told her, he loved her. At Dandridge’s funeral, Lawford was so devastated by grief; he was unable to deliver the eulogy.

Zelda Wynn

ZELDA Designed clothes for Maria Cole, had first met Dorothy during a trip to Los Angeles. The two established a good working relationship. "She had a gorgeous figure. She was a person you could just fall in love with. Just a lovely person. She was good on fittings." Zelda realized that her designs had to not only please Dorothy (she loved them), but also Dorothy's Svengali Phil Moore.

Herb Jeffries

HERB Actor and friend Herb Jeffries gave both Dorothy Dandridge and Lena Horne makeup tips. Herb was a wizard with the makeup brush who had given them suggestions and he understood the use of a foundation base, lipstick, rouge, mascara, and lighting for dramatic effect. In time, he became the man who helped Dandridge early in her career to make the visual transition from girlishly cute ingenue into young glamour goddess. Much like Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner, Dorothy Was a natural beauty, Jeffries explained, who looked beautiful without makeup. "But there's a theatrical look", said Jeffries, who had experimented with makeup for Black Americans. At the time, the cosmetic companies hadn't developed products for browner and darker complexions. He sought out the industry's innovative makeup maven Max Factor. "I sat with him personally" said Jeffries. Under Jeffries' tutelage and relying on her own instincts and experiments-darkening the eyes, highlighting the cheekbones, emphasizing the lips, later using a pancake base to even out and enhance her magnificent skin color.

Clora Bryant

CLORA Jazz trumpet player from the 50's and cousin of singer Joyce Bryant said this of Dorothy's beauty: "Dorothy's skin was flawless. Kind of cream colored like a cup of coffee with about three things of cream in it. Olive with enough red to give it a glow. She was a yellow complexion, but it had enough red in it that it would take the sun and make a beautiful tan."

Joyce Bryant

JOYCE Dorothy once asked Joyce "What do you do? How do you get up? How do you walk up on that stage and stay as calm as you are? It seems so easy for you." Bryant recalled, "She was so fearful. She would just throw up. I could see and feel her fear. I just cannot begin to tell you frightened she was.

Husky, Carmen and Joe

Joe Adams

JOE Dorothy told Joe that she had lived somewhat of a lonely life. Joe asked her, "Why would you live alone in life? Everybody would like to take you to dinner or have a date with you." She asked him, "Have you ever thought of taking me to dinner or going on a date with me?" He said "Yes, but truthfully I don't like people to say no to me, so I would never approach you." Dorothy said, "And you're one of the most agressive people that I have ever met in everything, in business and everything else. Now if you think like that think what the over people think. That's what happens. People won't ask me to go places because they think 50 other people have already asked me and it ends up nobody's asks me, so I spend alot of time to myself."

First black woman to appear on Life magazine's cover. The filming for Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor began in London in 1960. Mankiewicz was brought into the production after the departure of the first director (Rouben Mamoulian), who had in mind African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge for the lead role. Was considered for the role of Billie Holiday in a movie; however, the project didn't materialize in her lifetime. When the movie did come to pass, the role was portrayed by Diana Ross.

DOROTHY'S QUOTES "Society has denied me respect. Negro women remain the last to be counted in our country."

"In a man's world every woman has to be ready to work and support herself. A woman can't rely on any man for monetary security."

"I spent most of my earnings on clothes, for what I looked like onstage was a large part of my act... If you are supposed to be an attractive woman up on a platform singing to a few hundred people, you better look right."

"About the friendships I Did have, discretion was the keynote."

"...I had no idea that beauty and reputation could be such an obstacle to obtaining seemingly so simple an objective."

"I have a sense of physical too, I like to look at

a handsome man. Beauty and charm in a male may be as important to me as these qualities in a woman are supposed to be to men."

"Whether with white or Negro men I have always sought companionship, friendship, good talking relationships. I like a good-looking man and a man who takes care of his appearance. It is too one-sided for the man to expect a woman to be beautiful and then to be careless about himself."

"Love and lovemaking depend upon training, freedom from inhibitions, what people teach each other, and finally upon the closeness of understanding between them."

"Nothing that I had-beauty, money, recognition as an artist-was sufficient to break through the powerful psychological bind of racist thinking."

"In the last analysis what this society denied me was what it denies most women of color, perhaps all:simple respectability. If my story means anything, it means that the white millions still have to grant that simple and costless right to black women."

"Negro women remain the last to be counted in our country. Human appeal across color and between sexes will always outrun the law."

"If one person in a thousand criticized me while others cheered, I didn't hear the cheers."

BODY Dorothy feels that it is a sin for a woman not to utilize and preserve whatever physical attractions she may have for as long as she can.

HT:5'5.5" MEASUREMENTS:36-24-36.5 WT 110-115 lbs

MORE ABOUT DOROTHY Dorothy came across to many as simple and direct, but not rude. Can relate to Dorothy in many ways. Was disrespected and teased a lot as a child. That early childhood treatment haunts me as an adult. Causing me to be depressed at times. Dorothy turned to pills and alcohol, while I turned to being a hermit or o

vereating. Both Dorothy and I tried to suppress the pain.

The house of once a well known singer and actress, late Dorothy Dandridge has been listed for sale on real estate market. Dorothy Dandridge is remembered for her good roles in some of the very good movies and the home was bought by the actress after her success in her career. The renovated 1926 Mediterranean house features bedrooms and five bathrooms in 4,368 square feet. The master bedroom suite includes a circular bathroom and the arched doorways and windows, beamed ceilings and stained-glass window which adds to the beauty of the interior. Outdoor amenities include three terraces which enjoy the city views to keep one entertained. Once sold for $849,000, the house is now listed for $3,495,000.

Carmen Jones received two nominations for the Academy Awards (Oscar). First
African-American actress to be Oscar-nominated for "Best Actress in a Leading Role."

Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -Herschel Burke Gilbert. Otto Preminger

believed that by all rights, Dorothy should have become a major star. He didn't
want to accept the fact that race-racism-had aborted a promising career. "For
example, right now, if someone were to be considered for the starring role in
an apocryphal Dorothy Dandridge Story on the screen, I think a white
actress would more likely be chosen for the part than a Negro girl."
- Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy once owned a 1952 White Ford Thunderbird

"There is only one person I know who is more beautiful than you. It's a
man, and he's in New York now." Dorothy's Press Agent speaking of
Harry Belafonte.

Dinah Washington Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington were both her favorite singers.

1954, Austrian director and writer Otto Preminger announced that 20th Century Fox had given him permission to direct the legendary broadway play Carmen, with an "all-Negro cast." Dandridge thought the lead role of Carmen would be a breakthrough for her, but when she arrived with her manager and friend Earl Mills to meet Preminger, he rejected her for the role because he thought she was too sweet and too nice for the part. Every time I look at you, I see Saks Fifth Avenue." Otto to Dorothy.

When he offered her the part of Cindy Lou, Dandridge took action, going to Max Factor in Hollywood, where she bought a cut-off black blouse and a red skirt that matched the red rose she put in her hair. This time, after seeing her, Preminger exclaimed,

 "My God!

It's Carmen!"

In Bright Road early dailies revealed that Dorothy had photographed too light.  They decided to re-shoot her scenes, using different makeup. MGM's makeup supervisor William Tuttle devised a new pancake base to give her more color. Vivian was hired to work as the on-set hair-dresser for Dorothy and others on the set. Their grandmother was a hairdresser. Viv worked at a beauty salon just like her grandmother.

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922–September 8, 1965)