Otto Preminger

On the set of 'Carmen Jones', Dandridge usually kept to herself when not working in a scene, partly because she felt that others in the company mistrusted her and suspected her relationship with Preminger.

Preminger originally wanted Dorothy for the role of 'Cindy Lou' in the film Carmen Jones (1954).  Dorothy laughed, and insisted that she could play a hellcat or a nun.  

Orly Airport (May 9,1955)

Preminger paid the down payment on her new showplace house in the Hollywood Hills and kept her checking account replenished.  

Like Otto, Dorothy matched him in his meticulousness and discipline.

Otto bullied everyone on the set with the exception of Pearl Bailey.  Dorothy got it the worse, but according to Geri, Dorothy's best friend, Dorothy handled Otto off the set ,"She gave him hell for two weeks. She didn't yell back on the set, but i'm telling you she gave him hell."

"He couldn't get me out of his system, nor could he make any proposals of substance to me -- neither a new film nor marriage." - Dorothy on Otto.

Earl Mills, Dorothy's manager, said that Dottie became pregnant with Preminger's child and that Preminger refused to marry her.  Mills arranged for Dorothy to get an abortion from a prominent Beverly Hills physician.  According to Mills, that is what cause the affair between Preminger and Dandridge to come to an end.  Dorothy was bitter. Geri Branton, though, said that the abortion never took place.  No where in Dorothy's autobiography does she mention that she had an abortion.  Still leaves me to think it happened and that Dorothy was trying to protect Otto and she probably did not want to disclose this and other personal tragedies despite the name of that book:  Everything and Nothing: The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy.  Click on this link

The resentment Dorothy had towards Otto was because they could never marry.  Preminger would never leave his wife (Mary Gardner) to marry Dandridge because if he did, he would be blackballed in Hollywood for marrying a Black woman.  Dorothy openly displayed her resentment towards Otto according to Geri. "Stop chewing your food.  Your teeth clack.  You got an ugly old bald head.", Dorothy to Otto.  It hurt Preminger.