Dorothy Dandridge, Angel Face

'You ain't going to work in Mister Charley's kitchen like me. I don't want you to go into service. You are not going to be a scullery maid. We're going to fix it so you be something else than that.' - Ruby to Dorothy Ruby had three brothers.  Her father was a musical and religious West Indian known as George Frank or George Butler.  George was born in Jamaica and he married a Mexican girl (which means Maternal Grandmother 1/2 Spanish and 1/2 West Indian).  Ruby's dad George had a winning West Indian accent.  Dorothy never met him or her uncles.  He ran a local grocery store and later a local Negro school in Kansas, as a principal. I had been raised with no man around the house; I had never seen a man shaving; I had never seen a man in his shorts. ~ Dorothy The marriage to Harold almost did not happen.  Dorothy had an interim small romance with a saxophone player named Joe.  Dorothy was at one point hesitant about Harold,  Joe gave Dor

Bad Investment Rual Steddiman my lawyer got me to invest in oil wells in Arizona.  Mel Parker my accountant, told me to not invest any more money in the oil wells.  Rual convinced me to put all my film projects and future film projects money into the oil wells. Evie and Van Johnson  Evie, Van Johnson's wife warned me to stop dealing with Rual. Ruby Dandridge My mother Ruby warned me; she told me that I should have put it into real estate. Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas paid to get out of it.  I was in it for four years. If it is possible for any human being to be like a haunted house, maybe that would be me. If it weren't for my belief in God, I'd think none of it was worthwhile...

Dorothy was scarred by her childhood. She once said she regretted never having gotten to know her father, a cabinet maker /  draftsman named Cyril Dandridge, who her mother left before Dorothy was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  Cyril was a quiet man, unassuming and sensitive.  Ruby, on the other hand was all energy and chatter. Not a usual match.   Dorothy did not get a chance to find out what her father was like until she was sixteen and performing at New York's Cotton Club.  Through a star of the show, Bill (Bojangles) Robinson, Cyril made arrangements to see Dorothy and Vivian. According to Dorothy, her mother Ruby was both mother and father to her.  Ruby walked out on Cyril shortly after having Vivian.  Cyril did get her to come back and she gave birth to Dottie, then left again. Vivian Dandridge born in 1921.

Vivian, Etta, Dorothy The Dandridge Sisters (Top - Vivian, L- Etta, R- Dorothy)  The Dandridge Sisters (Etta, Dorothy, Vivian)                                                      Ruby, Vivian, Dorothy Dorothy Ruby, Vivian, Dorothy Vivian, Ruby, Dorothy Etta Jones, Dorothy and Vivian Etta Jones, Dorothy and Vivian Etta Jones, Dorothy and Vivian Etta, Dorothy and Vivian "Harlem Yodel' Etta, Dorothy, Vivian Etta, Dorothy and Vivian

Ruby Dandridge  ( Ruby Jean Butler)  (March 3, 1900 – October 17, 1987)  Actress, acrobat Ruby trained her daughters to sing, dance, perform acrobatics and recite poetry. Ruby had three brothers.  Her father was a musical and religious West Indian known as George Frank or George Butler.  George was born in Jamaica and he married a Mexican girl.  Ruby's dad George had a winning West Indian accent.  Dorothy never met him or her uncles.  He ran a local grocery store and later a local Negro school in Kansas, as a principal. Ruby was born in Wichita, Kansas.  Learned to sing, dance, do acrobatics, horseback ride.   Appeared in Amos 'n' Andy on both radio and television. Was married to Cyril Dandridge  from 1919 to 1922. Children: Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge Grandchildren: Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, Michael Emmett Wallace 'You ain't going to work in Mister Charley's kitchen like me.  I don't want you to go into

Joe Adams (l) Joe Adams (r)                                                                                            w/ Ruby