Dorothy Dandridge

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE d1965. American actress, singer and dancer. She is the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Carmen Jones (1954). She performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theatre. During her early career, she performed as a part of The Wonder Children (later The Dandridge Sisters) and appeared in a succession of films, usually in uncredited roles. In 1959, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Porgy and Bess". She was married and divorced twice. First to dancer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter Harolyn Suzanne) and then to hotel owner Jack Denison. She died in mysterious circumstances in California aged just 42 on September 8th 1965