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.

[2] Dandridge was married and divorced twice, first to dancer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne) and then to hotel owner Jack Denison.

[6] The sisters toured the Southern United States almost nonstop for five years (rarely attending school), while Ruby worked and performed in Cleveland.

[5] The Dandridge Sisters continued strong for several years, and they were booked in several high-profile New York nightclubs, including the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater.

In 1944, Dandridge was featured as the star in "Sweet 'N Hot", a musical held at the Mayan theatre in Los Angeles and produced by Leon Hefflin Sr., which played nightly for 11 weeks.

When the Motion Picture Production Code objected to the film's "blunt sexuality",[citation needed] Dandridge received considerable attention for wearing what was considered "provocatively revealing" clothing.

Her acquaintance with Dore Schary resulted in his casting Dandridge as Jane Richards in Bright Road—her first starring role, in which she expressed herself as a "wonderful, emotional actress"—which the trailer promoted.

She continued her performances in nightclubs and appeared on multiple early television variety shows, including Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town.

Dandridge, who had dressed down for the screen test of Bright Road to suit the demure teacher at its center, worked with Max Factor make-up artists to convey the look and character of the earthy Carmen, which she wore to a meeting with Preminger in his office.

The effect, combined with some viewing suggested to him of her freer, looser appearances in the soundies material,[17] assured her earning the production's title role.

The remainder of the cast was completed with Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, Diahann Carroll, Madame Sul-Te-Wan (uncredited), Olga James, and Joe Adams.

At the 27th Academy Awards held on March 30, 1955, Dandridge was a nominee along with Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman.

Meanwhile, Dandridge agreed to play the role of Tuptim in a film version of The King and I and a sultry upstairs neighbor in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts.

[20] Her success as a headliner led to the hotel booking other black performers, such as the Count Basie Orchestra with vocalist Joe Williams, Pearl Bailey, and Lena Horne.

When the jury and press visited Grauman's Chinese Theatre to determine whether O'Hara could have performed various sexual acts while seated in the balcony, as reported by a magazine published by Hollywood Research, Inc., this was discovered to have been impossible.

[citation needed] This curtailed invasive tabloid journalism until 1971, when Generoso Pope, Jr. moved the National Enquirer, which he owned, from New York to Lantana, Florida, where there were fewer restrictions.

Dandridge portrayed a local West Indian shop clerk who has an interracial love affair with a white man, played by John Justin.

[6] A reluctant Dandridge had agreed to appear in the film only after learning that it focused on a 19th-century slave revolt on a cargo ship traveling from Africa to Cuba.

However, she nearly withdrew when the initial script called for her to swim in the nude and spend the majority of the film in a two-piece bathing suit made of rags.

[28] In MGM's The Decks Ran Red (1958), Dandridge co-starred with James Mason, Broderick Crawford, and Stuart Whitman as Mahia, a cook's wife aboard a tired World War II surplus freighter enduring a mutiny.

When the initial director, Rouben Mamoulian, was replaced with Otto Preminger, he informed Dandridge that her performance was not credible and that she needed intensive coaching to handle such a role.

[32] She had kissed her white costar in Tamango, but Dandridge and Howard, under László Benedek's direction, created some strongly understated sexual tension.

She also appeared as Anita in a Highland Park Music Theater production of West Side Story, but she lasted only two performances due to illness.

Branton told biographers that during the long conversation, Dandridge veered from expressing hope for the future, to singing Barbra Streisand's "People" in its entirety, to making a cryptic remark moments before hanging up on her: "Whatever happens, I know you will understand.

[54] The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office concluded that she died of a fat embolism resulting from a recently sustained right foot fracture.

[55] On September 12, 1965, a private funeral service was held at the Little Chapel of the Flowers;[56] Dandridge was cremated[56] and her ashes interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

[60] When Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Monster's Ball, she dedicated the "moment [to] Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll.

[63] A statue of Dandridge, designed by Catherine Hardwicke, honors multi-ethnic leading ladies of the cinema, including Mae West, Dolores del Río, and Anna May Wong.

[64] Recording artist Janelle Monáe performs a song titled "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes" on her 2013 album The Electric Lady, with Esperanza Spalding.

She is an up-and-coming actress during the Hollywood Golden Age in the post-World War II era, a character largely inspired by and based on Dandridge.