Themes: Rise and Fall Stories, Actor's Life, Alcoholism
Main Cast: Halle Berry, Brent Spiner, Obba Babatunde, Loretta Devine, Cynda Williams
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Dorothy Dandridge was a singer, nightclub entertainer, and actress who became the first African-American woman to receive an Academy award nomination as Best Actress (for her standout performance in 1954's Carmen Jones; she lost to Grace Kelly). However, despite her striking beauty and obvious talent, Dandridge was a sexy, glamorous black femme fatale at a time when Hollywood pin-up queens were supposed to be giggly blondes. The film industry didn't know what to do with her, and while her nightclub act was a bit too smooth for the Southern roadhouse circuit, as a black performer she wasn't allowed to stay in many of the hotels and resorts where she performed. Dandridge also had a sad personal life, filled with tragedy and romantic disappointment, and she died of an overdose of pills in 1965, at the age of 41. This made-for-cable biographical drama stars Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge, supported by Brent Spiner, Obba Babatunde, and Klaus Maria Brandauer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
La Tanya Richardson - Auntie; Tamara Taylor - Geri Nicholas; D.B. Sweeney - Jack Dennison; Klaus Maria Brandauer - Otto Preminger; William Atherton - Darryl F. Zanuck; Sharon Brown - Etta Jones; Mark Bramhall - Carmen Jones Production Designer; Sarah Scott Davis; Billy Mayo - Sergeant; Benjamin Brown - Sidney Poitier
Credit
Shelley Komarov - Costume Designer, Martha Coolidge - Director, Alan Heim - Editor, Halle Berry - Executive Producer, Moctesuma Esparza - Executive Producer, Robert Katz - Executive Producer, Vincent Cirrincione - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Robbie Greenberg - Cinematographer, Larry Albucher - Producer, David MacMillan - Sound/Sound Designer, Scott Abbott - Screenwriter
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is a television film directed by Martha Coolidge. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, the film was aired in the United States on August 21, 1999. The original music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film is marketed with the tagline: "Right woman. Right place. Wrong time."
