Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Actor(s):
Halle Berry, Brent Spiner, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Obba Babatundé, Loretta Devine
Director(s):
Martha Coolidge
Label: Hbo Home Video
Publisher(s):
Hbo Home Video
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Binding: DVD
MPN: D91569D
Format(s): Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Rating: R (Restricted)
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $5.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Editorial Reviews
Description
An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy struggled with the challenge of her color in Hollywood. She beat out many more famous rivals for the role of ' 'Carmen Jones' ', and became the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (R). Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings.
Amazon.com
Dorothy Dandridge was a Hollywood trailblazer. A confident sex symbol in the 1950s, she was the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, but the electrifying stage chanteuse and dancer was forbidden to even enter the nightclubs and show rooms she performed in except from the stage. As portrayed by Halle Berry, who shepherded Dandridge's story to the screen, Dandridge is a sure, insistent star who battled racist studios and Jim Crow laws to maintain her dignity in public while stumbling through a private life marked by bad relationships and abusive lovers. Berry gives her best performance to date, brimming with ambition and moxie offstage, charming audiences with the slinky, sure moves of a nightclub veteran onstage, and convincingly "becoming" Dandridge in dramatic re-creations from Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is sweet and sympathetic as her supportive, lovesick manager, and Klaus Maria Brandauer is, in Dandridge's words, a "big old bulldog" as director Otto Preminger. Director Martha Coolidge balances private troubles with professional milestones and setbacks and pulls no punches showing the institutional racism of late 1950s Las Vegas or the brutality of a vicious alcoholic husband. Originally made for HBO, this drama lacks the big-budget spectacle of traditional Hollywood biographies but offers in its place sharp writing, intelligent direction, and strong, sensitive performances. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
so sad towards the end of her tragic,beautiful life,she finally realizin EARL MILLS truly loved her,just to die,R.I.P.
BEAUTIFUL BEYOND WORDS DORO WAS AND NUFF SAID INSIDE "AND OUT"BOTH THE
WHOLE SEXY SYMBOL PKGE.AMAZING TALENTED CAN MOVE BEAUTIFUL BELLA MAMITA FO
SURE. HALLE "ALMOST LOOK EXACTLY: LIKE HER THE SKIN HAIR PERFECTO LIKE HOW
D.D. WORN IT THRU N THRU,she was a great actress in this tragedy so sad
she was way too young,to die like she did i know she was NOT trying to
kill self,she was with HER AGENT/TRUE MAN REAL MAN
WHO LOVED HER FOR"JUST HER'NOTHING MORE" who even help get her work shows again etc ya know he really TRULY LOVED HER never to use and hurt her,
AND I LOVE HOW SHE ALWAYS SAYING
HIS NAME SEXY SWEET LIKE "oh why earl mills" lol i smile just seeing her
in this and hearing more on D.D.over the years and watching her old few
films,her music songs i have all of them i think a collection and painting
of BELLA DOROTHY and halle. love them both and i feel bad she died so sad
tragic.but GREAT movie giving it ten hundred if i can,but since we can
ONLY VOTE FIVE i give it cinco.
rest in peace ms.dandrige you are NEVER forgotten chica. we love you god bless.god speed AND HALLE I LOVE YOU ALWAYS HAVE ALWAYS WILL,you are fabulous in this movie and ALL your movies.
adios!
BMW300ZXREDHEAD@aol.com
Halle and Dorothy are practically the same person!
Halle Berry and her role model, Dorothy Dandridge have a striking resemblance to one another. Dandridge's best friend, Gerri Benton, has said this, and so have many other people. But Berry's resemblance to Dandridge isn't even the half. Their lives parallel in more ways than one. Both Berry and Dandridge had to do some extreme things to acquire certain roles (Berry had to literally not bathe for ten days, visit crack houses and talk to drug addicts for her to obtain her role in "Jungle Fever" and Dandridge had to come into a movie producer's office dressed as Carmen Jones and show sex appeal in order for him to even consider her...but they both got the roles). Neither woman had an active father. Their marriages both failed. I could go on and on because I have done much research, but it's bizarre how akin these women are.
Halle Berry did a magnificent job portraying Dorothy Dandridge. She captured the most pivotal moments and she did it with such elegance, you would swear it was Dandridge herself. I was a bit concerned for Berry because I know she had to do some lip-syncing for the stage performances, but that woman pulled it off like it was nothing! She did very well with the choreography as well.
This film has quite a few scenes which are touching and emotional i.e. when certain places didn't want Dandridge to perform because she was a Negro, when her mother's girlfriend stuck her hand in her private area to see if she was still a virgin, when she found out that her only child was retarded, and when she was strung out on pills. Scenes such as those cause you to realize why she titled her autobiography "Everything and Nothing." Sure, she was the first Negro actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress (for Carmen Jones), sure, she is one of the most beautiful women to ever walk the earth, sure, she had every man she lusted after, she had a plethora of money, fame, friends, status and intelligence, thus, she had both "everything and nothing" simultaneously. But she was sad all throughout her life, that's why most people believe she ended her own life.
Do yourself a favor and watch this film. It's entertaining, but also very emotional.
Love Dorothy Dandridge
I love both Dorothy Dandridge and Halle Berry. I have "Carmen" in which Dorothy stars so I was eager to see how Halle Berry handled the role. Halle did a wonderful job and the resemblance is astonishing! I feel the movie followed Dorothy's life to the letter and would recommend this movie for anyone who loves either of these two actresses.
Sad story
This poor women went through so much pain and heartache during her life. I can't believe how ignorant people where then about skill color....I hate to say it but many people still are! American's are in the dark ages when it comes to equality for all. We should look to Europe for help....they are far more progressive!
again impressed
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