Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV)

Director:

Martha Coolidge

Writers (WGA):

Earl Mills (book)
Shonda Rhimes (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

21 August 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Right woman. Right place. Wrong time.

Plot:

This biography of Dorothy Dandridge follows her career through early days on the club circuit with her sister to her turn in movies...

Plot Keywords:

Career | Actress | Manager | Director | Love

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 17 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Halle Berry	...	Dorothy Dandridge
Brent Spiner	...	Earl Mills
Klaus Maria Brandauer	...	Otto Preminger
Obba Babatundé	...	Harold Nicholas (as Obba Babatunde)
Loretta Devine	...	Ruby Dandridge
Cynda Williams	...	Vivian Dandridge
LaTanya Richardson	...	Auntie
Tamara Taylor	...	Geri Nicholas
William Atherton	...	Darryl Zanuck
D.B. Sweeney	...	Jack Denison
Don Gettinger	...	Hotel Clerk
Nicholas Hormann	...	Oscar Emcee
Sharon Brown	...	Etta Jones
Darrian C. Ford	...	Fayard Nicholas
M.J. Sawyer	...	B&W Movie Actress

Also Known As:

Face of an Angel (UK) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and sexual content.

Runtime:

120 min | Germany:111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

City Entertainment

Trivia:

Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, and Jasmine Guy all personally vied for the part of Dorothy Dandridge.

Quotes:

Earl Mills: [notices thick makeup on Dorothy's face] What happened to your face?
Dorothy Dandridge: Guess I wasn't black enough to lead the tribe.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Jay Leno Show: (#1.4)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

I Got Rhythm

Halle Berry's performance was wonderful

I've been a fan of Dorothy Dandridge for years and when I saw that Halle Berry brought her life to the big screen, her performance was very credible. If someone other than Halle would have done that part, the movie wouldn't have been as great as it was. It takes a hell of a lot of talent to pull off someone else's life and that couldn't have been very many actress in Hollywood. So, any old' actress wouldn't have done the job that Halle did. There were some aspects of Dorothy's life that weren't covered, but those weren't as important as the one's capture in the movie. When I saw Halle Berry playing Dorothy Dandridge, it was like I was seeing the real thing, because Halle Berry was very convincible. Plus, I see Halle and Dorothy Dandridge having a lot in common within their lives, and what Halle gave off wasn't anything rinky-dink, but the real thing. And it gives others who knew nothing about Dorothy Dandridge an insight on her life. Of course there were going to be things left out, of course there were going to things exaggerated, it wasn't going to be perfect, if you want to know how Dorothy was in temperament, read books on her, because those are where the real information comes from. Movies don't always tell everything, but Halle's performance wasn't based on looks, but how she gave off the image of Dorothy Dandridge on screen. So, Halle Berry did work hard to that story to life, and her I found it amazing that she went to such lengths and did it.