Wishing I knew Dorothy...

There are a few actresses in this world that don't need a last name to know who you are speaking of, ladies like, Marilyn, Audrey, and Grace. They have been immortalized by pop culture, young and old know their faces, styles, and movies. I, on the other hand, recognize a few others by first name: Dorothy, Lena, Eartha, and Ruby Dee ( you have to say Ruby's last name, it was like one name).

The actress I wish I could have met personally was Dorothy Dandridge, I think she would be a cool,  caring person if she had lived past 42. Dorothy was just 4yrs old when her mother ditched her draftsman father for a lesbian lover and moved to L.A. from Cleveland, Ohio. Dorothy sang in a children's act and got a part in the Marx brother's A Day at the Races. She then went back east at age 19 to preform at Harlem's Cotton Club, she met and married Harold Nicholas. When their daughter was born brain-damaged, she became very depressed and blamed herself for the child's condition. She left Harold due to his womanizing and returned to the movies. She was cast opposite Harry Belafonte in the 1954 movie Carmen Jones, for which she became the first black nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. She then only got stereotypical roles that placed her as a slave girl, in which she declined most of them. She eventually lost her Hollywood hills home and was forced to institutionalize her daughter. Suffering from alcoholism she had a major breakdown in 1965 and was found dead of a drug overdose at age 42, in which she had $2.14 to her once luminous name. I bought an autographed head shot of her at an expo in my early 20's, I Cherish it to this day at the tender age of 42.

My powder room is filled with wall to wall black
Jazz and blues Musicians.