Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge she did a great job portraying Dottie. ********************** Repost from @thiswashollywood was 18 when she first saw Carmen Jones (1954) on a local TV station. Immediately she fell in love with the film’s star Dorothy Dandridge, who was the first Black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She also came from Berry’s hometown of Cleveland, OH. Berry went to her local library to learn more about her new favorite star but was disappointed to find that Dandridge was largely forgotten. “That fueled my passion,” Berry said. Soon she felt “a responsibility to bring her legacy to the screen.” In the early 1990s she purchased the rights to a biography about Dandridge and then spent six years trying to convince Hollywood studios to take on the project—to no avail. But Berry was undeterred and turned to cable TV. “I have been so passionate about Dorothy Dandridge and about telling the story that I was relentless in my effort," she said. "[T]his is all I thought about for six years. Even when I went on and did other projects... I always had in the back of my mind, 'I'm going to make this story on Dorothy Dandridge.'” Finally, HBO agreed to make the film that became Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999). The film also introduced Halle Berry: after a decade in the business she finally played her first leading role, for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a SAG Award. And as fate would have it, a few years later Berry became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. “[Dorothy Dandridge] blazed a trail for Black actresses and fought so hard to widen horizons for our people,” Berry said. “That’s how I approach my career. I want to fight as hard as she did.” #halleberry #dororthydandridge #carmenjones #introducingdorothydandridge #pinup #blackpinup #icon #pioneer #actress #singer https://www.instagram.com/p/CCbnw0sgIzK/?igshid=1fzazz11mj0rq
