DOROTHY DANDRIDGE

Dorothy Dandridge was a black African American actress from the 1930s to the 1960s (one of the very first to play dramatic roles in mainstream Hollywood movies). Some of her movies include: Carmen Jones (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film; in the title role), Island in the Sun, and Porgy and Bess (in the title role as Bess). Dandridge passed away in 1965 at the age of 42 of an accidental barbiturate overdose. She was later the subject of a 1999 HBO biography called "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" starring Halle Berry.