The 100th birthday of Dorothy Dandridge is being celebrated by Halle Berry.
Berry sent out a tweet with a picture of herself and a young Dandridge when she played the groundbreaking actress in the 1990s.
“23 years ago I was privileged to bring the life of Dorothy Dandridge to the screen,” the actress wrote in the tweet. “100 years ago today this legendary magical creature was born! Happy birthday Dottie”
23 years ago I was privileged to bring the life of Dorothy Dandridge to the screen and 100 years ago today this legendary magical creature was born! Happy birthday Dottie pic.twitter.com/w3E0hKy93z
— Halle Berry (@halleberry) November 9, 2022
In the made-for-TV historical drama Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, which came out in 1999, the actress, who is now 56 years old played Dandridge, who died in 1965 at age 42. She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Motion Picture for how she played her role.
According to a summary on the Golden Globes’ website, the biopic follows the actress’s career “from her early days on the club circuit with her sister to her turn in movies” to “her final death from prescription drugs, which was debated as to whether it was suicide or an accident.”
Dandridge was the first actress of African descent to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1954, she was nominated for her role as Carmen Jones in a musical film with Harry Belafonte. Best Music and Scoring of a Musical Picture were also up for grabs for the Broadway version, which had an all-black cast.
Berry’s role as the icon came full circle in 2001 when she became the first black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Monster’s Ball, almost 50 years after Dandridge was nominated.
On HBO Max, you can stream the movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.”
