''Introducing Dorothy Dandridge'' is a 1999 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by

Martha Coolidge Martha Coolidge (born August 17, 1946) is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. She has directed such films as '' Valley Girl,'' '' Real Genius'' and '' Rambling Rose.'' Early life Coolidge was born in ...

and written by

Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television producer and screenwriter, and founder of the production company Shondaland. Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Rhimes became known ...

and Scott Abbott, based on the 1991 biography ''Dorothy Dandridge'' by Earl Mills. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, the film stars

Halle Berry Halle Maria Berry ( ; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant of 1986 and also placing six ...

as actress and singer

Dorothy Dandridge Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress and singer. She was the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for '' Carmen Jones'' (1954). Dandridge had a ...

and premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on August 21, 1999. The original music score was composed by

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

, who had known Dandridge and

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( ; ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian Americans, Austrian-American film and theatre director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the the ...

Cast

** Wendi Williams provides the singing voice for

Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (19871994), four subsequent films (19942002), and '' Star Trek: Picard'' ( ...

as Earl Mills * Klaus Maria Brandauer as

Obba Babatundé Obba Babatundé (born Donald Cohen; December 1, 1951) is an American actor. A native of Queens, New York City, he has appeared in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-television films, and two prime-time ...

as Harold Nicholas *

Loretta Devine Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgirls'' (1981), Gloria Mat ...

as Ruby Dandridge * Cynda Williams as Vivian Dandridge *

LaTanya Richardson LaTanya Richardson Jackson is an American actress. She began her career appearing in off-Broadway productions, before playing supporting roles on television and film. Her performances are credited to her birth name, LaTanya Richardson, from 1989 ...

as Auntie *

Tamara Taylor Tamara Taylor (born September 27, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the role of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, in the forensic crime drama '' Bones''. She also appeared in season seven of '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L. ...

as Geri Branton-Nicholas *

William Atherton William Atherton (born July 30, 1947) is an American actor. He had starring roles in ''The Sugarland Express'' (1974), '' The Day of the Locust'' (1975), '' The Hindenburg'' (1975) and '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977), but is most recognized ...

Darryl Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (; September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. Best known as a co-founder of 20th Century Fox, he played a ...

* D. B. Sweeney as Jack Denison * Don Gettinger as Hotel Clerk * Nicholas Hormann as Oscar Emcee * Sharon Brown as

Etta Jones Etta Jones (November 25, 1928 – October 16, 2001) was an American jazz singer. Her best-known recordings are "Don't Go to Strangers" and "Save Your Love for Me". She worked with Buddy Johnson, Oliver Nelson, Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Gene Ammo ...

* Darrian C Ford as Fayard Nicholas * Andre Carthen as

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

* Jon Mack as

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' att ...

* Kerri Randles as

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

* Benjamin Brown as

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Among his ot ...

* Tyrone Wade as Lex Barker

Production

Filming began on 29 September 1998.

Soundtrack

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

released a soundtrack album on August 10, 1999. #"Your Red Wagon" – Wendi Williams (2:29) #"

I Got Rhythm "I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes su ...

" – Wendi Williams (2:44) #"Hep Hop" – Bill Elliott (3:17) #"

Chattanooga Choo Choo "Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a 1941 song that was written by Mack Gordon and composed by Harry Warren. It was originally recorded as a big band/ swing tune by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie ''Sun Valley Serenade''. ...

" – Wendi Williams (2:27) #"Sportsman's Mambo" – Bill Elliott (3:08) #"Somebody" – Wendi Williams (2:33) #"Twelve Cylinders" – Bill Elliott (3:39) #" You Do Something to Me" – Wendi Williams (2:19) #"Zoot Suit for My Sunday Gal" – Wendi Williams (3:28) #" That's All" – Wendi Williams (2:34) #"Streamliner" – Bill Elliott (3:49) #"First Telephone" –

(2:05) #"Try Again" – Elmer Bernstein (1:17) #"No Song" – Elmer Bernstein (1:18) #"Dorothy" – Elmer Bernstein (2:04)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{Shonda Rhimes 1999 television films 1999 films 1999 drama films 1990s American films 1990s biographical drama films 1990s English-language films African-American biographical dramas American biographical drama films American drama television films Biographical films about actors Biographical films about singers Biographical television films English-language biographical drama films Films about disability in the United States Films about drugs Films about race and ethnicity Films based on biographies Films directed by Martha Coolidge Films scored by Elmer Bernstein Films set in the 1950s Films set in 1965 HBO Films films Television films based on books