Vivian Dandridge

Vivian Alferetta Dandridge was born on April 22, 1921, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Cyril Dandridge and Ruby Jean Butler, an aspiring entertainer. She was the older sister of actress and singer Dorothy Dandridge and the daughter of actress Ruby Dandridge. Dandridge worked as a singer, actress, and dancer across Broadway, film, and television from the late 1930s through the early 1960s.

Dandridge's performing career began in childhood, when her mother billed her and her younger sister Dorothy as the "Wonder Children," a touring act in which the girls performed acrobatics, songs, and skits. Managed by Ruby's companion Geneva Williams, who also accompanied them on piano, the Wonder Children earned between $400 and $500 per appearance during the late 1920s, touring through Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and other states. Because their earnings were the family's primary income, neither Vivian nor Dorothy attended regular school classes until the eighth grade, relying instead on tutors. Following the stock market crash of 1929, the act lost work, and Ruby relocated the family to Los Angeles.

In California, the Dandridge daughters befriended a girl named Etta Jones, and the three began singing together. After Jones's father heard the group perform, Ruby Dandridge organized them into a formal act, and the Dandridge Sisters were formed. The trio toured the United States, sharing bills with Nat King Cole, Mantan Moreland, and dancer Marie Bryant, and eventually became headliners at the Cotton Club in Harlem. The group also toured in London and Hawaii and recorded four tracks with bandleader Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra: "You Ain't Nowhere," "Minnie the Moocher Is Dead," "I Ain't Gonna Study War No More," and "That's Your Red Wagon," which became a minor hit. The Dandridge Sisters also appeared in musical sequences in several films, including The Big Broadcast of 1936, A Day at the Races, It Can't Last Forever, Irene, and Going Places. The group was active from 1934 until it disbanded in 1940, when Dorothy chose to pursue a solo acting career.

Dandridge's Broadway career spanned 1939 to 1955. As a member of the Dandridge Sisters, she appeared in the musical revue Swingin' the Dream at the Center Theater in 1939. In the summer of 1955, she replaced Thelma Carpenter in the Broadway production of Ankles Aweigh, relocating to the Alvin Hotel in New York City for the engagement.

Following the dissolution of the Dandridge Sisters, Vivian pursued work in film and television, though she did not achieve the prominence her sister Dorothy attained. She co-starred with Frances Dee in the 1943 film I Walked with a Zombie, playing the native girl Melisse, and appeared alongside Dorothy in the 1953 film Bright Road in the small role of schoolteacher Ms. Nelson, also serving as Dorothy's hairdresser on that production. She was uncredited in both films. Dandridge also appeared as an uncredited extra in the 1943 film Stormy Weather and provided the voice of "So White" in the animated short Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, opposite her mother Ruby Dandridge. She also appeared as a member of the Dandridge Sisters in the soundie Snow Gets in Your Eyes. In 1955, Dandridge attended the Academy Awards with Dorothy when Dorothy received a Best Actress nomination for Carmen Jones.

In 1968, Dandridge signed with Jubilee Records and released a jazz LP titled The Look of Love. The album was produced by Bob Stephens and conducted by Charles Coleman, and included tracks such as "Love is Blue," "Try to Remember," "Sunny," "Strange Fruit," and "Lover Man." The album was not commercially successful.

Dandridge was married at least five times: to Jack Montgomery from 1942 to 1943, Warren Bracken in 1945, Ralph Bledsoe from 1946 to 1948, Forace Stead from 1951 to 1953, and Gustav Friedrich from 1958 to 1968. She also had a son, Michael Emmett Wallace, with actor Emmett "Babe" Wallace. Her granddaughter, Nayo Wallace, is an actress who has appeared in television, film, and on Broadway.

By 1956, Dandridge had withdrawn from public life, and family members hired a private detective to locate her. Dorothy later learned that her sister had been in the south of France seeking work before eventually settling in New York City. The two sisters remained largely estranged, though Dorothy occasionally provided financial assistance to Vivian and her son. When Dorothy died in 1965, Dandridge did not attend the funeral. She later rekindled a relationship with her mother, Ruby, until Ruby died in a Los Angeles nursing home in 1987. Dandridge eventually settled in Seattle, Washington, under the alias Marina Rozell, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Author Donald Bogle interviewed her there in 1991. Dandridge died on October 26, 1991, at the age of seventy, following a stroke.