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Everything and Nothing : The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy

Average customer rating:

Beautiful woman, tragic life, a lesson for us all
Insightful, well written & in Dorothy's own words.
Only scratches the surface...
A must have
an eyeopener!!! a bit depressing...

Everything and Nothing : The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy
Dorothy Dandridge , and Earl Conrad
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060956755
Release Date: 2000-04-25

Book Description

Dorothy Dandridge's life story is the stuff Hollywood dreams--and nightmares. Completed shortly before her tragic death in 19665, Everything and Nothing recounts her rags-to-riches-to-rags story form her personal point of view. Dandridge recalls her humble beginnings in Depression-era Cleveland, Ohio, her rise to fame and success as the first African American to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination (for her role in Carmen Jones), the disappointments and pain of her childhood and family life, and her downward spiral into alcoholism and financial troubles, Everything and Nothing is a mesmerizing and harrowing journey through the life and times of one of Hollywood's most unforgettable stars.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful woman, tragic life, a lesson for us all.......2005-07-08

Mrs Slaughter says, "Dorothy Dandridge's book is filled with hilarious laughter and oceans of tears. It is evident to me that she wrote this book when she had reached the utter end of her tether. I think there is much to learn from her life. Importantly that success has nothing to do with how much fame or money one is able to amass but rather peace of mind and a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment which can only be achieved intrisically through one's own ability to love themselves enough to give themselves the very best of this love without relying on external factors. Dorothy was an obviously beautiful, talented and intelligent woman who lost all she had in a quest to derive happiness and acceptance through circumstances and people which she was unable to control. This unfortunately led to much self-loathing and the eventual demise of one of our age's most important African American icons. A brilliant read and excavation into the complex mind of Dorothy Dandridge."

Insightful, well written & in Dorothy's own words........2005-06-30

I recently completed this book. In my opinion, this version of events about Miss Dandridge's life meant more to me than any other biography written by others who claimed to know her & her struggles. I say this because this was the one literary piece she left behind before she died. This was from HER. This was her story. Only she can explain her feelings about the ups and downs of her life. Her disappointment with her first husband, her mixed emotions of love & burdensome feelings about her retarded daughter, all of the trists with strange men who treated her like a dog treats a fire hydrant, and last but not least, her heartbreak of her "friends" lethal words & non-support of her wish to tell the world her story. It was very clear to me that she was heading down a path of destruction & death. She candidly spoke of wanting to commit suicide more than once. I wish she could have lived on into the next few decades & was able to witness the changes in society & Hollywood's portrayal of black people. I think she could have been saved & able to one day say "I am finally free from being the female negro role model" as Lena Horne was able to say. I felt as if I knew Miss Dorothy. For the life of me, I could not fatham why she would engage in affairs with physically disgusting looking men like Otto Preminger ( I've seen him ) and Mr. Tyner, the millionaire with the spit foam in the corners of his mouth. These actions of hers proved contradictary to the fact that thru-out the book she kept saying that physical attractiveness in a male is very important to her. I guess when it all boiled down to it, she just wanted a man around and to be married. What a terrible loss this is. For those trully interested, read this book before any others about Dorothy Dandridge ( i.e. Donald Bogle, Earl Mills ). This one is from Dorothy in her own words before she died.

Only scratches the surface..........2004-07-02

After reading other works on Dorothy Dandrige I thought this purported autobiograph left a few things to be desired. The book reveals personal details of her life but downplays certain players in her life. For example, the lesbian relationship between her mother and "friend" Auntee was passed off as being no more than a casual friendship. I understand DD reasons for not revealing things about her mother considering she was still alive at the time the book was published. She only mention a few details about her fame with the movie CARMEN.

The book is written well but only takes a cursory view of her life and success. It seems to accentuates the most tragic details of her life and downplays her contribution to others. It's a good book, but please read Donald Bogle's book if you want a more thorough revelation of her life.

A must have.......2001-12-01

From the pages I got to read it is a book I will definitly buy. It was very good and I recommend it highly.

an eyeopener!!! a bit depressing..........2001-08-20

i recently completed reading this book i found dorothy's own story a completely modern and intelligent account to be in accord with many of the same ugly problems that face us today...racism and sexism...how devastating it was for her to be so talented and beautiful yet...she was treated like ... because of her color and men only wanted to treat her like a prostitute because to them yes she was very beautiful and famous...but she could not be treated with dignity and respect because she was a black woman...she found this overwhelmingly frustrating that these powerful, handsome men did not want the human dorothy dandridge with feelings and intelligence...they just wanted to be seen with her or just to try her out sexually then put her back right away in the dump somewhere...dorothy tried and she stated in her book that many times she thought things would be different for her...she deserved to be loved..yet... no fault of her own she lived a life without love from day one...her mom just wanted to make money off of the child dorothy and her sister vivian...her mother let a obviously jealous and abusive stranger have full control over young dorothy and sibling something that dorothy could not ever understand ... her mom would just come along to collect the dough that the children made and go...her father only shows up after absolutely no contact at all to see the successful adult dorothy now in her twenties and a fast rising star...leaving dorothy to wonder would he contact her after all of these years if she was a criminal or doing badly...her first philandering husband was another user...he offered no support to dorothy or their disabled daughter in any kind of way...after several disfunctional relationships her sister does not even bother to contact dorothy...in between a string of user lovers,an abusive gold digger husband no#2, bad investments, aging and a fledging career...topped with crippling racism in that era and in her field of entertainment...dorothy dandridge's lonely heart simply could not take any more...her mind could not find rhyme or reason to anymore letdowns..she was tired of life and did not stick around for the next blow because she was too fragile for anymore heartache...all of this lead up to her untimely death...while lena horne went through similar heartbreaks, racism and letdowns...lena horne was a stronger person than dorothy dandridge and lena refused to let the people and situations created by them destroy her...nevertheless this is a beautiful and bittersweet account of an angel named dorothy dandridge...may we read and learn from this story and pray for dorothy dandridge's soul and thank her for that legendary knockout portrayal as Carmen...showing that the 50's black woman in hollywood could be shown as more than a fat, greasy and homely domestic with bad english

Average customer rating:

Everything and Nothing: The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy
Dorothy Dandridge; And Earl Conrad
Manufacturer: ABELARD-SCHUMAN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL6JWS

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