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Rating: 
Summary: Superlative expose of A Fallen Goddess
Review: Although I read this book over a year ago, I could not help but sing its praises at this time. With the current HBO bio starring Halle Berry bringing much-deserved attention on Miss Dandgridge, it is fitting that Bogle's definitive book receives recognition. This is a perfect look into the life of an actress who because of her race and the times was not allowed to succeed in an industry limited in its appreciation for people of color. As each page is read, the reader becomes totally engrossed in the life of Miss Dandridge, the people who supported and hindered her, and the important role that she played in opening doors for black actors who followed. Like Jackie Robinson and other "firsts," Dorothy Dandridge deserves a place in the history books. This fine book makes a fitting tribute to a legend.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book before you see the movie
Review: Donald Bogle certainly did his homework in researching the forty-one years of one of Black America's first screen goddesses. Interviews with fellow actors, close friends and even people minutely involved in Dorothy's meager Cleveland childhood provide the backbone for this enthusiastic and informative portrait. Bogle's story takes us through young Dorothy's first steps in show business with sister Vivian in a vaudevillian act called the Wonder Girls, which played to delighted black audiences packed in Baptist churches and other small venues. Pressed on by her starstruck yet cold mother, Ruby (an actress in her own right), the act moved to Hollywood and evolved into the singing Dandridge Sisters, securing chorus and bit parts in the rare all-black musicals produced during the 1930s-1940s. Following a string of bit roles in motion pictures, her celebrity reached an apex in this country with the release of Carmen Jones, and all-black version of Bizet's Carmen. For her performance, Dorothy made history by becoming the first black actress to win an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Though such clout won her the admiration of her peers (and the love of the film's director), the nomination should have won her a better choice of film roles. As Bogle reveals, even the glitter of Oscar gold could not change Dorothy's skin color; pitting a black love interest with an A-list white actor in the 1950s was a risky venture, too risky for film companies who wanted their products to turn profits, particularly in the South. By no fault of her own, Dorothy could only watch helplessly as her career, probably the only true constant in her life, slowly declined. I enjoyed this book very much, and I enjoyed watching Bogle on A&E's Biography episode on Dorothy. The movie with Halle Berry is also a good companion to this biography, though I thought the portrayals of Dorothy's mother tended to differ. Since the movie was based on another book, I would be more inclined to read Bogle's account.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: Donald Bogle did his research. This large biography contains facts about Dorothy Dandrige that have never been in print before. The book reads like a novel and as a fan of Miss Dandrige's work I appreciated it. However, it's clear that Bogle loves his subject and I thought it affected the book somewhat. This lovely and underappreciated actress was a human being and made mistakes. Bogle puts the blame for her tragedies on everyone else and portrays her as totally blameless. If you can find it read Dorothy's autobiography Everything and Nothing right after you read Mr.Bogle's book. It gives an extraordinarily contrasting portrait of her life.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Biography on a Film Star
Review: I enjoyed this book so much. Not only did I hear positive things as a child about Dorothy Dandridge but I also remember many negative things from the Afro American community. One for instance: that she loved white men. Now I find myself defending her. You have to read this book to understand her. It wasn't about loving white men at all -- she was just trying to find true love. But what I loved most about the book was the insights on the Black entertainment world at the time. Reading about names that I grew up with was enlightning and enriching as a Black woman.
Rating:
Summary: A tragic tale of a life ended too soon.
Review: I just finished reading Donald Bogle's autobiography of Ms. Dandridge. I felt like I had to immediately see every film she was ever in. The book was very well written and kept my attention throughout. Even though I knew the tragic ending, I kept hoping that somehow Dorothy would survive and become the major dramatic screen actress she sought to be throughout her film career. Mr. Bogle did a very detailed book of Dorothy's life. I came away feeling as if I knew her personally. I recommend this book highly to anyone who loves "old hollywood" as I do.
Rating: 
Summary: My apologies in advance
Review: I really wanted to like this book, because I've been a Dorothy Dandridge fan long before the HBO movie and am impressed by Donald Bogle's efforts to keep Black Hollywood history alive. However, like a few other reviewers mentioned, I found the pace of this book incredibly slow. This, in part, is actually due to the constant quotes of Dottie's friends- and the anecdotal examples from Bogle which precede or follow them- which quickly become repetitive. In other words, the book is too detailed (yes, it is possible for a biography to contain too much information, especially when an intended point has already been made). The prose, as well, is flat and dull. Dorothy Dandridge was a vivid, glamorous, electric, hot-blooded performer and deserved that type of stylized language to capture her and the slick era she lived in, but the book's words and structuring is very plain and uninspiring. And since her life was immensely bleak, filled with disappointments, humiliations, injustices, and defeats, all of these elements combine to make reading this biography quite painful. I also felt cheated because of the lack of photographs. Dandridge was one of the most beautiful women of all time yet there are only two really breathtaking portraits of her here, the cover included. I've seen some fabulous ones of her over the years but why they weren't included in this bio- even reduced in size- is beyond me (two full-page pictures of her mom, though-?!). The rest of the Dottie pics are everyday candid shots, many unremarkable (a few- pics with her different men, her last singing performance- are good, though). I got as far as when Carmen Jones was in the works (about the middle) and just skipped over the Preminger affair, her Oscar nomination, and her second marriage so I could read about the last days of her life, which is surprisingly written with conciseness and left me wanting to know much more. Maybe I'll read the middle someday when I have the patience and will for it. You'd just think that a book about her life would just jump off the pages- a drop-dead-gorgeous entertainer, possible manic depressive, a tragically [disabled] child, marriage to Nicholas brother, an affair with Peter Lawford, Otto Preminger, raised by a lesbian couple, Black superstar in segregated Hollywood, possible suicide... Whoa! Hopefully a book will one day come along that'll do justice to a goddess who should never, ever be forgotten or overlooked.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting,well-done biography,on the life of DorothyDandridge
Review: Only a few moments ago,I finished reading this book.Spellbound,enchanted,and heart-broken I sat for 1 week completly glued to this true,shocking and well-done biography.The author(Donald Bogle)deserves more credit for doing this book than I could ever convey but to Mr. Bogle -THANKS!I gave this book a 5 star rating,based on the content and the touching manner in which the author told the true story of the life,heartaches,dissapointments and triumphs of the late but,not forgotten Hollywood Goddess of the 1950's -Miss Dorothy Dandridge.I would personally recomend this book to anyone.I myself,knew little of the woman who's life this book was based upon,outside of seeing a movie she once starred in-Carmen Jones.After reading the biography I have more of an appreciation for her both as the star AND the PERSON she was(in my eyes-the star she IS). -Arevoir,Miss Dandridge -you are not forgotten:' )
Rating:
Summary: The Unknown Film Diva
Review: Possibly the best biography I have ever read. Donald Bogle does an exceptional job in bringing to light the story of the most overlooked screen goddess in Hollywood history. With as much beauty and glamour as her contemporary and friend Marilyn Monroe, Dandridge was sadly overlooked. She had a halting screen presence and exceptional talent as well. Indeed she was even nominated for an academy award in a time when it was almost impossible for a black woman to achive such an accolade. Even in the Hollywood of today attractive women of color get few strong roles. For Dandridge to do it at all in her time, with all of the pain and personal problems she encountered is quite amazing. Her true greatness and potential were never fully recognized.
Rating:
Summary: The Unknown Film Diva
Review: Possibly the best biography I have ever read. Donald Bogle does an exceptional job in bringing to light the story of the most overlooked screen godess in Hollywood history. With as much beauty and glamour as her contemporary and friend Marilyn Monroe, Dandridge was sadly overlooked. She had a halting screen presence and exceptional talent as well. Indeed she was even nominated for an academy award in a time when it was almost impossible for a black woman to achive such an accolade. Even in the Hollywood of today attractive women of color get few strong roles. For Dandridge to do it at all in her time, with all of the pain and personal problems she encountered is quite amazing. Her true greatness and potential were never fully recognized.
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