Vivian Alferetta Dandridge (April 22, 1921 – October 26, 1991) was an American singer, actress and dancer. Acclaimed as the black Marilyn Monroe, Vivian Dandridge's younger sister, Dorothy, was the more famous of the two.
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Dorothy Dandridge (right) sister Vivian, mother Ruby (upper left), and Geneva Williams |
In California, the Dandridge daughters befriended another girl, Etta Jones*, and began to sing together. After Jones' father heard them sing, Ruby Dandridge decided that the three should form a singing group. Thus, the Dandridge Sisters were born. While Neva and Ruby gained bit parts in films, the Dandridge Sisters began appearing in musical sequences of films and toured over the United States, sharing bills with the likes of Nat King Cole, Mantan Moreland, and dancer Marie Bryant. The female trio was a sort of black Andrews Sisters, singing songs in three part harmony. They eventually became headliners at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. They even appeared in a short-run Broadway musical revue, Swingin' The Dream, in 1939, at the Centre Theatre. The Dandridge Sisters also toured in London and Hawaii. 
The only known recorded songs that the Dandridge Sisters made on vinyl were “FDR Jones”, “The Lady’s In Love With You”, "Undecided" (1939), and "If I Were Sure Of You" recorded for the Parlophone label while they were in London, and "Minnie the Moocher is Dead", "You Ain’t Nowhere", "Ain’t Goin to Study War No More", and "That’s Your Red Wagon", which they recorded in 1940 with Jimmie Lunceford and his big band orchestra while they were on tour with him.
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| Etta, Dorothy & Vivian |
By 1956, friends and family members were concerned for the welfare of Dandridge, as she moved away and went into seclusion. Her sister Dorothy later found out that her sister was residing in New York City. At this point, Dorothy and Vivian did not remain in contact, though Dorothy sometimes provided financial assistance to Vivian and her son Michael Wallace. Other than the occasional telegram, Dorothy and Vivian remained estranged. Upon Dorothy's death in 1965, Vivian could not bear to attend the funeral. Instead, she disappeared from the public eye.
Dandridge, under the alias "Marina Rozell," later settled in Seattle, Washington, where she lived in anonymity for the rest of her life. She lived the last eight years in Marina Rozell, in a small apartment in the Ross Manor complex overlooking Elliott Bay in the Pike
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Place Market. She seldom performed any longer except at open-mike nights.She began to write a book about herself and her sister when she suffered a massive stroke from which she died on October 26, 1991 at age 70.
Place Market. She seldom performed any longer except at open-mike nights.She began to write a book about herself and her sister when she suffered a massive stroke from which she died on October 26, 1991 at age 70.Dandridge was married at least five times: Jack Montgomery (1942–1943), Warren Bra
cken (1945–1945), Ralph Bledsoe (1946–48), Forace Stead (1951–1953) and Gustav Friedrich (1958–1968).
(Edited mainly from Wikipedia.*Please note Etta Jones, the girl who’d performed with the Dandridge Sisters is not the same as the better remembered jazz singer by that name (1928-2001).