Ruby Dandridge

Born Ruby Jean Butler in Wichita, Kansas, on March 3, 1900, she was one of four children. Dandridge's parents were Nellie Simon, a maid, and George Butler, who was a janitor, grocer and entertainer.[https://aaregistry.org/story/ruby-dandridge-is-mother-the-daughter-of-the-child/ "Ruby Dandridge, Is Mother the Daughter of the Child?"] African American Registry. Dandridge's father was also "a famous minstrel man."{{cite news|last1=Barron|first1=Mark|title=Broadway|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5028279/fitchburg_sentinel/|work=Fitchburg Sentinel|date=April 22, 1949|location=Massachusetts, Fitchburg|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}}

In 1937, Dandridge played one of the witches in what an article in The Pittsburgh Courier called a "sepia representation" of Macbeth in Los Angeles. California.{{cite news|last1=Patton|first1=Bernice|title=The Sepia Side of Hollywood|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5026914/the_pittsburgh_courier/|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|date=June 12, 1937|location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 21, 2016}} {{Open access}} The production began on July 8 at the Mayan Theater. Five years later, she appeared in a production of Hit the Deck at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California.{{cite news|title='Hit the Deck' Will Be at the Curran|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5027359/oakland_tribune/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=May 25, 1942|location=California, Oakland|page=14|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 21, 2016}} {{Open access}} One of Dandridge's earliest appearances (uncredited, as were many of the minor roles she played) was as a native dancer in King Kong (1933).[http://black-face.com/ruby-dandridge.htm "Ruby Dandridge (1899–1987)"], Blackface! In other films, she played Rheba, a maid, in Junior Miss (1945), Dabby in Tap Roots (1948),{{cite news|title=Colorful Civil War Story In Senate's 'Tap Roots'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5028176/the_evening_news/|work=The Evening News|date=July 15, 1948|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=16|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}} the housekeeper in Three Little Girls in Blue (1946),{{cite news|title=Ruby Dandridge Gets Film Role|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5028094/the_pittsburgh_courier/|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|date=February 2, 1946|location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}} Mrs. Kelso in Cabin in the Sky (1943){{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Paul|title="Cabin in the Sky" Rated As a 12-Laugh Picture! "Hello Frisco," Held Over|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5027545/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=April 27, 1943|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=10|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}} and Violet in Tish (1942).{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Paul|title='Curtain's Off the Track!' New Films Written Up--And Vice Versa! 3 New Today|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5027485/harrisburg_telegraph/|work=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=September 17, 1942|location=Pennsylvania, Harrisburg|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 21, 2016}} {{Open access}} File:Beulah radio cast 1952 1953edited.jpg, Ernest Whitman, and Ruby Dandridge of the radio cast of The Beulah Show circa 1952–1953.]] Dandridge played Oriole on both radio and TV versions of The Beulah Show,Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-4513-4}}. P. 37. and Geranium in The Judy Canova Show,{{r|rp|page1=182}} and was a regular cast member on Tonight at Hoagy's.{{r|rp|page1=337}} She is heard as Raindrop on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch (August 1949 - April 1951). For one season (1961–1962), Dandridge played the maid on the television version of Father of the Bride.

In 1955, Dandridge and her business partner Dorothy Foster bought land in Twentynine Palms, California, with plans to construct a subdivision of 250 homes.{{cite news|last1=Levette|first1=Harry|title=This Is Hollywood|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5028755/the_new_york_age/|work=The New York Age|date=January 22, 1955|location=New York, New York City|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}} Also in the 1950s, Dandridge formed a nightclub act that played in clubs around Los Angeles. A review of her act cited her "flashes of effervescent showmanship" and stated "What Ruby lacks in her voice, she invariably makes up for it with her winsome personality."{{cite news|title=Another Dandridge In Lights|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5028947/the_pittsburgh_courier/|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|date=March 17, 1956|location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh|page=36|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 22, 2016}} {{Open access}}

On September 30, 1919, she married Cyril Dandridge. Dandridge moved with her husband to Cleveland, Ohio, where her daughter, actress Vivian Dandridge, was born in 1921. Her second daughter, Academy Award-nominated actress Dorothy Dandridge, was born there in 1922, five months after Ruby and Cyril divorced. It is noted that after her divorce, Dandridge became involved with her companion Geneva Williams, who reportedly overworked the children and punished them harshly.{{Cite news|last=Maslin|first=Janet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/19/movies/hollywood-s-tryst-with-dorothy-dandridge-inspires-real-love-at-last.html|title=Hollywood's Tryst With Dorothy Dandridge Inspires Real Love at Last|date=1997-06-19|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Dandridge attended her daughter Dorothy's funeral in 1965.{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}

On October 17, 1987, Dandridge died of a heart attack at a nursing home in Los Angeles, California.{{cite news|title=Obituaries : Ruby Dandridge; Singer, Actress, Mother of Performer Daughters|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-24-mn-3802-story.html|access-date=23 April 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 24, 1987}} She was interred next to Dorothy at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. In the 1999 film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Ruby is portrayed by Loretta Devine.

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• {{IMDb name|199276}}
• {{find a Grave|19741}}
• [http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=ms_f-2_s&gsfn=Ruby+Jean&gsln=Dandridge&mswpn__ftp=Los+Angeles%2C+Los+Angeles%2C+California%2C+USA&mswpn=68337&mswpn_PInfo=8-|0|1652393|0|2|3249|7|0|1813|68337|0|&uidh=000&=y&=0 Ruby Dandridge gravestone indicating 1900 as year of birth]

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Category:American film actresses

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:1900 births

Category:1987 deaths

Category:American LGBTQ actresses

Category:African-American LGBTQ people

Category:LGBTQ people from Kansas

Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)

Category:Actresses from Wichita, Kansas

Category:20th-century African-American actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people