Dorothy Jean Dandridge was a singer and actress.

She had two marriages (and two subsequent divorces), the first at twenty, from which a daughter was born with severe psychological issues, and the second at thirty-six, from which she mainly endured domestic abuse and financial problems leading to a nervous breakdown, with a career now on the decline, as alcoholism took over.

She had a secret relationship with director Otto Ludwig Preminger, whom she met in '54 on the set of the musical "Carmen Jones" (both because Otto was married and because their interracial union at the time would have been deemed "inappropriate").

She had not yet turned forty-three when her manager found her lifeless.

According to the coroner of Los Angeles County, "Miss Dandridge died from a rare embolism caused by the obstruction of blood flow to the lungs and brain by small pieces of fat that had broken off from the bone marrow following a fracture of the right foot occurring during the filming of a movie in Hollywood five days prior."

Two months later, a pathology institute in Los Angeles reached a different conclusion: diagnosing the cause of death as an accidental overdose of imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant.

Her singing style closely resembled that of Billie Holiday, and nothing...

Dorothy Dandridge - you do something to me