Pinky (film)

Pinky (film)

Pinky is a 1949 American drama film about a pretty, light-skinned, African-American nursing student passing for a Caucasian, adapted from the Cid Ricketts Sumner novel Quality by Philip Dunne and Dudley Nichols and directed by Elia Kazan. John Ford was originally hired to direct the film but was replaced after one week because producer Darryl F. Zanuck was unhappy with the dailies. Even though pale-skinned black actresses Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge were considered for the lead role, Zanuck cast a white actress, instead. Released by Twentieth Century Fox to both critical acclaim and controversy, the film starred Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, and Nina Mae McKinney.