Life in Dorothy & Ruby's Shadow
Vivian appeared in some minor film roles: she co-starred with Frances Dee as native girl Melisse in the 1943 classic I Walked With a Zombie and in 1953's Bright Road, starring Dorothy Dandridge, in which she played the small role of schoolteacher Ms. Nelson (she received no credit on either film). She also acted as Dorothy's hairdresser on the film.
She appeared with the Dandridge Sisters in musical sequences of the films The Big Broadcast of 1936 (with George Burns and Gracie Allen), A Day at the Races (with the Marx Brothers), It Can't Last Forever (with Ralph Bellamy and Betty Furness), Irene (with Ray Milland, Anna Neagle, and Billie Burke) and Going Places (with Louis Armstrong and Maxine Sullivan).
She also appeared in the soundie Snow Gets in Your Eyes as a member of the Dandridge Sisters and as the voice of "So White" in the controversial cartoon Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs opposite her mother Ruby Dandridge. In the summer of 1955, she replaced Thelma Carpenter in the Broadway play Anchors Aweigh. She moved to the Alvin Hotel in New York City, but after this engagement she largely disappeared from show business. She attended the Academy Awards in 1955 with Dorothy Dandridge when Dorothy was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Carmen Jones.
She appeared as an uncredited extra in 1943's Stormy Weather.
Read more about this topic: Vivian Dandridge
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