62 - DOROTHY DANDRIDGE AND HARRY BELAFONTE

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE AND HARRY BELAFONTE During the filming of Otto Preminger’s movie “Carmen Jones,” 1954. Photograph, vintage silver print, credits below the image, annotated on the back. 25.3 x 20.2 cm including borders. Note: Directed by Otto Preminger in 1954, “Carmen Jones” transposes Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen” to contemporary America, based on the musical by Oscar Hammerstein II. Featuring an all-African American cast, the film casts Dorothy Dandridge as Carmen, a free-spirited and seductive factory worker, while Harry Belafonte plays Joe, a young soldier who abandons his fiancée and jeopardizes his future for love of her. Their passion, driven by jealousy and Carmen’s refusal to give up her independence, leads the characters toward tragedy. Thanks to this performance, Dorothy Dandridge became the first Black woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, securing the film a prominent place in the history of African American representation in Hollywood. Signs of handling along some edges and specks (spots) in one corner (in the background, outside the characters’ frame).