Peggy Cass

She died of heart failure in New York City in 1999. Halle Berry played Dandridge in the made for TV movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999). She was also a regular panelist on the television game show "To Tell the Truth". She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6719 Hollywood Blvd. Her son, Rob, has gone on to become a noted economist. She is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California. She was best known for her performance as Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame on both Broadway and in the film version (1958), a role for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Modern analysts believe that she may have suffered from manic depression.

Mary Margaret (Peggy) Cass (May 21, 1924 - March 8, 1999) was an actress and comedienne. In 1965, Dandridge was found dead in her home of an overdose of Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. In 1957 she made Island in the Sun and in 1959 Porgy and Bess. Despite the nomination, she had to go to Italy to make her next movie, Tamango, in 1956. For this performance, she received an Academy Award nomination.

In 1954, Dandridge was cast in Carmen Jones, the remake of the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. During this period, she starred in several "soundies", video films designed to be displayed on juke boxes, including Paper Doll by the Mills Brothers and Cow Cow Boogie. All of her early roles were stereotypical parts for African American actresses, but her singing ability brought her popularity in nightclubs around the country. She did not receive another role until 1940, when she appeared in Four Shall Die.

Her first on-screen appearance was as an extra in a 1935 Our Gang short, Teacher's Beau. Dorothy first important role was a small part in the Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races in 1937. Dandridge began singing in her church's choir and, with the prodding of her mother, moved to Hollywood. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she was the first African American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 - September 8, 1965) was an American actress.