Ruby Dandridge
Ruby Dandridge (
1 March 1899 in
Wichita,
Kansas –
17 October,
1987 in
Los Angeles,
California) was an
African American actress from the early 1900s to the 1950s. She is best known for her
radio work in her early days of acting. Born Ruby Jean Butler, her parents were Nellie Simon and George Butler. It is stated in her daughter,
Dorothy Dandridge's book (written by Earl Mills) that Ruby had mixed
Jamaican,
Mexican, and
Native American ancestry. Her father was a janitor, minister, school principal, and entertainer, who inspired her to go into acting when she was young.
On
30 September,
1919 Ruby married Cyrus Dandridge. She moved with her husband to
Cleveland,
Ohio, where her daughter, actress
Vivian Dandridge was born in
1921. A second daughter,
Academy Award-nominated actress
Dorothy Dandridge, was born there the following year, in
1922, five months Ruby and Cyril divorced. It is noted that after her divorce, Ruby Dandridge had a love relationship with a woman named Geneva Williams who overworked the two children and punished them harshly.
Ruby Dandridge is best known for her role on the radio show
Amos 'n Andy, in which she played Sadie Blake and Harriet Crawford. She is also recognized for her role in the
1959 movie
A Hole in the Head, in which she played Sally.
She died of a heart attack at the age of eighty-eight in Los Angeles, California, and is buried next to her daughter Dorothy at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glensdale, California.
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IMDB listing*
Ruby Dandridge page on Classic Movie Stars
