A great rollercoaster rags-to-riches-to-rags tale based on the amazing life of Dorothy Dandridge, Hollywood's first black sex goddess. Like Elvis, like Marilyn, the first black film superstar didn't die tragically, but lives among us still, changed out of all recognition... This is the story of the tragic rise and redemptive fall of Hollywood's first black sex symbol Propelled out of Depression-era poverty by the ambition of her mother and her own talents, young Irene O'Brien finds she attracts attention easily - ...
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A great rollercoaster rags-to-riches-to-rags tale based on the amazing life of Dorothy Dandridge, Hollywood's first black sex goddess. Like Elvis, like Marilyn, the first black film superstar didn't die tragically, but lives among us still, changed out of all recognition... This is the story of the tragic rise and redemptive fall of Hollywood's first black sex symbol Propelled out of Depression-era poverty by the ambition of her mother and her own talents, young Irene O'Brien finds she attracts attention easily - both welcome (she is talent-spotted from Mississippi to Harlem to Hollywood) and unwelcome (at six, a fat, over-friendly storekeeper gets altogether too excited when she sits on his lap...) She blazes a trail no other black performer has taken before and becomes an international sex symbol in the 1950s - 'the black Monroe' Fame and fortune come running: she is the first black woman to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress But happiness eludes her: her celebrity marriage never works; her daughter is autistic; and the studios soon tire of her as she ages Her descent into drunkenness and derangement ends with her very mysterious 'death' in the mid-1960s at the age of forty-three. But, beaten but not bowed, Venus Johnson rises from the ashes of Irene O'Brien to tell her tale and live out her days in tranquillity...
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! Greener Books.
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Seller's Description:
Very good in Very good jacket. VGC. Flamingo, 1998. First edition-2nd printing(3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2). Black hardback(silver lettering to the spine, light shelf waer on the edges of the cover) with Dj(two small nicks, crease and scratch on the Dj cover), both in VGC. Nice and clean pages but slightly tainted and yellow on the outer edges, two small nicks and a scratch on the edges of the pages, light shelf wear on the back of the Dj cover.292pp. Price un-clipped. This is another paragraph Product Description: A tale based on the life of Hollywood's first black sex goddess. Rising to the ranks of the black Monroe and receiving an Oscar nomination, Irene then descends into drunkenness and derangement. After her mysterious death, she rises from the ashes to live out her days in tranquility.