Ruby Dandridge is best known and remembered as the mother of Dorothy Dandridge, but like her daughter, she made an indelible mark in the world of entertainment — both on stage and in film. She was born Ruby Jean Butler in Wichita, Kansas, on March 3, 1900. One of four children, her parents were Nellie Simon and George Butler, who worked in the entertainment industry as a “minstrel man.” In September 1919, she married Cyril Dandridge
In her autobiography, Dorothy wrote that her father was known as an entertainer and later owned a grocery store and was the principal of a school. Her mother, Dorothy added, attended school where she learned dancing, singing, horseback riding and acrobatics. Dorothy said her parents broke up while her mother was still pregnant with her. “She left him, and I have never learned clearly what the breakup was about,” she wrote. “But Ruby Dandridge said she had mother-in-law trouble and that Cyril was no provider.”
By 1921, the Dandridge couple lived in Cleveland, and she divorced Cyril in 1922. It is not clear who Ruby’s companion became later; in Dorothy’s book she was named Eloise Matthews and in other places she is listed as Geneva Williams, if in fact this is the same woman. Noted film authority, Donald Bogle, offers only a brief bio on Ruby, writing that she was born in Memphis. Later, she reportedly had a partnership with Dorothy Foster in which they purchased land in California with plans to build a subdivision with 250 homes.
But as Bogle wrote, it was her minor roles in films and television that she gained fame and a little fortune. In many of her film roles, she was uncredited, beginning as a native dancer in “King Kong” in 1933. Ten years later, she was Mrs. Kelso in “Cabin in the Sky,” featuring Lena Horne, Ethel Waters and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson. In 1959, she was Sally in “A Hole in the Head,” starring Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson. Ruby was just as prolific on television as she was in films, and nowhere was she more in America’s living rooms as in the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” and “Beulah,” where she shared the screen with Hattie McDaniel. Her high-pitched voice, much like Butterfly McQueen’s, was a distinguishing feature and echoed in most of her roles.
While it was not widely known, Ruby was also a singer and led her own band the Rhythmanians. One of their recordings “I Gotta Have My Lovin’” in 1957 can be heard on YouTube with Ruby the lead singer on a song she composed. Back to work on television, for one season in 1961-62, she played the maid on “Father Knows Best.”
According to Dorothy’s co-author Earl Mills, in 1965, he was given an envelope by Dorothy giving him instructions on what to do in the event of her death: “If I have anything, money, furniture, give it to my mother, Ruby Dandridge. She will know what to do.” She also asked to be cremated.
Whether she was cremated or not, Ruby attended her funeral. On October 17, 1987, Ruby died of a heart attack at a nursing home in Los Angeles and was interred next to Dorothy at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Glendale, California. In the 1999 film, “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” Ruby is portrayed by Loretta Devine.
Find Out More
Along with her autobiography with Earl Mills, Donald Bogle has authored a biography of Dorothy Dandridge with more information about Ruby.
Discussion
It has been reported that Ruby was quite an acrobat, but there is no word about the details of those particular acts or performances.
Place in Context
Ruby arrived during the very dynamic period when film stars began appearing on television, and despite minor roles, she helped in this transition.
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