Taking the name of Dorothy Dandridge's role in Carmen Jones, Rupe became Australia's first Māori drag performer and from that time on lived as a woman.
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Joseph Kahn and features Hilson portraying an array of American female icons of the past, including Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, The Andrews Sisters, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Janet Jackson and T-Boz of the R&B girl group TLC.
He met Dorothy Dandridge and toured with her for two years, took part in the Samuel Goldwyn motion picture production of Porgy & Bess, and toured with Nat King Cole.
Dorothy Dandridge and Curd Jürgens (billed as: Curt Jurgens) star in the film with co-stars Alex Cressan and Jean Servais.
Some of her clients included other notable black women of her era, including Dorothy Dandridge and Marian Anderson.
Dorothy L. Sayers | Dorothy Parker | Dorothy Gale | Dorothy | Dorothy Loudon | Dorothy Lamour | Dorothy Dandridge | Dorothy Thompson | Dorothy Day | Dorothy Hamill | Dorothy Stratten | Dorothy McGuire | Dorothy Malone | Dorothy Kirsten | Dorothy Fields | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion | Dorothy Wordsworth | Dorothy Perkins | Dorothy Hewett | Dorothy Gish | Dorothy Dunnett | Dorothy de Rothschild | Dandridge, Tennessee | Dorothy Woolfolk | Dorothy Stang | Dorothy Sarnoff | Dorothy Revier | Dorothy Norwood | Dorothy Mueller | Dorothy Kamenshek |
Among the many performers who have been covered by the magazine over the years were Tyrone Power, Butterfly McQueen, Olivia de Havilland, Betty Hutton, Robert Mitchum, Noël Coward, Anita Page, Conway Tearle, Edna May Oliver, James Dean, Dorothy Dandridge, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, Una Merkel, and directors Michael Curtiz, and W. S. Van Dyke.
From 1942 through 1957 they gave joint birthday parties during which each presented a surprise production number using special material which featured their friends— Garland, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, Dorothy Dandridge, Maureen O'Hara, Ray Bolger, Ann Sothern, Danny Kaye, Charles Walters, Cole Porter, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane among others—each never telling the other while rehearsing what the other was planning to present.
It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996, and was awarded the first Gold Record for sales of 1.2 million.
Always prominent in the African American community, the neighborhood has been home to many famous residents including, Dorothy Dandridge, Juanita Moore, Dorothy Donegan, Nick Stewart, Evelyn Freeman, and Lucius Allen.