16. She Refused All Slave Roles
In 1956, Dandridge was offered another Asian role, this time as the Burmese slave girl Tuptim in The King and I. Dandridge refused the character, and maintained a strict no-slave role policy throughout much of her career. She broke that rule for 1958’s Tamango, but the film portrayed a slave uprising so successful that France banned it from playing in their African colonies.
