Dorothy Van Engle

Biography

Dorothy Van Engle was Oscar Micheaux's most beautiful and talented actress, and he used her in most of his important films: Harlem After Midnight (1934), Murder in Harlem (1935), God's Step Children (1938) and Swing! (1938). She was a favorite of black audiences and her beauty and natural, sophisticated acting took audiences' minds off the sometimes offending--and offensive--work of Micheaux. WIth Van Engle he saw he had a new star, someone who could bring something new and fresh to his movies. Dorothy Van Engle was a fine actress, providing a new image of a black woman on screen, one that had never been seen on the screen before, and seldom afterward. She often played intelligent, insightful, down-to-earth women, women who were always "ladies" because Van Engle was one herself. She didn't act "black", everything she did wasn't "black"; she acted like a fully-rounded human being. As an actress she got to play women from all walks of life, not just stereotypical "black" characters, and she made you dismiss the race and look at the character, but her pride in her race was obvious. Many black actresses of today could do themselves a favor by watching her. Van Engle didn't have to do much because her face could tell the story. In all her movies she was always watchable. However, when Micheaux stopped making films at the beginning of the 1940s, Dorothy Van Engle disappeared. Nothing was heard about or from her until her death. Anyone who sees Dorothy Van Engle is taken by her beauty and naturalness and wants to know more about her. She had the sophistication and classiness of Myrna Loy, the coolness of Kay Francis and a perfect face you'll never forget; put them all together and you had Dorothy Van Engle. She was a part of the "Golden Era" of black films and, most importantly, filmmaking, and will not be forgotten. Dorothy Van Engle surely belongs on top as one of the most beautiful women of the screen alongside Hedy Lamarr, Linda Darnell and Gene Tierney. Lena Horne often is credited as the first black lady of the screen, but Dorothy Van Engle really was. She brought beauty, class and intelligence to the image of black women on screen and introduced it to the world.