Her father Joseph was a minister and her mother was named Ella Mae. Her real name was Pearly Mae but her parents anticipated she would be a boy and when a girl was born she was nicknamed "Dickie". She spent her early life in Wash. DC where she received her early education. Bailey frequently appeared in the Old Howard theater in downtown Wash. As a young woman she toured the Pennsylvania mining towns as a dancer and later as a singer in Vaudeville. She starred in the film St. Louis Blues opposite Nat King Cole, which was the biography of W.C. Handy. Her greatest theater role was in the broadway musical "Hello Dolly".
Carmen Jones (1954): $1,666.66 per week

Born at 7:00am-EST Died in Philadelphia after collapsing at a local hotel. Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1989. Was an avid baseball fan, especially of the New York Mets. Appointed as a special ambassador to the United Nations in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Won a Special Tony Award in 1968. She sang "He'll Understand" at Joan Crawford's funeral.