Source: ABC Photo Archives / Getty
One of
Diahann Carroll’s most iconic characters throughout her illustrious career was none other than
Dynasty’s Dominique Deveraux.
On the 80s lavish Primetime soap opera, not only was Carroll the first Africa-American woman on a show like this, the character of Dominique was one of the richest, classiest and most well-traveled Black women we’d ever seen on the small screen. Joining the show in its fourth season in 1984, Deveraux was created to cause a little trouble for Alexis Colby, the villainess played by
Joan Collins.
“They’ve done everything [on the show]. They’ve done incest, homosexuality, murder. I think they’re slowly inching their way toward interracial,” she
recalled in a 1984 piece for
People magazine. “I want to be wealthy and ruthless … I want to be the first black bitch on television.”
With her sharp tongue and little patience for condescension, Deveraux gave these girls a serious run for their money and had no qualms smacking one that spoke out of turn.
Take a look at her in action, reading Alexis for filth and then dragging her “burnt” champagne AND basic caviar.
SLAY!!!!
But Dominque Deveraux was more than just a foe for the show’s white characters, she was also incredibly glamorous and had an impeccable sense of style, allowing other Black girls and women to dream (however shallow and unrealistic) and see themselves in this lush uber-rich world. That and Dominque could rock all couture and wear all the furs (without being
the welfare queen that President Reagan said Black women in furs could be.) She was truly a pioneer for all is boogie sistas.
So to celebrate
the late great Diahann Carroll and her iconic character, here are 15 of Ms. Deveraux’s fiercest looks:
