Dorothy Dandridge IS Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba!

In her only genre role, Dorothy Dandridge played Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba in 1951's Tarzan's Peril.

An original story, not based on any of Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories, the film was the third of five movies starring Lex Barker as Tarzan and directed by Byron Haskin, who went on to A-list genre films like 1953's War of the Worlds.
It was also the first Tarzan film to have scenes shot on location in Africa.
(Previous films used existing stock footage from other movies.)

One of the scenes from the film is recreated in the biopic Introducing Dorothy Dandridge starring Fantastic Femme Halle Berry as Dorothy playing Melmendi.
Here's a comparison between a scene in the original film and the biopic's version of it.
Melmendi, nor her tribe, the Ashuba, have appeared in any Tarzan story (in any media) since...

BTW, Tarzan's Peril is airing Saturday, July 16th, at 12:00pm (EST) on Turner Classic Movies!

Set your DVRs!

Halle Berry (Justice/Benét)

Academy Award-winning actress with a number of genre credits. Doesn't feel "popcorn" movies are beneath her...
Great acting range from comedy to drama.
A bit weak as an action heroine, though she has improved. Was very good in X-Men: the Last Stand and Die Another Day and , but Catwoman had too much CGI "stuntwork" and not enough of her in action!

Genre Credits:

Dark Tide (Kate Mathieson)

X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: the Last Stand

(Storm aka Ororo Munroe)

Catwoman, Catwoman the Video Game

(Catwoman aka Patience Phillips)

Die Another Day [20th Eon James Bond 007 film]

(Giacinita "Jinx" Johnson)

Perfect Stranger (Rowena Price)

Gothika (Miranda Gray)

Solomon & Sheba (Nikhaule/Queen Sheba)

SwordFish (Ginger Knowles) 

Executive Decision (Jean)

They Came From Outer Space "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" (Rene)

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

(Dorothy Dandridge as Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba in Tarzan's Peril)

The Flintstones (Miss Sharon Stone)

Robots (Cappy)

Other actresses to play Storm / Ororo Munroe (voices on animated versions)...
Susan Dalian (Wolverine and the X-Men)
Kirsten Williamson (X-Men: Evolution)
Alison Sealy-Smith (Spider-Man, X-Men) [Replaced Iona Morris]
Iona Morris (Spider-Man, X-Men)
Andi Chapman (X-Men "Pryde of the X-Men") [pilot]
I'm not sure who did Storm / Ororo Munroe in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends eps "A Firestar Is Born", "The Education of a Superhero" and "The X-Men Adventure"
Storm /Ororo Munroe voice actresses in videogames include Dawnn Lewis, Debra Wilson, Tangie Ambrose, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cheryl Carter, Catherine Disher,
Other actresses to play Catwoman...
Halle is the only actress to play Catwoman / Patience Phillips.
All the other previous actresses played Catwoman / Selina Kyle, so I'm not going to list them!
(Hey, it's my blog, I can do what I want!)