Did Dinah Shore Sue Her Parents Over Her Race? The Truth Behind the Rumor

Dave Sundstrom August 18, 12:00 pm

DINAH SHORE, 1970s. — Everett Collection

What To Know

Rumors that Dinah Shore was part Black and sued her parents for hiding her heritage have persisted for decades.
Speculation about her ancestry likely stemmed from her daughter’s appearance.
Dinah Shore never addressed the rumor.

If you grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, you probably remember Dinah Shore on your daytime TV screen. With her warm and friendly Southern charm, Shore’s talk show really had a way of making viewers feel like they were just hanging out at her place.

And even before she became a daytime television talk show favorite, Shore had a long and celebrated career. Still, for all of the things remembered about her, there was a rumor that followed her for years — the claim that Shore was part Black and that she even sued her parents for keeping it a secret from her.

It’s a rumor that definitely had legs. In fact, even after her passing in 1994, the Chicago Tribune ran an article that said this: “Older Americans will tell you in no uncertain terms that the late Dinah Shore purportedly was a Black woman who had passed for years.”

Alright, let’s dig in.

Everett Collection

Shore, born Frances Rose Shore, came into the world in Winchester, Tennessee. Her parents, Solomon and Anna Shore, were Jewish immigrants who came from Russia, and they were one of the few Jewish families in town.

It turns out that her mother was a talented singer herself and had always dreamed of being an opera star. She poured all of that love for music into her daughter. Sadly, Shore’s mother passed away when she was just 15. It was a tough loss as she and her mother were very close.

After high school, Shore’s father sent her to Vanderbilt University, where she graduated with a degree in sociology in 1938. It was a degree that would never really get fully utilized because, soon afterwards, she began her wildly successful singing career.

But the Dinah Shore that most people remember is from her syndicated talk show. That program, titled Dinah! ran for years, and viewers saw her do everything from interviewing famous movie stars to singing songs from her catalog of hits and even trying out recipes in the kitchen.

Now, about that rumor. After reviewing the facts and her family’s actual history, the story just does not hold up.

From left: George Montgomery, one-month-old Melissa Montgomery, Dinah Shore, at home, 1948

Everett Collection

It’s possible that the rumor may have started in 1948 when Shore and her then-husband, George Montgomery, had a daughter, Melissa Ann, who was born with slightly darker features. This led to a lot of talk and guessing that she had African or Native American blood, which people then linked back to the rumors about Shore’s own parents.

However, as mentioned earlier, Shore’s parents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and there is simply no proof to support the claim of any African heritage. The truth is that there is no real evidence to back up any part of the rumor, which is, quite frankly, fueled by racism.

So, after all this talk about family history, one has to ask: Why does any of it even matter? Simply put, it shouldn’t. The question of Shore’s ancestry, whether she was Black, White, Asian, Klingon, or something else, does not change a single thing about the person that she was or the joy that she brought to millions of people.

For the record, Shore never personally addressed the rumor and, of course, did not sue her parents. She and Montgomery would also have a son, John David, and their home was filled with love. In a Time magazine article from 2016 about her life, Shore is quoted as saying, “I treasure my family as a gourmet treasures his food. I am surrounded by love.”

End of the day, all this hubbub about her family line is nothing more than a sign of Shore’s immense talent. Sergeant Joe Friday would encourage us to stick with the facts, which are that, along with being a loving mother, she was a great singer, actress, and a really fantastic talk show host, and that is what she should be remembered for.