He also conducted the first national tour of Carmen Jones and worked as an accompanist, notably playing for tenor Leslie Chabay in his New York City recital debut in 1950.
Carmen | Tom Jones | Tom Jones (singer) | Quincy Jones | Indiana Jones | Norah Jones | Carmen Electra | James Earl Jones | George Jones | Chuck Jones | John Paul Jones | Grace Jones | Terry Jones | Edward Burne-Jones | Inigo Jones | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Jim Jones | Hank Jones | Rickie Lee Jones | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | Paula Jones | Blank & Jones | Tommy Lee Jones | Jones | Dow Jones Industrial Average | Alias Smith and Jones | Shirley Jones | Peter Jones | Mother Jones | Gwyneth Jones |
Taking the name of Dorothy Dandridge's role in Carmen Jones, Rupe became Australia's first Māori drag performer and from that time on lived as a woman.
His other film credits include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Carmen Jones (1954), Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), with Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil, and a memorable turn as Mr. Prentice (again playing opposite Poitier) in the 1967 feature film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
Since then she has sung in operas and recitals in cities all over the world, her most notable roles being Carmen, Carmen Jones (for which she received the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 as Best Actress in a Musical), and Aïda, a role she has performed in Luxor and at the Pyramids in Egypt.
He numbered among his credits Broadway appearances in "Show Boat", Carmen Jones", "Finian's Rainbow" and "Porgy and Bess". Member of The Belafonte Folk Singers and The Phoenix Singers. Appeared with Belafonte on many concerts over the years, notably heard as background voice in "Try To Remember".