Claire Dodd
| Claire Dodd | |
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| Born | Dorothy Anne Dodd December 29, 1908 Baxter, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | November 23, 1973 (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1930–1942 |
| Spouse | Jack Milton Strauss (1931–1938; divorced); 1 child H. Brand Cooper (1942–1973; her death); 3 children |
Claire Dodd (December 29, 1908 – November 23, 1973) was an American film actress.
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[edit] Life and work
Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and his wife, Ethel V. (née Cool) Dodd, daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter. When her parents later separated in Montana, she went to California, where she worked as a model in Los Angeles and auditioned for minor film roles. She moved to New York City to study singing and dancing. She joined the Ziegfeld Follies where she was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck.
Some confusion has led to Dodd's birthplace being listed as Des Moines, Iowa. Early in her career, Dodd applied for a passport in preparation for a trip to Europe, and was reported as saying she only knew she was born in Iowa. Whether an attempted bit of publicity, she wound up with plenty in her home state. Dodd had numerous relatives who still lived in and around Baxter when her apparent memory lapse was reported in the Register & Tribune's Iowa News Service on April 29, 1935.
Locals were in an uproar. "She isn't worthy of her birthplace", was the title of one editorial in a local paper the next day, reasoning "No native-born Baxterian has any business forgetting the name of his birthplace". Another Iowa editor offered up the explanation "Maybe Claire Dodd, who forgot her Iowa birthplace, is the type which thinks hard whether to answer 'yes' or 'no' to the word 'Born' on a questionnaire." Deputy Jasper County Clerk John B. Norris quickly sent by registered mail a copy of Dodd's birth certificate to Hollywood. The returned receipt was dated May 6, 1935, and signed for her by her husband at the time, J.M. Strauss.[citation needed]
She went on to work for Warner Brothers, Parmount and Universal studios. She twice played secretary Della Street to Warren William's Perry Mason, in The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) and The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936).
[edit] Family
She worked in almost sixty films in twelve years from 1930 to 1942. She quit films and married H. Brand Cooper, with whom she had three children. A fourth child (Jon Michael Strauss, born 1936), was from her first marriage.[citation needed]
[edit] Death
She died at her home in Beverly Hills, California from cancer, aged 64. She is buried in the Brand Family Cemetery on the grounds of the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale California. Photo of grave marker in the name of Anne Dodd Cooper
[edit] Partial filmography
- Ex-Lady 1933
- The Personality Kid (1934)
- I Sell Anything (1934)
- Journal of a Crime (1934)
- The Payoff (1935)
- Don't Bet on Blondes (1935)
- Roberta (1935)
- The Glass Key, 1935
- Three Loves Has Nancy, 1938
- The Black Cat, 1941
- In the Navy, 1941
[edit] References
[edit] Links
- "When Dorothy forgot: 'There's no place like home'", Sunday Times-Republican Past Times, November 17, 1996, Marshalltown, Iowa.
