Dorothy Lamour
| Dorothy Lamour | |
|---|---|
 circa 1940 |
|
| Born | Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton December 10, 1914 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | September 22, 1996 (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer |
| Years active | 1933–1995 |
| Spouse(s) | Herbie Kay (m. 1935–1939) William Ross Howard III (m. 1943–1978) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
| dorothylamour.com | |
Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.[1]
Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywood where she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as "Ulah" in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and also marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen". In 1940, Lamour made her first Road to... film Road to Singapore. The Road to... films were popular during the 1940s. The last film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952. By that time, Lamour's screen career began to wane and she focused on stage and television work. In the 1970s, she revived her nightclub act and, in 1980, released her autobiography My Side of the Road. She made her final onscreen appearance in 1987.
Lamour married her second husband, William Ross Howard III, in 1943. They had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. Lamour died at her home in 1996 at the age of 81.
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Early life [edit]
Born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, the daughter of Carmen Louise (née LaPorte) and John Watson Slaton, both of whom were waiters.[2] Lamour was of French Louisianan, Spanish, and Irish descent. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few years. Her mother married for the second time to Clarence Lambour, whose surname Dorothy later adopted and modified as her stage name.[3] That marriage also ended in divorce when Dorothy was a teenager.
Lamour quit school at the age of 14 and, after taking a business course, worked as a secretary to support herself and her mother. She began entering beauty pageants and was crowned "Miss New Orleans" in 1931. Lamour used the prize money to support herself while she worked in a stock theatre company. She and her mother later moved to Chicago where Lamour found a job working at Marshall Field's department store. She was discovered by orchestra leader Herbie Kay when he spotted her in performance at a Chicago talent show held at the Hotel Morrison. Kay hired her as a singer for his orchestra and, in 1935, Lamour went on tour with Kaye. Her work with Kay eventually led Lamour to vaudville and work in radio.[4] In 1935, she had her own fifteen-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. Lamour also sang on the popular Rudy Vallee radio show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour.
Career [edit]
In 1936, Lamour moved to Hollywood. That same year, she did a screen test for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with them.[4] Lamour began appearing regularly in films for Paramount Pictures. She made her first film for Paramount, College Holiday, in which she has a bit part as an uncredited dancer. Her second film for Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), solidified her fame. In the film, Lamour plays the role of "Ulah", a jungle native who wore an Edith Head-designed sarong throughout the film. The Jungle Princess was a big hit for the studio and Lamour would be associated with sarongs for the rest of her career.[5] From 1937 to 1939, Lamour appeared in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), Spawn of the North (1938; with George Raft, Henry Fonda, and John Barrymore), Disputed Passage (1939),
In 1940, Lamour co-starred in the first of several Road to... films with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940s, and they regularly placed among the top moneymaking films each year. While the films centered more on Hope and Crosby, Lamour held her own as their "straight man", and sang some of her most popular songs. The series essentially ended with the release of Road to Bali in 1952.
During World War II, Lamour was among the most popular pinup girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Veronica Lake. Lamour was also known for her volunteer working selling war bonds during tours in which movie stars would travel the country selling U.S. government bonds to the public. Lamour reportedly sold $300 million worth of bonds earning her the nickname "The Bombshell of Bombs". She also volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen where she would dance and talk to soldiers. In 1965, Lamour was awarded a belated citation from the United States Department of the Treasury for her war bond sales.[1]
Some of Lamour's other notable films include Johnny Apollo (1940; with Tyrone Power), Aloma of the South Seas (1941), Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942), Dixie (1943; with Bing Crosby), A Medal for Benny (1945), My Favorite Brunette (1947; with Bob Hope), On Our Merry Way (1948) and a supporting role in the best picture Oscar-winner The Greatest Show on Earth (1952; with Charlton Heston). Her other leading men included William Holden, Ray Milland, James Stewart, Jack Benny, and Fred MacMurray.
Lamour starred in a number of movie musicals and sang in many of her comedies and dramatic films as well. She introduced a number of standards, including "The Moon of Manakoora", "I Remember You", "It Could Happen to You", "Personality", and "But Beautiful".
Lamour's film career declined in the early 1950s, and she began a new career as a nightclub entertainer and occasional stage actress. In the 1960s, she returned to the screen for secondary roles in three films, including John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963) with John Wayne and Lee Marvin, and became more active in the legitimate theater, headlining a road company of Hello Dolly! for over a year near the end of the decade.
Later years [edit]
In the 1970s, Lamour's was a popular draw on the dinner theatre circuit.
In 1980, Lamour published her autobiography, My Side of the Road and revived her nightclub act. During the remainder of the decade, she performed in plays and television shows such as Hart to Hart, Crazy Like a Fox, Remington Steele and Murder, She Wrote.
During the 1990s, she made only a handful of professional appearances but remained a popular interview subject for publications and TV talk and news programs. In 1995, the musical Swinging on a Star, a revue of songs written by Johnny Burke opened on Broadway and ran for three months; Lamour was credited as a "special advisor". Burke wrote many of the most famous Road to ... movie songs as well as the score to Lamour's 1944 film And the Angels Sing. The musical was nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award, and the actress playing her in the road movie segment, Kathy Fitzgerald, was also nominated.
Personal life [edit]
Lamour's first marriage was to orchestra leader Herbie Kay whose orchestra Lamour sang with. The two married in 1935 and divorced in 1939.[6] After her divorce from Kay, Lamour dated actor Robert Preston.[7]
Early in her career, Lamour met J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, Hoover pursued a romantic relationship with Lamour and the two spent a night together at a Washington, D.C. hotel. Lamour was later asked if she and Hoover had a sexual relationship to which she replied, "I cannot deny it."[8] In her 1980 autobiography, My Side of the Road, Lamour does not discuss Hoover in detail, only referring to him as "a lifelong friend".[9]
On April 7, 1943, Lamour married former Air Force Captain and advertising executive William Ross Howard III in Beverly Hills.[10] The couple had two sons: John Ridgely (born January 1946) and Richard Thomson Howard (born October 1949).[11][12]
In the 1960s and 1970s, Lamour and Howard lived in the Baltimore suburb of Sudbrook Park.[13] Howard died in 1978.[1]
Death [edit]
On September 22, 1996, Lamour died at her home in North Hollywood at the age of 81.[1] She was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.[14]
For her contribution to the radio and motion picture industry, Dorothy Lamour has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star for her radio contributions is located at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard and her star for her motion picture contributions is located at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.[15]
Selected filmography [edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | College Holiday | Dancer | Uncredited |
| 1936 | The Jungle Princess | Ulah | |
| 1937 | Swing High, Swing Low | Anita Alvarez | |
| 1937 | High, Wide, and Handsome | Molly Fuller | |
| 1937 | The Hurricane | Marama | |
| 1938 | The Big Broadcast of 1938 | Dorothy Wyndham | |
| 1938 | Her Jungle Love | Tura | |
| 1938 | Tropic Holiday | Manuela | |
| 1938 | Spawn of the North | Nicky Duval | |
| 1939 | St. Louis Blues | Norma Malone | |
| 1939 | Man About Town | Diana Wilson | |
| 1939 | Disputed Passage | Audrey, Hilton | |
| 1940 | Road to Singapore | Mima | |
| 1940 | Johnny Apollo | Lucky Dubarry | |
| 1940 | Chad Hanna | Albany Yates/Lady Lillian | |
| 1941 | Road to Zanzibar | Donna Latour | |
| 1941 | Caught in the Draft | Antoinette "Tony" Fairbanks | |
| 1941 | Aloma of the South Seas | Aloma | |
| 1942 | The Fleet's In | The Countess | |
| 1942 | Road to Morocco | Princess Shalmar | |
| 1942 | Star Spangled Rhythm | Herself | |
| 1943 | They Got Me Covered | Christina Hill | |
| 1943 | Dixie | Millie Cook | |
| 1943 | Riding High | Ann Castle | |
| 1944 | And the Angels Sing | Nancy Angel | |
| 1945 | A Medal for Benny | Lolita Sierra | |
| 1945 | Duffy's Tavern | Herself | |
| 1945 | Masquerade in Mexico | Angel O'Reilly | |
| 1946 | Road to Utopia | Sal Van Hoyden | |
| 1947 | My Favorite Brunette | Carlotta Montay | Alternative title: The Private Eye |
| 1947 | Variety Girl | Herself | |
| 1947 | Wild Harvest | Fay Rankin | |
| 1947 | Road to Rio | Lucia Maria de Andrade | |
| 1948 | On Our Merry Way | Gloria Manners | Alternative title: A Miracle Can Happen |
| 1948 | Lulu Belle | Lulu Belle | |
| 1949 | Manhandled | Merl Kramer | |
| 1951 | Here Comes the Groom | Herself | |
| 1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Phyllis | |
| 1952 | Road to Bali | Princess Lala | |
| 1962 | The Road to Hong Kong | Miss Lafleur | |
| 1964 | Pajama Party | Head Saleslady | |
| 1970 | The Phynx | Herself | |
| 1976 | Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Visiting Film Star | |
| 1987 | Creepshow 2 | Martha Spruce | Segment: "Old Chief Wood'nhead" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Damon Runyon Theater | Sally Bracken | Episode: "The Mink Doll" |
| 1967 | I Spy | Halima | Episode: "The Honorable Assassins" |
| 1969 | The Name of the Game | Stella Fisher | Episode: "Chains of Command" |
| 1970 | Love, American Style | Holly's Mother | Segment: "Love and the Pick-Up" |
| 1971 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Mary DeSocio | Episode: "Echos from Another World" |
| 1976 | Death at Love House | Denise Christian | Television film Alternative title: The Shrine of Lorna Love |
| 1980 | The Love Boat | Lil Braddock | Episode: "That's My Dad/The Captain's Bird/Captive Audience" |
| 1984 | Hart to Hart | Katherine Prince | Episode: "Max's Waltz" |
| 1984 | Remington Steele | Dorothy Lamour | Episode: "Cast in Steele" |
| 1986 | Crazy like a Fox | Rosie | Episode: "Rosie" |
| 1987 | Murder, She Wrote | Mrs. Ellis | Episode: "No Accounting for Murder" |
Broadway musicals [edit]
| Year | Show |
|---|---|
| 1958 | Oh, Captain! |
| 1995 | Swinging on a Star |
Books [edit]
Lamour was the heroine of a novel, Dorothy Lamour and the Haunted Lighthouse (1947, by Matilda Bailey), where "the heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." The story was written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that each featured a film actress as heroine.[16]
Lamour's autobiography, My Side of the Road, was published by Prentice-Hall in 1980.[17]
She also had a brief print run of 2-3 issues during the 1950s in "Dorothy Lamour Jungle Princess Comics", a series of comic books dedicated to her on-film Jungle Princess persona (featuring screen shots from past movies as the covers).
Notes [edit]
- ^ a b c d Severo, Richard (September 23, 1996). "Dorothy Lamour, 81, Sultry Sidekick in Road Films, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ Dorothy Lamour: 1914-1996 By RICHARD SEVERO
- ^ Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins (5 ed.). McFarland. p. 273. ISBN 0-786-44373-1.
- ^ a b Parish, James Robert; Pitts, Michael R. (2003). Hollywood Songsters: Singers Who Act and Actors Who Sing: A Biographical Dictionary 2. Taylor & Francis. p. 447. ISBN 0-415-94333-7.
- ^ Jorgensen, Jay (2010). Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer. Running Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-762-44173-9.
- ^ Lee, William F. (2005). American Big Bands. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 119. ISBN 0-634-08054-7.
- ^ Adelson, Suzanne (1982-02-22). "It's Toujours Lamour—Dorothy Is Back on the Road Again at Age 67". People 17 (7). ISSN 0093-7673.
- ^ Ackerman, Kenneth D. (2001-11-09). "Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ Lamour, Dorothy; McInnes, Dick (1980). My Side of the Road. Prentice-Hall. p. 33. ISBN 0-132-18594-6.
- ^ "Indoors Setting For Wedding Of Dorothy Lamour". Ottawa Citizen. 1943-04-06. p. 19. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Son Is Born To Dorothy Lamour". Ellensburg Daily Record. 1946-01-08. p. 1. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Dorothy Lamour Gives Birth to Her Second Son". The Milwaukee Journal. 1949-10-21. p. 22. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ "Dorothy Lamour". Baltimore Magazine: 53.
- ^ Keister, Douglas (2010). Forever L.A.: A Field Guide to Los Angeles Area Cemeteries & Their Residents. Gibbs Smith. p. 167. ISBN 1-423-60522-5.
- ^ "Hollywood Star Walk: Dorothy Lamour". latimes.com. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ Whitman Authorized Editions for Girls, accessed September 10, 2009
- ^ My Side of the Road by Dorothy Lamour on Goodreads.com, accessed April 17, 2010
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dorothy Lamour |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dorothy Lamour |
- Dorothy Lamour at the Internet Broadway Database
- Dorothy Lamour at the Internet Movie Database
- Dorothy Lamour at the TCM Movie Database
- Post-Blitz Clydebank — a documentary about Clydebank, Scotland from 1947 to 1952, featuring Dorothy Lamour
- Photographs of Dorothy Lamour
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- 1914 births
- 1996 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- Actresses from Louisiana
- American beauty pageant winners
- American female singers
- American film actresses
- American memoirists
- American radio actresses
- American radio personalities
- American people of French descent
- American people of Irish descent
- American people of Spanish descent
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
- Louisiana Republicans
- California Republicans
- People from New Orleans, Louisiana
- Torch singers
- Traditional pop music singers
- Vaudeville performers
- Paramount Pictures contract players
