Dorothy Peterson

Dorothy Peterson
from the trailer for Pursuit (1935)
Born	(1897-12-25)December 25, 1897 Hector, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	October 3, 1979(1979-10-03) (aged 81) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1930-1964
Spouse	Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (1943-1962) (his death)

Dorothy Peterson (December 25, 1897 – October 3, 1979) was an American film and television actress.

Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota of Swedish immigrant ancestry. She made her screen debut in Mothers Cry (1930), a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film.

Mothers Cry instantly typecast Peterson in careworn maternal roles, which she continued to assay for the rest of her career. Most of her subsequent film assignments were supporting roles like Mrs. Hawkins in Treasure Island (1934). In 1942, she briefly replaced Olive Blakeney as Mrs. Aldrich in the comedy series entry Henry Aldrich for President.

Her last screen appearance was as the mother of Shirley Temple in That Hagen Girl (1947). Peterson remained active on the New York TV and theatrical scene until the early 1960s. She appeared in 83 films, and made several television appearances between 1930 and 1964.

She died in New York City, aged 81.

Partial filmography

• Mothers Cry (1930)
• Way Back Home (1931)
• Traveling Husbands (1931)
• Party Husband (1931)
• Penrod and Sam (1931)
• The Reckless Hour (1931)
• Bought! (1931)
• Forbidden (1932)
• The Beast of the City (1932)
• Business and Pleasure (1932)
• So Big! (1932)
• Night World (1932)
• Life Begins (1932)
• The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
• When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932)
• Payment Deferred (1932)
• Call Her Savage (1932)
• Attorney for the Defense (1932)
• The Mayor of Hell (1933)
• I'm No Angel (1933)
• Side Streets (1934)
• Treasure Island (1934)
• Man of Iron (1935)
• Confession (1937)
• Girls on Probation (1938)
• Dark Victory (1939)
• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (1939)
• Too Many Husbands (1940)
• Lillian Russell (1940)
• Women in War (1940)
• Five Little Peppers at Home (1940)
• Out West with the Peppers (1940)
• Five Little Peppers in Trouble (1940)
• Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)
• Saboteur (1942)
• This Is the Army (1943)
• Air Force (1943)
• Mr. Skeffington (1944)
• Faces in the Fog (1944)
• This Is the Life (1944)
• The Woman in the Window (1944)
• Sister Kenny (1946)
• That Hagen Girl (1946)

External links

• Dorothy Peterson at IMDb
• Dorothy Peterson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dorothy Peterson at AllMovie