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Dorothy Malone
Dorothy Malone, 1963
Born	Mary Dorothy Maloney (1924-01-29)January 29, 1924 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	January 19, 2018(2018-01-19) (aged 93) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Southern Methodist University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1943–1992
Spouses	Jacques Bergerac ​ ​(m. 1959; div. 1964)​ Robert Tomarkin ​ ​(m. 1969; annul. 1969)​ Charles Huston Bell ​ ​(m. 1971; div. 1973)​
Children	2
Relatives	Robert B. Maloney (brother)

Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role in The Big Sleep (1946). After a decade, she changed her image, particularly after her role in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her career reached its peak by the beginning of the 1960s, and she achieved later success with her television role as Constance MacKenzie on Peyton Place (1964–1968). Less active in her later years, Malone's last screen appearance was in Basic Instinct in 1992.

Early life

Malone was born Mary Dorothy Maloney on January 29, 1924 in Chicago, one of five children born to Esther Emma "Eloise" Smith and her husband Robert Ignatius Maloney, an auditor for AT&T company.

When she was six months old, her family moved to Dallas, Texas. There she modeled for Neiman Marcus and attended Ursuline Academy of Dallas, Highland Park High School, Hockaday Junior College, and later, Southern Methodist University (SMU). She originally considered becoming a nurse. While performing in a play at SMU, she was spotted by a talent scout, Eddie Rubin, who had been looking to find and cast a male actor.

Malone recalled in 1981,

"I was minoring in drama because I always seemed to be in the plays produced in high school and college. ... I did some scenes with this boy the agent had found and pictures of the scenes were taken of the boy and also of me. A few weeks later, a 13-week contract arrived by mail with a six-year option."

Career

RKO – as Dorothy Maloney

Malone was signed by RKO at age 18 as Dorothy Maloney. She made her film debut in Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943). She was credited as Dorothy Maloney in The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943), released shortly thereafter. She later recalled, "I was a bridesmaid at a wedding in one picture. In another film, I was the leader of an all-girl orchestra. The only thing I did at RKO of any note was lose my Texas accent." Her RKO appearances included Higher and Higher (1943) with Frank Sinatra, Seven Days Ashore (1944), Show Business (1944) with Eddie Cantor, Step Lively (1944) again with Sinatra, and Youth Runs Wild (1944) for producer Val Lewton. RKO elected not to renew her contract. She made a brief uncredited appearance in One Mysterious Night (1944), a Boston Blackie film for Columbia.

Warner Bros. – as Dorothy Malone

She then signed a contract with Warner Bros. The studio, she said in 1985, changed her surname "from Maloney to Malone. They placed my picture in the newspaper and they gave me a raise."

Malone's early Warner movies included Hollywood Canteen (1944), Too Young to Know (1945), and Frontier Days (1945). She first achieved notice when Howard Hawks cast her as the bespectacled bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart. Warner gave her bigger parts in Janie Gets Married (1945), Night and Day (1946), and To the Victor (1946), with Dennis Morgan. Her first lead was Two Guys from Texas (1948) with Morgan and Jack Carson; this film, in her words, established her onscreen persona as "the all-American girl watching the all-American boy do all sorts of things."

She appeared in One Sunday Afternoon (1948) with Dennis Morgan and Janis Paige for director Raoul Walsh; this was a remake of The Strawberry Blonde (1941), with Malone playing the part played by Olivia de Havilland in the original. She was billed third in Flaxy Martin (1949) with Virginia Mayo and Zachary Scott, then played a good girl in a Western with Joel McCrea, South of St Louis (1949). McCrea and she were re-teamed in Colorado Territory (1949), a remake of High Sierra (1941), also for Walsh, her last film before she left the studio.

Freelancer

Columbia used Malone to play Randolph Scott's leading lady in The Man from Nevada (1950). She stayed at that studio for Convicted (1950) and The Killer That Stalked New York (1950). She made Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1951) at MGM and played Tim Holt's love interest in RKO's Saddle Legion (1951) and John Ireland's love interest in The Bushwackers (1951). She began acting on television while continuing to appear in films, guest-starring on shows such as The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse ("Education of a Fullback", 1951), and Kraft Theatre ("The Golden Slate", 1951).

She relocated to New York City for several months to study acting until producer Hal B. Wallis called her back to appear in Scared Stiff (1953) starring the comedy duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Malone appeared in a war film, Torpedo Alley (1952) for Allied Artists. She was a love interest in Westerns with Ronald Reagan (Law and Order, 1953) and Mark Stevens (Jack Slade, 1953). She was also in the thriller Loophole (1954), billed second. She did episodes of The Doctor ("The Runaways", 1953), Omnibus ("The Horn Blows at Midnight", 1953); Four Star Theatre ("Moorings", 1953; "A Study in Panic", 1954), Fireside Theatre ("Afraid to Live", 1954; "Our Son", 1954; "Mr Onion" 1955), Lux Video Theatre ("The Hunted", 1955), The Christophers ("The World Starts with Jimmy", 1955), and General Electric Theatre ("The Clown" with Henry Fonda, 1955).

Film roles included The Lone Gun (1954), a Western with George Montgomery; Pushover (1954), a thriller with Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak; and Private Hell 36 (1954) from director Don Siegel. Malone was reunited with Sinatra in Young at Heart (1954), as a co-star. She had a leading part in Battle Cry (1955), playing a married woman who has an affair with a young soldier (Tab Hunter) during World War II, a box-office hit. She again co-starred with Ireland in The Fast and the Furious (1955), directed by Ireland but perhaps best remembered for being the first film produced by Roger Corman, who would later recount that Malone "had left her agent and, having no work, accepted a part for next to nothing." He cast her as the female lead in his directorial debut, Five Guns West (1955). At Warner Bros., Malone made a Western with Randolph Scott, Tall Man Riding (1955), then was cast as Liberace's love interest in the unsuccessful film Sincerely Yours (1955). More successful was the Paramount musical comedy Artists and Models (1955), a reunion with Martin and Lewis, where she played the love interest of Martin's character. She then returned to Westerns: At Gunpoint (1955), with MacMurray; Tension at Table Rock (1956), with Richard Egan; and Pillars of the Sky (1956) with Jeff Chandler.

Written on the Wind and stardom

Malone transformed herself into a platinum blonde and shed her "good girl" image when she co-starred with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk's drama Written on the Wind (1956). Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

As a result, she was offered more substantial roles in such films as Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a biopic of Lon Chaney with James Cagney and Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957) with Robert Taylor. Quantez (1957) was another "girl in a Western" part, supporting Fred MacMurray, but The Tarnished Angels (1957) reunited her successfully with Hudson, Sirk, Stack, and producer Albert Zugsmith. Malone was given the important role of Diana Barrymore in the biopic Too Much, Too Soon (1958), but the film was not a success. Malone appeared in Warlock (1959), but went back to guest starring on such television programs as Cimarron City ("A Respectable Girl", 1958) and Alcoa Theatre ("The Last Flight Out", 1960). Malone made a third film with Stack, The Last Voyage (1960), and a third with Hudson, The Last Sunset (1961).

However, she was working more and more in television: Route 66 ("Fly Away Home", 1961), Checkmate ("The Heat of Passion", 1961), Death Valley Days ("The Watch", 1961), The Dick Powell Theatre ("Open Season", 1961), Dr Kildare ("The Administrator", 1962), General Electric Theatre ("Little White Lie", 1961, "Somebody Please Help Me", 1962), The Untouchables with Stack ("The Floyd Gibbons Story", 1962), and The Greatest Show on Earth ("Where the Wire Ends", 1963). Malone was in the first Beach Party (1963) movie, doing most of her scenes with Robert Cummings. She made an uncredited cameo appearance in Fate Is the Hunter (1964).

Peyton Place

From 1964–1968, she played the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial Peyton Place except for a brief stretch where she was absent due to surgery. Lola Albright filled in until her return. Malone agreed for $3,000 a week less than ABC's offer of $10,000 weekly, if she could be home nightly for 6 pm dinner with her two daughters and no shooting on weekends. "I never turned down a mother role", said Malone. "I like playing mothers. I started out as a very young girl in Hollywood doing Westerns, portraying a mother with a couple of kids."

In 1968, she was written out of the show after complaining that she was given little to do. Malone sued 20th Century Fox for $1.6 million for breach of contract; it was settled out of court. She later returned to the role in the TV movies Murder in Peyton Place (1977) and Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985).

Later career

After leaving Peyton Place, Malone went to Italy to make a thriller The Insatiables (1969). In Hollywood, she made a TV movie with Sammy Davis Jr., The Pigeon (1969), then returned to guest-starring on TV series such as The Bold Ones: The New Doctors ("Is This Operation Necessary?", 1972), Ironside ("Confessions: From a Lady of the Night", 1973), and Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer" 1975).

Malone had a supporting part in Abduction (1975). She featured in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and guest-starred on Police Woman ("The Trick Book", 1976) and The Streets of San Francisco ("Child of Anger", 1977). She was in the TV movie Murder in Peyton Place (1977) and had a supporting role in Golden Rendezvous (1977).

She was seen on television in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ("The House on Possessed Hill" 1978), Flying High ("A Hairy Yak Plays Musical Chairs Eagerly" 1978), Vega$ ("Love, Laugh and Die" 1978), and the TV movie Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978).

Malone was in the Canadian soap opera High Hopes (1978) and had supporting parts in Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979), Winter Kills (1979), and The Day Time Ended (1980), and the miniseries Condominium (1980).

In 1981, Malone made her stage debut in Butterflies Are Free in Winnipeg. She was suffering financial troubles at the time due to two expensive divorces and a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.

The producers of Dallas approached her to step into the role of Miss Ellie Ewing when Barbara Bel Geddes vacated the part in 1984 due to illness, but Malone declined. Her later appearances included The Littlest Hobo ("Guardian Angel" 1982), Matt Houston ("Shark Bait" 1983), The Being (1983), Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985), and Rest in Pieces (1987).

In her last screen appearance, she played a mother convicted of murdering her family in Basic Instinct (1992).

Personal life

Malone was a Democrat and campaigned for Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.

Malone, a Roman Catholic, wed actor Jacques Bergerac on June 28, 1959, at a Catholic church in Hong Kong, where she was on location for her 1960 film The Last Voyage. They had two daughters, Mimi (born 1960) and Diane (born 1962) and divorced on December 8, 1964.

Malone then married New York businessman and broker Robert Tomarkin on April 3, 1969, at the Silver Bells Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her second marriage was later annulled after Malone claimed that Tomarkin married her because of her money.

Malone married Dallas motel chain executive Charles Huston Bell on October 2, 1971, and they divorced after three years.

Around 1971, Malone moved her daughters from Southern California to suburban Dallas, Texas, where she had been raised.

Death

Malone died of natural causes on January 19, 2018, 10 days before her 94th birthday, at a nursing facility in Dallas. She is entombed at Calvary Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Dallas.

Recognition

Malone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1718 Vine in the Motion Pictures section. It was dedicated February 8, 1960. Malone was one of the industry deaths missing from the "In Memoriam" segment at the 90th Academy Awards, an omission made more prominent by the fact that she had won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 29th Academy Awards.

Filmography

References

1. ^ "Dorothy Malone, Star of TV's Peyton Place, Dies at 93". The New York Times. January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
2. ^ "Mary Dorothy Maloney". Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871–1940. Retrieved February 2, 2018 – via FamilySearch.org.
3. ^ "Dorothy Malone". Glamour Girl of the Silver Screen.
4. "Robert Ignatius Maloney Sr". Geni.com (MyHeritage Ltd.). August 14, 1895. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
5. Terry, Rowan (2015). Who's Who In Hollywood!. Lulu.com. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-3290-7449-1.
6. Liebenson, Donald (May 23, 2009). "Dorothy Malone recalls her days in 'Peyton Place'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
7. ^ Geissler, Hazel (May 29, 1981). "Dorothy Malone is settled, happy". Evening Independent. St. Petersburg, Florida. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
8. SMU Libraries, digitalcollections.smu.edu; accessed December 12, 2021.
9. "Of Local Origin". New York Times. September 21, 1943. p. 29.
10. ^ "Dorothy Malone". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved June 19, 2017. Dorothy Malone made her film debut in "The Falcon and the Co-Ed" under her real last name Maloney.
11. Miller, Frank. "Articles: Gildersleeve on Broadway". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2017. The film also marks the screen debut of Lawrence Tierney as a taxi driver and features Barbara Hale and Dorothy Malone in early bit parts
12. King, Susan (June 28, 2010). "Hollywood Star Walk: Dorothy Malone". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2017. RKO Pictures signed the then-brunette Maloney at 18, [sic] and she made her film debut in 1943's Gildersleeve on Broadway and The Falcon and the Co-Eds. She signed with Warner Bros. in 1945 (and by that time was officially known as Dorothy Malone) and made a splash in a small but juicy supporting role as a flirtatious bookseller opposite Humphrey Bogart in 1946's The Big Sleep.
13. ^ Peary, Gerald (April 5, 1985). "No Place Like Peyton for Dorothy Malone". The Globe and Mail. Canada. ProQuest 386333455. (subscription required)
14. Schallert, E. (August 17, 1943). "DRAMA AND FILM". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 165444386.
15. "HOLLYWOOD'S SHAPELIEST SHADOW-GIRL: WINNER AND RUNNERS-UP IN A SCREEN CURVILINEAR CONTEST". The Sketch. Vol. 200, no. 2596. 1944. pp. 154–55. ProQuest 1689231314.
16. "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. May 24, 1944. ProQuest 106765660.
17. Scott, J.L. (April 4, 1948). "Add one more starlet to texas' bright crown". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 165828696.(subscription required)
18. ^ Hopper, Hedda (March 20, 1955). "Dorothy's Back!". Chicago Daily Tribune. ProQuest 178843497. (subscription required)
19. "The life story of Dorothy Malone". Picture show. No. 61. September 19, 1953. p. 12. ProQuest 1879642661.(subscription required)
20. Brady, Thomas F. (July 13, 1950). "Fox Will Remake 'Berkeley Square'". The New York Times. p. 31. Dorothy Malone, former Warner contract player, has been engaged by R.K.O. for the feminine lead opposite Tim Holt in 'Saddle Legion' (subscription required)
21. ^ Scott, J.L. (September 21, 1952). "Whims, Sudden Urges Spur Dorothy Malone". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 166367631. (subscription required)
22. ^ Dorothy Malone at IMDb
23. 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956.
24. "Corman Speaks", Positif, Issue 59, March 1964, pp. 15–28.
25. "The 29th Academy Awards: 1957". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 26, 2015. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
26. "Dorothy Malone in Film Biography; 'Oscar' Winner Is Cast as Diana Barrymore". The New York Times. August 21, 1957. p. 22. Retrieved January 2, 2018. (abstract; full article requires subscription)
27. Hellmann, Paul T. (2004). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 277. ISBN 978-0415939485.
28. Vagg, Stephen (December 4, 2024). "Beach Party: An Appreciation". Filmink. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
29. "Dorothy Malone glad to be back in Peyton Place role". Midland Reporter-Telegram. Midland, Texas. September 25, 1977. Retrieved May 17, 2014. (subscription required)
30. "Movie Veteran Dorothy Malone Returns to Stage After 20 Years". The Globe and Mail. Canada. February 24, 1981. p. 21.
31. "Five Former Co-Stars Rate Reagan as a Leading — and Sometimes Misleading — Man". People. August 10, 1981. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
32. Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
33. Aldridge, James (1985). The true story of Lilli Stubeck. Puffin Plus. ISBN 978-0140320558.
34. ^ Richardson 2008, p. 546.
35. Barnes, Mike (June 25, 2014). "French Actor Jacques Bergerac Dies at 87". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
36. Richardson, Annette (2008). "Malone, Dorthy (1925–)". In Coleman, Philip; Byrne, James; King, Jason (eds.). Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 546. ISBN 978-1851096145.
37. "Oscar winner Dorothy Malone, mom on Peyton Place, has died". The Guardian. Associated Press. January 19, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
38. Obituary, hollywoodreporter.com; accessed January 20, 2018.
39. "Dorothy Malone". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
40. Sheehan, Paul (March 5, 2018). "2018 Oscars 'In Memoriam': Missing honorees include Academy Award-winning actress, Oscar-nominated songwriter, and breakthrough director". Goldderby.com. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
41. ^ "Filmography for Dorothy Malone". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
42. ^ "Dorothy Malone Movies and TV Shows". TV Guide. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
43. Stine, Scott Aaron (2003). The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s. McFarland & Co. p. 104. ISBN 978-0786415328.

External links

• Dorothy Malone at IMDb
• Dorothy Malone at Turner Classic Movies
• Campbell, Alexander (September 7, 1959). "The Farcical Finish of a Famous Old Ship". Life. pp. 86–99. (on shooting The Last Voyage)
• Dorothy Malone photo gallery
• Dorothy Malone at AllMovie.com

• 1924 births
• 2018 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• Actresses from Chicago
• Actresses from Dallas
• American people of Irish descent
• American Roman Catholics
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners
• California Democrats
• Hockaday School alumni
• Illinois Democrats
• RKO Pictures contract players
• Southern Methodist University alumni
• Texas Democrats
• Warner Bros. contract players
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
• 21st-century American women
• Catholics from California
• Catholics from Illinois
• Catholics from Texas