| Revision as of 04:50, 22 January 2005 editZosodada (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,234 edits Added New "Film Credit" section, more information and some reorg← Previous edit | Revision as of 05:35, 22 January 2005 edit undoZosodada (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users1,234 edits →Film Credits: added books, datesNext edit → | ||
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| == Film Credits== | == Film Credits== | ||
| '']'' Screenwriter | '']'' ] ] <br> | ||
| '']''] Actress | '']'' ] ]<br> | ||
| '']'' |
'']'' ] uncredited appearance | ||
| == Books by Dorothy Kilgallen== | |||
| "Girl Around the World", ], 1936<br> | |||
| "Murder One", ], ] <br> | |||
| == Books About Dorothy Kilgallen== | |||
| ''Kilgallen'' by ] ] <br> | |||
| ''Johnnie Ray & Miss Kilgallen'' by ] ] | |||
| ==External link== | ==External link== | ||
Revision as of 05:35, 22 January 2005
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 - November 8, 1965) was an American actress, socialite, reporter and television presenter. She was born in Chicago, Illinois the daughter of James Kilgallen, a newspaperman.
Dorothy's early working career was as a trial reporter. She covered the trials Dr. Sam Sheppard (the inspiration for the television show The Fugitive), Bruno Hauptmann, and Anna Antonio. She worked for William Randolph Hearst and others publishers.
She once competed with fellow newspaper reporters in a race around the world as the only female contestant. This inspired her autobiography, Girl Around The World, which she adapted into a movie, Fly Away Baby 1937. Beginning in 1945 she co-hosted a radio talk show with her husband Richard Kollmar, Breakfast with Dick and Dorothy. In 1950 she became a panelist on American television gameshow What's My Line?.
She conducted an interview with Jack Ruby shortly before her death, during a recess of his trial for the JFK assassination. Her New York Journal-American column was critical of the Warren Commission. On September 3, 1965, Kilgallen wrote, regarding the assassination, "This story isn't going to die as long as there's a real reporter alive..." She had a history of government criticism, once suggesting that the CIA recruited members of the Mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. J. Edgar Hoover kept a file on her activities.
On November 8, 1965, she was found dead in her New York City home. She had swallowed a combination of alcohol and seconal which contributed to her heart attack. It is not known whether it was a suicide or an accidental death, though the relatively low amounts of barbituates in her system indicate that it was probably accidental.
Because of her open criticism of the Warren Commission and other US government entities, and her association with Ruby, some people speculate that she was murdered members of the alleged JFK conspiracy. There is no evidence of a break-in or a struggle in Kilgallen's bedroom. Kilgallen's husband, who was in the apartment, reported nothing unusual. Her autopsy does not suggest evidence of homicide.
Kilgallen had a history of anemia and substance abuse. She checked herself into rehabilitation clinics twice, and had more than once been intoxicated on live television.
At the time of her death, she had been married 25 years and left behind 3 children. She is interred in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.
It has been rumored that Kilgallen had a tumultous relationship with singer Johnnie Ray outside of her marriage.
Film Credits
Fly Away Baby Screenwriter 1937
Sinner Take All 1936 Actress
Pajama Paty 1964 uncredited appearance
Books by Dorothy Kilgallen
"Girl Around the World", David McKay, 1936
"Murder One", Random House, 1967
Books About Dorothy Kilgallen
Kilgallen by Lee Israel 1980
Johnnie Ray & Miss Kilgallen by Bonnie Hill Hearn 2002