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Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 - November 8, 1965) was an Irish-American actress, socialite, reporter and television presenter. She was born in Chicago, Illinois the daughter of James Kilgallen, a newspaperman.
Reporter, columnist and television personality
Dorothy's early working career was as a trial reporter. She covered the trials of Dr. Sam Sheppard (the inspiration for the television show The Fugitive), Bruno Hauptmann, and Anna Antonio. She worked for William Randolph Hearst and other 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?. The GSN channel often airs episodes featuring her in the early morning hours.
She conducted an interview with Jack Ruby shortly before her death, during a recess of his trial for the shooting death of Lee Harvey Oswald. 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.
The death of Dorothy Killgallen
On November 8, 1965, Dorothy was found dead in her New York City home at the age of 52. She had, apparently, succumbed to a fatal combination of alcohol and seconal, perhaps concurrent with a heart attack. It is not known whether it was a suicide or an accidental death, though the amount of barbituate in her system was small enough to suggest an accident.
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 by 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, however her death certificate cites the cause of death as "undetermined".
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 for 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
- Sinner Take All - 1936, actress
- Fly Away Baby - 1937, screenwriter
- Pajama Paty - 1964 uncredited appearance
Bibliography
- Girl Around the World, David McKay, 1936
- Murder One, Random House, 1967
Further reading
- Bonnie Hill Hearn, Johnnie Ray & Miss Kilgallen, 2002
- Lee Israel, Kilgallen, 1980