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Revision as of 04:23, 22 January 2005 by Zosodada (talk | contribs) (tweak)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)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. Her career as a reporter covered the trials Dr. Sam Sheppard (the inspiration for the television show The Fugitive), Richard Bruno Hauptmann, and Anna Antonio.
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. She co-hosted a radio talk show, Breakfast with Dick and Dorothy with her husband Richard Kollmar. 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 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 association with Ruby some people speculate that she was murdered members of the alleged 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 drug problems. She checked herself into rehabilitation clinics twice, and had more than once been intoxicated on What's My Line? (which was usually broadcast live).
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.