Dorothy Lamour was born with the birth name of Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton on December 10, 1914, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was a beautiful child who turned heads as a teenager with her long dark hair.
However, her dreams were to become a professional singer not acting. After she won a beauty contest as Miss New Orleans in 1931, she headed to Chicago to find her work as a singer.
For a while Dorothy worked as an elevator operator in a department store before going on to become a vocalist in the Herbie Kay band. Kay would become her first husband in 1935, but the marriage would only last four years.
In addition to the band, Dorothy also performed on a Chicago radio program as a singer. She not only performed with Kay but also Rudy Vallee and Eddie Duchin.
1933 found Dorothy in Hollywood where she landed a bit part in a musical as a chorus girl entitiled FOOTLIGHT PARADE. Her role went uncredited. She didn't appear in films again until 1936 when she landed a part as a coed in COLLEGE HOLIDAY.
Fame would not be elusive for long because she was about to land the role that would define her career. Later in 1936, Dorothy got the part of Ulah in THE JUNGLE PRINCESS produced by Lloyd Shelton and filmed with Paramount. It was a sort of female Tarzan role. This film was a tremendous money maker as Dorothy stole the show in her wrap-around sarong. Dorothy became an instant star as the child of nature, raised with a pet tiger among the tropical natives. Ray Milland starred opposite her as the man from civilization who woos and wins her. The scene where Milland is trying to teach her the word kiss is touching yet humorous. When he kisses her and tells her that is a kiss she runs away.
She went on to play similar parts in the sarong in productions such as THE HURRICANE(1937),TYPHOON(1940), and BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON(1942). The sarong would stay with her in the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby ROAD series. The trio would star in THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE, THE ROAD TO TO UTOPIA and THE ROAD TO ZANZIBAR. The road series stated in 1940 and lasted until 1962. Hope and Crosby had the leads but Dorothy but not in her usual role. Joan Collins had that one. She actually only wore the sarong in six of her 59 pictures but it was to define her career.
Dorothy was a tremendously great actress with roles in DISPUTED PASSAGE (1939), DIXIE(1943), and ON OUR MERRY WAY(1948). She could show great range in comic or dramatic roles. After making three films in 1949, her career began to trail off as she would only make ten films between 1951 and 1987. That last one was CREEPSHOW 2 where she played a sloppy housewife who gets murdered, a long way from the sarong and movies such as JOHNNY APOLLO and A MEDAL FOR BENNY!
Dorothy was 81 when she died of an undisclosed ailment on September 22, 1996 in Los Angeles, California.
Very nice Dorothy Lamour Photos below
Dorothy Pic 1
Dorothy Pic 2
Dorothy Pic 3
Dorothy Pic 4
Dorothy Pic 5
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© 1998 Denny C. Jackson dejackso@iglou.com
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