Dorothy Malone

Dorothy Malone
Studio publicity photo, 1956
Born	Dorothy Eloise Maloney (1925-01-30) January 30, 1925 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1943–1992
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse(s)	Jacques Bergerac (m.1959–1964; divorced) (2 children) Robert Tomarkin (m.1969-1969; annulled) Charles Huston Bell (m.1971–1974; divorced)
Children	Mimi Esther Therese Bergerac (b. 1960) Diane Alice Bergerac (b. 1962)[1]

Dorothy Malone (born January 30, 1925) is an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years she played small roles, mainly in B-movies. After a decade in films, she began to acquire a more glamorous image, particularly after her performance in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.^[2] Her film 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 from 1964 to 1968. Less active in her later years, Malone returned to films in 1992 as the friend of Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct.^[3]

She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Early life and career

Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney in Chicago. Her family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a child model and began acting in school plays. She attended Ursuline Convent, the Hockaday School, and Highland Park High School. ^[4] While performing at Southern Methodist University, she was spotted by an RKO talent agent and was signed to a studio contract, making her film debut in 1943 in Gildersleeve on Broadway in an uncredited role, and shortly after appeared in The Falcon and the Co-eds, credited as Dorothy Maloney.^[3]

Much of Malone's early career was spent in supporting roles in B-movies, many of them Westerns, although on occasion she played small but memorable roles, such as the brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart, and the love interest of Dean Martin in the musical-comedy Artists and Models (1955).^[3]

Transformation

Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind, 1956

By 1956, 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. 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 Too Much, Too Soon, where she portrayed Diana Barrymore, Man of a Thousand Faces (with James Cagney), and Warlock (with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark). Additional screen credits include The Tarnished Angels (in which she reunited with former co-stars Hudson and Stack and director Sirk), The Last Voyage (with Stack) and The Last Sunset (with Hudson).^[3]

Later career

On New Years Day 1956, she appeared with John Ericson in the episode "Mutiny" of CBS's Appointment with Adventure. She guest-starred on NBC's 1958-1959 western series, Cimarron City.

Dorothy Malone in Peyton Place

During the 1963-1964 season, Malone guest starred on ABC's circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth, starring Jack Palance. From 1964-1968, she played the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC prime time serial Peyton Place except for a brief stretch where she was absent due to surgery. Lola Albright filled in until her return. 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 would later return to the role in the TV movies Murder in Peyton Place (1977) and Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985).^[5] Malone had a featured role in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In her last screen appearance, she played a mother convicted of murdering her family in Basic Instinct (1992) with Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.^[3][6]

Dallas producers approached Malone to step into the role of Miss Ellie Ewing when Barbara Bel Geddes vacated the role in 1984. She declined.^[3]

Personal life

Malone has been married and divorced twice and her marriage to New York businessman Robert Tomarkin was annulled. She has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, from her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. Her star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1718 Vine. As of 2011, Malone is retired and living in Dallas, Texas.^[3] Malone was raised Roman Catholic.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dorothy Malone.

• Dorothy Malone at the Internet Movie Database
• Dorothy Malone photo gallery
• Dorothy Malone at AllMovie.com