Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role in The Big Sleep (1946). After a decade, she changed her image, particularly after her role in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Her 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 (1964–1968). Less active in her later years, Malone's last screen appearance was in Basic Instinct in 1992.[1]
Early life
Malone was born Mary Dorothy Maloney[2] on January 29, 1924[2] in Chicago, one of five children born to Esther Emma "Eloise" Smith[3] and her husband Robert Ignatius Maloney,[4] an auditor for AT&T company.[3][5][self-published source?]
"I was minoring in drama because I always seemed to be in the plays produced in high school and college. ... I did some scenes with this boy the agent had found and pictures of the scenes were taken of the boy and also of me. A few weeks later, a 13-week [studio] contract arrived by mail with a six-year option."[7]
She then signed a contract with Warner Bros. The studio, she said in 1985, changed her surname "from Maloney to Malone. They placed my picture in the newspaper and they gave me a raise."[13]
From 1964–1968, she played the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial Peyton Place except for a brief stretch where she was absent due to surgery. Lola Albright filled in until her return. Malone agreed for $3,000 a week less than ABC's offer of $10,000 weekly, if she could be home nightly for 6 pm dinner with her two daughters and no shooting on weekends. "I never turned down a mother role", said Malone. "I like playing mothers. I started out as a very young girl in Hollywood doing Westerns, portraying a mother with a couple of kids."[13]
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 later returned to the role in the TV movies Murder in Peyton Place (1977) and Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985).[29]
Later career
After leaving Peyton Place, Malone went to Italy to make a thriller The Insatiables (1969). In Hollywood, she made a TV movie with Sammy Davis Jr., The Pigeon (1969), then returned to guest-starring on TV series such as The Bold Ones: The New Doctors ("Is This Operation Necessary?", 1972), Ironside ("Confessions: From a Lady of the Night", 1973), and Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer" 1975).[22]
In 1981, Malone made her stage debut in Butterflies Are Free in Winnipeg.[30] She was suffering financial troubles at the time due to two expensive divorces and a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.[31]
Malone, a Roman Catholic,[33] wed actor Jacques Bergerac[34] on June 28, 1959, at a Catholic church in Hong Kong, where she was on location for her 1960 film The Last Voyage. They had two daughters, Mimi (born 1960)[3] and Diane (born 1962)[3] and divorced on December 8, 1964.[3][35]
Malone then married New York businessman and broker Robert Tomarkin on April 3, 1969, at the Silver Bells Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her second marriage was later annulled after Malone claimed that Tomarkin married her because of her money.[3]
Malone married Dallas motel chain executive Charles Huston Bell on October 2, 1971, and they divorced after three years.[3][36]
Around 1971, Malone moved her daughters from Southern California to suburban Dallas, Texas, where she had been raised.[7][1]
Death
Malone died of natural causes on January 19, 2018, 10 days before her 94th birthday, at a nursing facility in Dallas.[37][34][38] She is entombed at Calvary Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Dallas.[citation needed]
Recognition
Malone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1718 Vine in the Motion Pictures section. It was dedicated February 8, 1960.[39]
Malone was one of the industry deaths missing from the "In Memoriam" segment at the 90th Academy Awards,[40] an omission made more prominent by the fact that she had won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 29th Academy Awards.
^SMU Libraries, digitalcollections.smu.edu; accessed December 12, 2021.
^"Of Local Origin". New York Times. September 21, 1943. p. 29.
^ ab"Dorothy Malone". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved June 19, 2017. Dorothy Malone made her film debut [sic] in "The Falcon and the Co-Ed" [sic] under her real last name Maloney.
^Miller, Frank. "Articles: Gildersleeve on Broadway". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2017. The film also marks the screen debut of Lawrence Tierney as a taxi driver and features Barbara Hale and Dorothy Malone in early bit parts
^King, Susan (June 28, 2010). "Hollywood Star Walk: Dorothy Malone". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2017. RKO Pictures signed the then-brunette Maloney at 18, [sic] and she made her film debut in 1943's Gildersleeve on Broadway and The Falcon and the Co-Eds. She signed with Warner Bros. in 1945 (and by that time was officially known as Dorothy Malone) and made a splash in a small but juicy supporting role as a flirtatious bookseller opposite Humphrey Bogart in 1946's The Big Sleep.
^Schallert, E. (August 17, 1943). "DRAMA AND FILM". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest165444386.
^"HOLLYWOOD'S SHAPELIEST SHADOW-GIRL: WINNER AND RUNNERS-UP IN A SCREEN CURVILINEAR CONTEST". The Sketch. Vol. 200, no. 2596. 1944. pp. 154–55. ProQuest1689231314.
^"SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. May 24, 1944. ProQuest106765660.
^Scott, J.L. (April 4, 1948). "Add one more starlet to texas' bright crown". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest165828696.(subscription required)
^"The life story of Dorothy Malone". Picture show. No. 61. September 19, 1953. p. 12. ProQuest1879642661.(subscription required)
^Brady, Thomas F. (July 13, 1950). "Fox Will Remake 'Berkeley Square'". The New York Times. p. 31. Dorothy Malone, former Warner contract player, has been engaged by R.K.O. for the feminine lead opposite Tim Holt in 'Saddle Legion'(subscription required)
^ abScott, J.L. (September 21, 1952). "Whims, Sudden Urges Spur Dorothy Malone". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest166367631. (subscription required)
^Richardson, Annette (2008). "Malone, Dorthy (1925–)". In Coleman, Philip; Byrne, James; King, Jason (eds.). Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 546. ISBN978-1851096145.