Dorothy Jordan(1906-1988)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Brunette Dorothy Jordan was a graduate of Southwestern University and
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Trained as a ballerina, she
first graced the stage as a chorus girl in top flight musicals, like
"Funny Face" (1927), with Fred Astaire, and
"Treasure Girl" (1928), with
Gertrude Lawrence and
Clifton Webb. This led to what turned out
to be a fairly short and desultory movie career, beginning with a
run-of-the-mill thriller,
Black Magic (1929). Dorothy was soon
cast as assorted sultry dames in
Devil-May-Care (1929) and
Call of the Flesh (1930),
opposite Latin star Ramon Novarro. Rather
more demure was her Bianca, the overtly obedient (but deceptively
cunning) younger sister of Kate
(Mary Pickford) in
The Taming of the Shrew (1929).
Contemporary critics were frequently unimpressed with Dorothy's acting,
whether it was speaking her lines too quickly
(Hell Bound (1931)) or delivering them
as a 'memory citation'
(The Beloved Bachelor (1931)). She
gave rather better account of herself in more downtrodden waif-like
roles, notably as Marie Dressler's
daughter in Min and Bill (1930), as
an unwed mother in Bondage (1933) and as
simple-minded Southern girl Betty Wright in
The Cabin in the Cotton (1932).
After her marriage to famed producer Merian C. Cooper in 1933 -- and finding decent roles ever harder to come by -- Dorothy gave up acting to raise a family. She emerged from retirement in 1937, unsuccessfully screen testing for the role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939). She made a second comeback upon her husband's successful entreaties to a long-term friend and collaborator, the director John Ford. Dorothy appeared in supporting roles in three of Ford's films, before leaving the screen for the final time. In her later years, she became somewhat reticent about discussing her career as a movie actress.
After her marriage to famed producer Merian C. Cooper in 1933 -- and finding decent roles ever harder to come by -- Dorothy gave up acting to raise a family. She emerged from retirement in 1937, unsuccessfully screen testing for the role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind (1939). She made a second comeback upon her husband's successful entreaties to a long-term friend and collaborator, the director John Ford. Dorothy appeared in supporting roles in three of Ford's films, before leaving the screen for the final time. In her later years, she became somewhat reticent about discussing her career as a movie actress.
