Dorothy Lamour

American actress and singer (1914–1996)
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Dorothy Lamour was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton was born on December 10, 1914, at Charity ward at New Orleans East Hospital in New Orleans, the daughter of Carmen Louise (née LaPorte) and John Watson Slaton, both of whom were restaurant servers. Lamour was of Spanish descent, with some English, French and possibly also distant Irish as well. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few years. Her mother married for the second time to Clarence Lambour, whose surname Dorothy later adopted and modified as her stage name. That marriage also ended in divorce when Dorothy was a teenager.

Lamour quit school at age 14. After taking a business course, she worked as a secretary to support herself and her mother. She began entering beauty pageants, was crowned Miss New Orleans in 1931, and went on to compete in Galveston's Pageant of Pulchritude. Miss Lamour was close friends with Dorothy Dell, who was in the Ziegfeld Follies. Lamour used the prize money to support herself while she worked in a stock theatre company. She and her mother later moved to Chicago. Lamour found a job working at Marshall Field's department store, working as an elevator operator at the age of 16. Her boss, Douglas Singleterry, referred to her as "Dolly Face"; he also recalled that she'd spend a lot of her time auditioning around Chicago. She was discovered by orchestra leader Herbie Kay when he spotted her in performance at a Chicago talent show held at the Hotel Morrison. She had an audition the next day; Kay hired her as a singer for his orchestra and, in 1935, Lamour went on tour with him. Her work with Kay eventually led Lamour to vaudeville and work in radio. In 1935, she had her own 15-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. Lamour also sang on the popular Rudy Vallée radio show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour. On January 30, 1944, Lamour starred in "For This We Live", an episode of Silver Theater on CBS radio. In 1936, Lamour moved to Hollywood. Around that time, Carmen married her third husband, Ollie Castleberry, and the family lived in Los Angeles. That same year, she did a screen test for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with them.

Lamour made her first film for Paramount, College Holiday (1936), in which she has a bit part as an uncredited dancer.

Date of Birth10th December 1914
Date of Death22nd September 1996
Age at Death81 Years
Zodiac SignSagittarius
CountryUnited States of America
Current CityNew Orleans
Birth PlaceNew Orleans
Death PlaceHollywood
NationalityUnited States of America
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Instrumentsvoice
Occupationactor, singer, television actor, film actor, stage actor, screenwriter, radio personality, beauty pageant contestant, elevator operator
Awards
  • star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Actresses from United States of America born in 1914