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Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) 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.
Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywood, where she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as Ulah in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen".
In 1940, Lamour made her first Road series comedy film Road to Singapore. The Road series films were popular during the 1940s. The sixth film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952. By this time, Lamour's screen career had begun to wane, and she focused on stage and television work. In 1961, Crosby and Hope teamed up for The Road to Hong Kong, but actress Joan Collins was cast as the female lead. Lamour made a brief appearance and sang a song near the end of that film.
In the 1970s, Lamour revived her nightclub act, and in 1980, released her autobiography My Side of the Road. She made her final movie appearance in 1987.
Lamour married her second husband, William Ross Howard III, in 1943. They had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. Lamour died at her home in 1996 at the age of 81.
Lamour made her first film for Paramount, College Holiday (1936), in which she has a bit part as an uncredited dancer.
She followed it with a support role in a Carole Lombard–Fred MacMurray musical Swing High, Swing Low (1937) where she got to sing "Panamania". She was top billed in The Last Train from Madrid (1937).
Lamour supported Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott in High, Wide and Handsome (1937), singing "The Things I Want". Sam Goldwyn borrowed her for John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), where she was back in a sarong playing an island princess alongside Jon Hall. Her swimming and diving scenes were handled by stunt double Lila Shanley, who at one point dropped the sarong and was filmed diving into a lagoon in the nude. The film was a massive success and gave Lamour another hit song with "The Moon of Manakoora".
Lamour had a cameo in Thrill of a Lifetime (1937) and was third billed in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) after W.C. Fields and Martha Raye; the cast also included Bob Hope in an early appearance.
Paramount reunited her with Milland and a sarong for Her Jungle Love (1938). Tropic Holiday (1938) cast her as a Mexican alongside Bob Burns, Raye and Milland, then she supported George Raft and Henry Fonda in the adventure film Spawn of the North (1938). Raft was meant to be Lamour's leading man in St. Louis Blues (1939) but he turned down the part and was replaced by Lloyd Nolan.
Lamour was Jack Benny's leading lady in the musical Man About Town (1939) then played a Chinese girl in a melodrama, Disputed Passage (1939).
The movie was a solid hit and response to the team was enthusiastic.
20th Century Fox borrowed her to play Tyrone Power's leading lady in the gangster film Johnny Apollo (1940). She sang "This is the Beginning of the End" and "Dancing for Nickels and Dimes".
It was back to sarongs for Typhoon (1940). Her male co-star in the latter was Robert Preston who was also with Lamour in Moon Over Burma (1940). Fox borrowed her again for Chad Hanna (1941) with Henry Fonda.
Response to Road to Singapore had been such that Paramount reunited Lamour, Hope and Crosby in Road to Zanzibar (1941) which was even more successful and eventually led to a series of pictures (although from this point on Lamour was billed beneath Hope). She and Hope then did Caught in the Draft (1941) which was one of the biggest hits of the year.
Lamour was reunited with her old Hurricane star, Jon Hall, in Aloma of the South Seas (1941). She did a popular musical with Eddie Bracken, William Holden and Betty Hutton, The Fleet's In (1942), which gave her a hit song, "I Remember You".
There was another sarong movie, Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942). Both were well liked by the public but neither was as popular as her third "Road" movie, Road to Morocco (1942).
Lamour was one of many Paramount stars who did guest shots in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). She and Hope were borrowed by Sam Goldwyn for a comedy They Got Me Covered (1943), then she did one with Crosby without Hope, Dixie (1943), a popular biopic of Dan Emmett.
During World War II, Lamour was among the more popular pinup girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Veronica Lake. Lamour was also known for her volunteer work, selling during tours in which movie stars would travel the country selling U.S. government bonds to the public. Lamour reportedly sold $300 million worth of bonds earning her the nickname "The Bond Bombshell". She also volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen where she would dance and talk to soldiers. In 1965, Lamour was awarded a belated citation from the United States Department of the Treasury for her war bond sales.
Lamour made Melody Inn (1943) with Dick Powell, then And the Angels Sing (1944) with Fred MacMurray and Hutton, where she sang "It Could Happen to You". She made one last sarong movie, Rainbow Island (1944), co-starring Bracken.
Lamour played a Mexican in A Medal for Benny (1945), based on a story by John Steinbeck, co-starring Arturo de Córdova. She was one of many Paramount stars to cameo in Duffy's Tavern (1945), then did a fourth "Road", Road to Utopia (1945), then Masquerade in Mexico (1945) with de Cordova.
She was in three big hits in a row: My Favorite Brunette (1947), a comedy with Hope; Wild Harvest (1947), a melodrama with Alan Ladd and Preston; and Road to Rio (1947). She also sang a duet with Ladd in Variety Girl (1947). Then she left Paramount.
After leaving Paramount, Lamour made a series of films for producer Benedict Bogeaus: the all-star comedy On Our Merry Way (1948); Lulu Belle (1948), a melodrama with George Montgomery; and The Girl from Manhattan (1948), also with Montgomery.
She tried two comedies: The Lucky Stiff (1949), produced by Jack Benny co-starring Brian Donlevy, then Slightly French (1949) with Don Ameche. Manhandled (1950) was a film noir with Dan Duryea for Pine-Thomas. None of these films were particularly popular.
Lamour played a successful season at the London Palladium in 1950 then was in two big hits: The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Cecil B. De Mille's circus epic, and Road to Bali (1952). However this did not seem to lead to better film offers, and Lamour began concentrating on being a nightclub entertainer and a stage actress.
She also began working on television, guest starring on Damon Runyon Theater and was on Broadway in Oh Captain! (1958).
She had a bigger part in John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963) with John Wayne and Lee Marvin, and made guest appearances on shows like Burke's Law, I Spy and The Name of the Game, and films such as Pajama Party (1964) and The Phynx (1970).
Lamour moved to Baltimore with her family, where she appeared on TV and worked on the city's cultural commission. Then David Merrick offered her the chance to headline a road company of Hello Dolly! which she did for over a year near the end of the decade.
She guest starred on shows such as Marcus Welby, M.D. and The Love Boat and films like (1976) and Death at Love House (1976). In 1977, she toured in the play Personal Appearance.
Her husband died in 1978, but she continued to work for "therapy".
During the remainder of the decade, she performed in plays and television shows such as Hart to Hart, Crazy Like a Fox, Remington Steele, and Murder, She Wrote.
In 1984, she toured in a production of Barefoot in the Park.
In 1986 she said "I'm still as busy at 71 as I was when I was just a slip of a girl. I do concerts, television and a lot of dinner theatre, where I sing old songs and talk about Bob and Bing and starting out at Paramount at $200 a week and working myself up to $450,000 a picture...I feel wonderful. Age is only in the mind and I'm grateful that God has taken care of me. And I'm very grateful for that sarong. It did a lot for me! But to be truthful, the sarong was never my favorite wearing apparel."
In 1987, she made her last big-screen appearance in the movie Creepshow 2, appearing with George Kennedy as an aging couple who are killed during a robbery. The wooden, Native American statue in front of their general store comes to life to avenge their death. The 72-year-old Lamour quipped: "Well, at my age you can't lean against a palm tree and sing 'Moon of Manakoora'", she said. "People would look at that and say 'What is she trying to do?
In 1995, the musical Swinging on a Star, a revue of songs written by Johnny Burke (who wrote many of the most famous Road to ... movie songs as well as the score to Lamour's film And the Angels Sing (1944)) opened on Broadway and ran for three months; Lamour was credited as a "special advisor". It was nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award; the actress playing her in the road movie segment, Kathy Fitzgerald, also was nominated.
Early in her career, Lamour met J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, Hoover pursued a romantic relationship with Lamour, and the two spent a night together at a Washington, D.C., hotel. When Lamour was later asked if she and Hoover had a sexual relationship, she replied: "I cannot deny it." In her autobiography My Side of the Road (1980), Lamour does not discuss Hoover in detail; she refers to him only as "a lifelong friend".
On April 7, 1943, Lamour married Air Force captain and advertising executive William Ross Howard III [3] in Beverly Hills. The couple had two sons: John Ridgely (1946–2018) and Richard Thomson Howard (born 1949).
In 1957, Lamour and Howard moved to the Baltimore, Maryland, suburb of Sudbrook Park. In 1962, the couple and their two sons moved to Hampton, another Baltimore suburb in Dulaney Valley, with their oldest son, John, attending Towson High School. She also owned a home in Palm Springs, California.
Lamour was a registered Republican who supported the presidency of Ronald Reagan as well as Reagan's re-election in 1984.
For her contribution to the radio and motion picture industry, Lamour has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star for her radio contributions is located at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard, and her star for her motion picture contributions is located at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard.
She was featured in a brief print run of 2-3 issues during the 1950s, in Dorothy Lamour Jungle Princess Comics, a series of comic books dedicated to her on-film Jungle Princess persona (featuring screenshots from past movies as the covers).
1990s
During the 1990s, she made only a handful of professional appearances but remained a popular interview subject for publications and TV talk and news programs. Lamour's final stage performance was as "Hattie" in the Long Beach Civic Light Opera's 1990 production of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies".
Personal life
Lamour's first marriage was to orchestra leader Herbie Kay, with whose orchestra Lamour sang. The two married in 1935 and divorced in 1939.
(2025). 9781479328598, Horatio Limburger Oglethorpe. ISBN 9781479328598 Howard died in 1978.
Death
Lamour died at her home in North Hollywood on September 22, 1996, from a heart attack, at the age of 81. Her funeral was held at St. Charles Catholic Church in North Hollywood, California, where she was a member. She was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Film
+ 1936 College Holiday Dancer Film debut; uncredited The Jungle Princess Ulah 1937 Swing High, Swing Low Anita Alvarez The Last Train from Madrid Carmelita Castillo High, Wide, and Handsome Molly Fuller The Hurricane Marama Thrill of a Lifetime Specialty 1938 The Big Broadcast of 1938 Dorothy Wyndham Her Jungle Love Tura Tropic Holiday Manuela Spawn of the North Nicky Duval 1939 St. Louis Blues Norma Malone Man About Town Diana Wilson Disputed Passage Audrey Hilton 1940 Road to Singapore Mima Johnny Apollo Lucky Dubarry Typhoon Dea Moon Over Burma Arla Dean Chad Hanna Albany Yates / Lady Lillian 1941 Road to Zanzibar Donna Latour Caught in the Draft Antoinette "Tony" Fairbanks Aloma of the South Seas Aloma 1942 The Fleet's In The Countess Star Spangled Rhythm Herself Beyond the Blue Horizon Tama Road to Morocco Princess Shalmar 1943 They Got Me Covered Christina Hill Dixie Millie Cook Riding High Ann Castle 1944 And the Angels Sing Nancy Angel Rainbow Island Lona 1945 A Medal for Benny Lolita Sierra Duffy's Tavern Herself Road to Utopia Sal Van Hoyden Masquerade in Mexico Angel O'Reilly 1947 My Favorite Brunette Carlotta Montay Alternative title: The Private Eye Variety Girl Herself Wild Harvest Fay Rankin Road to Rio Lucia Maria de Andrade 1948 On Our Merry Way Gloria Manners Alternative title: A Miracle Can Happen Lulu Belle Lulu Belle 1949 The Girl from Manhattan Carol Maynard The Lucky Stiff Anna Marie St. Claire Slightly French Mary O'Leary Manhandled Merl Kramer 1951 Here Comes the Groom Herself Uncredited 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth Phyllis Road to Bali Princess Lala 1962 The Road to Hong Kong Herself 1963 Donovan's Reef Miss Laflour 1964 Pajama Party Head Saleslady 1970 The Phynx Herself 1976 Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood Visiting Film Star 1987 Creepshow 2 Martha Spruce (segment "Old Chief Wood'nhead"), (final film role)
Television
+ 1955 Damon Runyon Theater Sally Bracken Television debut
Episode: "The Mink Doll" 1967 I Spy Halima Episode: "The Honorable Assassins" 1969 The Name of the Game Stella Fisher Episode: "Chains of Command" 1970 Love, American Style Holly's Mother Segment: "Love and the Pick-Up" 1971 Marcus Welby, M.D. Mary DeSocio Episode: "Echos from Another World" 1976 Death at Love House Denise Christian Television movie
Alternative title: The Shrine of Lorna Love1980 The Love Boat Lil Braddock Episode: "That's My Dad/The Captain's Bird/Captive Audience" 1984 Hart to Hart Katherine Prince Episode: "Max's Waltz" 1984 Remington Steele Herself Episode: "Cast in Steele" 1986 Crazy like a Fox Rosie Episode: "Rosie" 1987 Murder, She Wrote Mrs. Ellis Episode: "No Accounting for Murder"
Broadway musicals
1958 Oh, Captain! 1995 Swinging on a Star
Books
In popular culture
Lamour is the heroine of Matilda Bailey's young adult novel, Dorothy Lamour and the Haunted Lighthouse (1947), whose "heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." The story was written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941 and 1947 that each featured a film actress as heroine.
External links
Categories: 1914 Births, 1996 Deaths, 20th-century American Actresses, 20th-century American Singers, 20th-century American Women Singers, Actresses From New Orleans, Actresses From Palm Springs, California, American Beauty Pageant Winners, American Film Actresses, Hispanic And Latino American Actresses, Hispanic And Latino American Women Singers, 20th-century American Memoirists, American Radio Actresses, American Radio Personalities, American Roman Catholics, American People Of French Descent, American People Of Irish Descent, American People Of Spanish Descent, American Stage Actresses, American Television Actresses, American Women Memoirists, Burials At Forest Lawn Memorial Park, California Republicans, Louisiana Republicans, Paramount Pictures Contract Players, American Torch Singers, Traditional Pop Music Singers, American Vaudeville Performers
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