Dorothy Hart

 ( 1922 Births ) 

Hart attended Denison University for one year before graduating from Case Western Reserve University with a B.A. degree. She was also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. After gaining some experience at the Cleveland Play House, she decided on a singing career.

In 1944, a newspaper friend submitted her photoThe caption for a photograph of Hart that was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association in July 1944 says, "Wounded war veterans at Crile General hospital in Parma, O." selected Hart "as Greater Cleveland's entrant in the National Cinderella Cover Girl Contest". in the Columbia Pictures "National Cinderella Cover Girl Contest of 1944." Hart had saved enough money to go to New York when she learned that she was high on the list of Cover Girl finalists. After winning the contest, the studio paid for her trip in August 1944, and she was given a screen test for the Rita Hayworth film Tonight and Every Night, as her contest award.Showmen's Trade Review, 'Winner Comes To Town', August 5, 1944, Page 26.

Winning the "National Cinderella Cover Girl Contest" brought with it a contract for Hart to be a model with the Harry Conover, which in turn led to pictures of her "appearing in fashionable magazines all over the world."

She should not be confused with Dorothy Hart from the children's soap opera “The Sunbrite Junior Nurse Corps." Although that Dorothy Hart was presented in Sunbrite's advertising as a real person, she was played by Lucy Gilman Scott.

While filming in October, 1946 Hart was sent home from location with an illness which was diagnosed as influenza.Los Angeles Times, 'Influenza Attack Fells Dorothy Hart', October 23, 1946, Page A12. In February, 1947 she was injured during horseback sequences in Arizona. Minor corrective surgery was performed at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California.Los Angeles Times, 'Injured Film Actress Will Go Under Knife', February 22, 1947, Page 8. The Painted DesertLos Angeles Times, 'Desert Saga Scheduled', June 20, 1947, Page A3. was one of the main sites utilized for this movie. Barbara Britton played the female lead in the adventure drama with Hart heading up the supporting cast.

Columnist Hedda Hopper reported in a June 1947 column that Mary Pickford was suing Dorothy Hart for a sum of $79,000 because the young actress refused to accept a role in the film There Goes Lona Henry.Los Angeles Times, 'Hedda Hopper Looking At Hollywood', June 2, 1947, P. A3. Pickford stated in an interview that she hoped to take an unknown girl and make her into a great star. Hart refused the role because she did not want to sign away seven years of her career for a single movie opportunity.Los Angeles Times, 'Beautiful Starlet Would Save The World', November 7, 1948, Page D1.

Hart made Larceny (1948) with Shelley Winters, and The Countess of Monte Cristo (also 1948) with Sonja Henie, both for Universal Pictures. She co-starred in The Naked City, starring Barry Fitzgerald, which premiered on March 10, 1948. She played the bad girl who double-crosses her fiancé in William Castle's Undertow (1949).

Hart became the tenth actress to portray Jane when she appeared opposite Lex Barker as Tarzan in Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952).Los Angeles Times, 'Movieland Briefs', April 16, 1948, Page 22. She also co-starred in Outside the Wall (1950) and I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), playing a Communist schoolteacher who eventually repudiates the party.