- Dorothy Jordan (film actress)
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Dorothy Jordan 
Dorothy Jordan in bathing-suit (1932)Born August 9, 1906
Clarksville, TennesseeDied December 7, 1988 (aged 82)
Los Angeles, CaliforniaOccupation Actress Years active 1929–1957 Spouse Paul J. Barnes (?)
Merian C. Cooper (1933–1973) (his death)Dorothy Jordan (August 9, 1906 – December 7, 1988) was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.
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Early career
Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, Jordan made her screen debut in the 1929 film The Taming of the Shrew[1] and went on to make twenty-two more films in the next four years, including Min and Bill with Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler in 1930 and The Cabin in the Cotton with Bette Davis in 1932. During that time, she appeared in films with Ramon Novarro, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston and Jimmy Durante.[1]
Film retirement and return
In 1933, Jordan left films and married filmmaker, screenwriter and later World War II U.S. Army Air Forces Colonel Merian C. Cooper, who co-wrote, produced and directed the 1933 film King Kong. The couple had three children, a son and two daughters. In 1937, she came out of her leave and tested for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind.[2] Cooper was a good friend and frequent collaborator with Western director John Ford, forming Argosy Productions in 1947. It was for Argosy's The Sun Shines Bright, directed by Ford in 1953, that Jordan came out of retirement for a small role. She then appeared in a small role as the sister-in-law of John Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, who seeks Jordan's daughter, played by Natalie Wood, in the epic 1956 Argosy film The Searchers. Jordan appeared once more, in a small role in the John Ford film The Wings of Eagles in 1957 before retiring.
Later years
Jordan and Cooper lived in Coronado, California and remained married until his death of cancer on April 21, 1973. Jordan died of congestive heart failure on December 7, 1988 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her body was cremated and her ashes are interred at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes 1929 Black Magic Ann Bradbroke Words and Music Song and dance principal The Taming of the Shrew Bianca Devil-May-Care Leonie 1930 In Gay Madrid Carmiña Rivas Call of the Flesh Maria Consuelo Vargas Love in the Rough Marilyn Crawford Min and Bill Nancy Smith 1931 A Tailor Made Man Tanya Shipmates Kit Corbin Young Sinners Constance Sinclair Beloved Bachelor Mitzi Stressman Hell Divers Ann Mitchell 1932 The Lost Squadron 'Pest' Curwood The Wet Parade Maggie May 'Persimmon' Chilcote The Roadhouse Murder Mary Agnew Down to Earth Julia Pearson 70,000 Witnesses Dorothy Clark That's My Boy Dorothy Whitney The Cabin in the Cotton Betty Wright 1933 Strictly Personal Mary Bondage Judy Peters One Man's Journey Letty McGinnis 1953 The Sun Shines Bright Lucy Lee's mother 1956 The Searchers Martha Edwards 1957 The Wings of Eagles Rose Brentmann References
- ^ a b c "Dorothy Jordan, 82; Entered Movies in '29". New York Times. 1988-12-30. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DD173AF930A25751C1A96E948260. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xmfLHXiAhA
External links
- Dorothy Jordan at the Internet Movie Database
- Dorothy Jordan at AllRovi
- Dorothy Jordan in an excerpt from Love in the Rough (1930)
- Dorothy Jordan testing for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind in the late 1930s
- Dorothy Jordan at Find a Grave
- Photographs and literature
Categories:- American film actors
- 1906 births
- 1988 deaths
- People from Clarksville, Tennessee
- Actors from Tennessee
- People from Tennessee
- People from California
- People from Los Angeles, California
- American tap dancers
- 20th-century actors
- Burials at Chapel of the Pines Crematory
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