Dorothy Lee (actress)

Dorothy Lee
Lee in 1935
Born	Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap (1911-05-23)May 23, 1911 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	June 24, 1999(1999-06-24) (aged 88) San Diego, California, U.S.
Years active	1927–1941
Spouse	Charles Calderini (1960–1985)

Dorothy Lee (born Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap, May 23, 1911 – June 24, 1999) was an American actress and comedian during the 1930s. She appeared in 28 films,^[1] usually appearing alongside the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy team.

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Biography

Born in Los Angeles, Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap was the daughter of Homer and Bess Millsap.^[2] Her father was an attorney in Los Angeles.^[3]

She became an actress known as Dorothy Lee. Her first film was Syncopation (1929).^[1]

Lee began her career as a dancer in a stage show, Ideas. When she happened to be watching scenes shot backstage for a film, the director asked her to take a small part in the film because the woman who was supposed to have the part did not show up. She later went to New York for a role in the stage show Hello Yourself. Her work in that production caught the attention of an RKO director, leading to her being in Syncopation, which was being filmed in New York.^[4]

At 18, she signed with RKO Radio Pictures and began working with Wheeler & Woolsey; she became so identified with the comedians that she seldom appeared apart from them. Of W & W's 21 feature films, Lee is the leading lady in 14 of them. She withdrew from the series after producer David O. Selznick tampered with her performance in Girl Crazy; she returned when Selznick's successor Mark Sandrich cast her in two well-received features in 1934. RKO replaced her with Mary Carlisle and then Betty Grable, but she returned in 1935 for two appearances.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1940s, after Robert Woolsey had died, Bert Wheeler was struggling to re-establish himself as a solo performer, and asked Dorothy Lee to tour with him in vaudeville. She immediately interrupted her private life to help her friend.^{[citation needed]}

Marriages

Charles J. Calderini^[5]
F. John Bersbach Jr. (1941 - 1960, divorced) ^[5] Lee married Bersbach, a Chicago printing executive, on December 10, 1941, in Winnetka, Illinois.^[6]
A.Gordon Atwater (married in 1936)^[5] Lee married Atwater, a business executive, on March 7, 1936, in Crown Point, Indiana.^[3]
Marshall D. Duffield, Sr (September 3, 1933^[7] - November 1935; divorced^[3] Lee married former college football star Duffield in Agua Caliente.^[7]
Jimmy Fidler (November 7, 1930;^[8] divorced)^{[citation needed]} She married Fidler in San Bernardino, California.^[8]
Robert O. Boothe (November 18, 1927 - 1929; dissolved)^{[citation needed]}

Death

Lee died on June 24, 1999, aged 88, in San Diego, California, from respiratory failure, and is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Rice, Jo Daviess County, Illinois.^{[citation needed]}

Partial filmography

Note that a completely different actress named "Dorothy Lee" appeared in several silent film in 1924 and '25, and is sometimes confused with this Dorothy Lee, who made her film debut in 1929. Films marked † also feature Wheeler & Woolsey; she also made one film (marked ‡) with Wheeler but not Woolsey.

Syncopation (1929)
Rio Rita (1929) †
The Cuckoos (1930) †
Dixiana (1930) †
Half Shot at Sunrise (1930) †
Hook, Line and Sinker (1930) †
Cracked Nuts (1931) †
Local Boy Makes Good (1931)
Too Many Cooks (1932) ‡
Peach-O-Reno (1931) †
Caught Plastered (1931) †
Laugh and Get Rich (1931)
The Stolen Jools (1931, cameo appearance in short subject) †
Girl Crazy (1932) †
Plane Crazy (1933)
Maizie (1933)
A Preferred List (1933, lead in short subject)
Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) †
School for Girls (1934)
Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934) †
The Curtain Falls (1934)
The Rainmakers (1935) †
Without Children (1935)
Silly Billies (1936) †
Too Many Blondes (1941)

References

^ ^a ^b "Dorothy Lee; Co-Starred in Comedy Films". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. July 3, 1999. p. 24.
^ Brotherton, Jamie; Okuda, Ted (2013). Dorothy Lee: The Life and Films of the Wheeler and Woolsey Girl. McFarland. p. 5. ISBN 9780786433636.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Dorothy Lee weds". The New York Times. March 8, 1936. p. N 7. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
^ "Movieland Mutterings . . ". Los Angeles Record. June 15, 1929. p. 12. Retrieved February 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c Page, Eleanor (April 19, 1976). "Dorothy Lee: A collector's item for film fans". Chicago Tribune. Illinois, Chicago. p. 3, section 3. Retrieved August 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Dorothy Lee, Film Actress, Wed". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 11, 1941. p. 39. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Dorothy Lee wins decree: Film Actress Divorces Marshall D. Duffield at Reno". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 3, 1935. p. 35. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Dorothy Lee, Film Player, Is Wed". The Kansas City Star. Associated Press. November 8, 1930. p. 2. Retrieved February 26, 2023.