Dorothy Dalton (September 22, 1893 – April 13, 1972) was an American silent film actress and stage personality who worked her way from a stock company to a movie career. Beginning in 1910, Dalton was a player in stock companies in Chicago; Terre Haute, Indiana; and Holyoke, Massachusetts. She joined the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation vaudeville circuits. By 1914 she was working in Hollywood.

Dorothy Dalton
Dalton in 1920
Born(1893-09-22)September 22, 1893
DiedApril 13, 1972(1972-04-13) (aged 78)
OccupationActress
Years active1910–1924
Spouses
(m. 1913; div. 1914)
1914
(divorced)
(m. 1924; died 1955)
RelativesElaine Hammerstein (stepdaughter)

Career

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Dalton in 1924. In 1922, she had bobbed her hair.[1]

Born in Chicago, Dalton made her movie debut in 1914 in Pierre of the Plains, co-starring Edgar Selwyn, followed by the lead role in Across the Pacific that same year. In 1915, she appeared with William S. Hart in The Disciple. This production came before she left Triangle Film Corporation and was signed to Thomas Harper Ince Studios. While Ince meant to cast her in mature roles, she had preferred to play ingénues.[2]

Her role in The Disciple, however, in which she attracts a man who is not her husband, led to her being cast as a vamp. Her vamp, however, was untraditional in that she vamped unconsciously; in the words of Kay Anthony, "Not because she wanted people to think she was a full-fledged shatterer of hearts before the camera did she make pulses beat hard and fast, but because she couldn't help it: 'I guess I just must have been born that way!'"[3]

Ince's company was operative from 1919 until his death in 1924. With Ince, she played in The Price Mark and Love Letters, both co-starring William Conklin. Dalton also performed with Rudolph Valentino in Moran of the Lady Letty (1922), and with H.B. Warner in The Flame of the Yukon (1917) and The Vagabond Prince (1916). Dalton's stage career included performances as Chrysis in Aphrodite by Morris Gest in 1920.[4]

Personal life and death

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Dalton was first married to actor Lew Cody (lead actor in the Broadway version of Pierre of the Plains) in 1913, divorcing him then remarrying him in 1914 and divorcing him again.[5][6] In 1924 she married theatrical producer Arthur Hammerstein, uncle of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and son of impresario Oscar Hammerstein I.[7] They had a daughter, Carol Hammerstein.[8] After this marriage, Dalton retired. Arthur Hammerstein died in 1955.

Dorothy Dalton died in 1972, age 78, at her home in Scarsdale, New York.[9] For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Dorothy Dalton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.[10]

Filmography

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Dalton on the cover of Motion Picture Classic, November 1921, cover art by Benjamin Eggleston (1867-1937).
 
The Dark Road (1917)
 
The Kaiser's Shadow (1918)
 
Extravagance (1919)
Scene from the 1922 film Moran of the Lady Letty, featuring Dorothy Dalton and Rudolph Valentino.
Year Title Role Notes
1914 Pierre of the Plains Jen Galbraith Lost film
Across the Pacific Elsie Escott Lost film
1915 The Disciple Mary Houston Lost film
1916 The Three Musketeers Queen Anne Alternative title: D'Artagnan
The Raiders Dorothy Haldeman Lost film
Civilization's Child Ellen McManus Lost film
The Captive God Tecolote
The Jungle Child Ollante Alternative title: The Barbarian
Lost film
The Vagabond Prince Lola "Fluffy"
A Gamble in Souls Freda Maxey Lost film
The Female of the Species Gloria Marley Alternative title: The Vampire
Lost film
1917 The Weaker Sex Ruth Tilden Lost film
Chicken Casey Chicken Casey/Mavis Marberry Alternative title: Waifs
Back of the Man Ellen Horton Lost film
The Dark Road Cleo Morrison Alternative title: The Road to Honour
Lost film
Wild Winship's Widow Catherine Winship Lost film
The Flame of the Yukon Ethel Evans/The Flame
Ten of Diamonds Neva Blaine Lost film
The Price Mark Paula Lee
Love Letters Eileen Rodney
1918 Flare-Up Sal Flare-Up Sal
Love Me Maida Madison
Unfaithful Helen Karge Lost film
Tyrant Fear Allaine Grandet
The Mating of Marcella Marcella Duranzo Lost film
The Kaiser's Shadow Paula Harris Alternative title: The Triple Cross
Lost film
Green Eyes Shirley Hunter Lost film
Vive la France! Genevieve Bouchette
Dorothy Dalton in a Liberty Loan Appeal Red Cross nurse
Quicksand Mary Bowen Alternative title: Quicksands
Lost film
1919 The Market of Souls Helen Armes
Hard Boiled Corinne Melrose
Extravagance Helen Douglas Lost film
The Homebreaker Mary Marbury Lost film
The Lady of Red Butte Faro Fan Alternative title: The Lady of Red Brute
Lost film
Other Men's Wives Cynthia Brock Lost film
L'apache Natalie "La Bourget" Bourget/Helen Armstrong Lost film
His Wife's Friend Lady Miriam Grimwood Lost film
1920 Black Is White Margaret Brood/Yvonne Strakosch
The Dark Mirror Priscilla Maine/Nora O'Moore
Guilty of Love Thelma Miller Lost film
Half an Hour Lady Lillian Garson Lost film
A Romantic Adventuress Alice Vanni Lost film
1921 The Idol of the North Colette Brissac Lost film
Behind Masks Jeanne Mesurier Alternative titles: In Men's Eyes
Incomplete film
Fool's Paradise Poll Patchouli
1922 Moran of the Lady Letty Moran Letty Sternersen
The Crimson Challenge Tharon Last Lost film
The Woman Who Walked Alone The Honorable Iris Champneys
The Siren Call Charlotte Woods, a dancer
On the High Seas Leone Deveraux Lost film
1923 Dark Secrets Ruth Rutherford Lost film
Fog Bound Gale Brenon Lost film
Law of the Lawless Sahande Lost film
1924 The Moral Sinner Leah Kleschna Lost film
The Lone Wolf Lucy Shannon Lost film

References

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  1. ^ Staff (March 1922). "And They Said It Wasn't Smart Any More—Oh, Well—". Photoplay. Chicago: Photoplay Publishing Company. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  2. ^ Taves, Brian (2012). Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer. University Press of Kentucky. p. 133. ISBN 978-0813134222.
  3. ^ Anthony, Kay (1916). Motion Picture Studio Directory and Trade Annual. New York: Motion Picture News, Inc. p. 149.
  4. ^ "Dorothy Dalton". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  5. ^ Dorothy Dolton and Lewis J. Cody in the New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-2016. 1913. New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey; Marriage Indexes; Index Type: Bride; Year Range: 1910-1914; Surname Range: D - G.
  6. ^ "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7F9-954 : 10 March 2018), Lewis J. Cody and Dorothy Dalton, 07 Jul 1914.
  7. ^ "Milestones". Time. May 24, 1924. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  8. ^ "Famous Name Comes To Gretna Playhouse". Elizabethtown Chronicle. June 6, 1947. p. 6. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  9. ^ Willis, John A. (1973). John Willis' Theatre World. Crown Publishers. p. 265. ISBN 0-517-50096-5.
  10. ^ "Dorothy Dalton". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
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