Dorothy Dalton

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	September 22, 1893 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 13, 1972 (aged 78) Scarsdale, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1910–1924
Spouse(s)	Lew Cody ​ ​ (m. 1910; div. 1911)​ Lew Cody ​ ​ (m. 1913; div. 1914)​ Arthur Hammerstein ​ ​ (m. 1924; died 1955)​
Relatives	Elaine Hammerstein (stepdaughter)

Career

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 and on Broadway in The Country Wife and Aphrodite (1919).[4]

Personal life and death

Dalton was first married to actor Lew Cody (lead actor in the Broadway version of Pierre of the Plains) in 1910, divorcing him in 1911 then remarrying him in 1913 and divorcing him again in 1914. In 1924 she married theatrical producer Arthur Hammerstein, uncle of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and son of impresario Oscar Hammerstein I.[5] After this marriage, Dalton acted infrequently. Arthur Hammerstein died in 1955.

Dorothy Dalton died in 1972, age 78, at her home in Scarsdale, New York.[6] For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Dorothy Dalton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.[7]

Filmography

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)

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

References

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 0813134226.
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 30, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
5. "Milestones". Time. May 24, 1924. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
6. Willis, John A. (1973). John Willis' Theatre World. Crown Publishers. p. 265. ISBN 0-517-50096-5.
7. "Dorothy Dalton". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2020.

External links

• Dorothy Dalton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dorothy Dalton at IMDb
• Photographs and literature