Helen Richardson Dreiser (1894 - 1955)

Helen Richardson was the cousin of Theodore Dreiser, and from 1919 until they married in 1944, his mistress. Helen wished for a movie career, but after only a few movies (one with Mabel Normand) gave it up to be with Theodore in New York. After his first wife died in 1942, she married him. After […]

Helene Drake (1922 - 1997)

Actress. Appeared in the award-winning 1956 adventure film “Around the World in Eighty Days.” (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Inscription:Rhoda Tomack Odrezin

Jessica Dragonette (1970 - 1980)

Singer, Entertainer. Born in Calcutta, India, educated at Georgian Court Lakewood, New Jersey, she was invited to New York for singing lessons under the renowned teacher Estelle Liebling. Soon as a soprano, she thrilled audiences performing in operas and in Broadway shows. Merging into radio in the late 1920s, she was signed to NBC performing […]

Maxine Doyle (1915 - 1973)

Actress. She was in vaudeville and a radio actress prior to appearing in her first film “Babbitt” (1934). In 1937, she was featured in the Republic Pictures 12-chapter serial “S.O.S. Coast Guard” when she met and later married director William Witney. She spent most of her remaining career in Republic Pictures Westerns to include “The […]

Joan Dowling (1928 - 1954)

British Actress. Film credits include “Women of Twilight,” “24 Hours of a Woman’s Life,” “Pool of London,” “The Magic Box,” “Murder Without Crime,””Train of Events,” “For Them That Trespass,” “Landfall,” “A Man’s Affair,” “No Room at the Inn,” “Hue and Cry,” and “Bond Street.” She was married to British actor Harry Fowler since 1951. Cause […]

Bairbre Dowling (1953 - 2016)

Actress. Born into a family of entertainers, her father was Irish theater actor and director Vincent Dowling, her mother was actress Brenda Doyle. She followed her parent’s career path and marked her motion picture debut playing ‘Star’ in the John Boorman Science Fiction picture “Zardoz” (1974), which starred Sean Connery. She experienced a starring role […]

Mary Dow (1921 - 2004)

Actress. She appeared in the films “Flashing Fangs” (1926), as ‘Baby’, and “Sea Horses” (1926), as ‘Cina Salvia.’ (bio by: K)

Ellen Rose Albertini Dow (1913 - 2015)

American Character Actress. Albertini Dow, a veteran of New York’s Yiddish theater and a former drama teacher in Los Angeles, was known for playing feisty old women after she resumed her acting career in her 70s. She studied acting in New York City, worked with mimes Marcel Marceau and Jacques LeCog in Paris and played […]

Marie Dorval (1798 - 1849)

Actress. Also known as Marie Delaunay. she was a French comedic actress who created the role of Adèle d’Hervey in Alexandre Dumas’ “Antony.” Personal friend of Dumas and George Sand. A movie about her life came out in 1973, starring Rosy Varte in the title role. (bio by: amy7252)

Diana Dors (1931 - 1984)

Actress. One of her generation’s “blonde bombshells”, she was a pinup model, sometimes singer, and film actress with over 100 credits whose full ability was probably not realized due to her relegation to sex-kitten status. Born Diana Mary Fluck, she was educated at Colville House, Swindon, and was expressing her theatrical ambitions as early as […]

Bobbie Dorree (1905 - 1974)

Austrian-born stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Appeared in many westerns, including “Dakota” (1945) starring John Wayne. She was sometimes credited as Babette Dorree. (bio by: A.J. Marik) Cause of death: Cancer

Marie Doro (1882 - 1956)

Stage actress from 1901 to 1921, she appeared in: “The Billionaire,” “Clarice,” “Oliver Twist” and “Lilies of the Field.”  She also appeared in 17 silent films including: “The White Pearl,” “Oliver Twist,” “Maid of Mystery,” “Beatrice” and “Sally Bishop.” (bio by: TLS)  Family links:  Spouse:  Elliott Dexter (1870 – 1941)

Jane Dornacker (1947 - 1986)

American Rock Musician, Actress, and Comedian.  Her music career included lead vocals for the San Francisco rock group “Leila and the Snakes”.  She appeared in theater and standup performances, including the role of the stoic ‘nurse Murch’, in the 1983 movie “The Right Stuff”.  In the mid 1980’s, she worked as a traffic reporter for […]

Françoise Dorléac (1942 - 1967)

Actress. Born the eldest of four daughters of film actor Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve in Paris, France. She first appeared on stage at the age of 10, and made her film debut in the movie short “Mensonges” in 1957. She studied at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique, supporting herself as a model for Christian Dior. […]

Ruth Donnelly (1896 - 1982)

Actress. Best known for her film roles as wisecracking matrons, Donnelly began her career on the stage at 17, in the chorus of a touring show. Her Broadway debut occurred in 1914’s “A Scrap of Paper,” a performance that brought her to the attention of George M. Cohan, who cast her in comic roles. Her […]

Jeff Donnell (1921 - 1988)

Actress. Born Jean Marie Donnell she moved to Towson, Maryland with her parents and older sister when she was a toddler. She took dancing and piano lessons while in school and loved the “Mutt and Jeff” comic series so much that she adopted the name ‘Jeff’ as her nickname. After graduating in 1938 from Towson […]

Solveig Dommartin (1961 - 2007)

Actress. Born in Paris, France, she appeared mainly in international films is best known for her roles in the Wim Wenders movies “Wings of Desire”, (1987), “Until the End of the World”, (1991) and “Faraway, So Close”, (1993). She also had a memorable performance in the films “The Prisoner of St. Petersburg”, (1989) and “I […]

Edit Domjan (1932 - 1972)

Actress.  Protean leading lady of stage and screen.  Born in Budapest,  she made her performing debut in 1954 as a chorus girl with the National Dance Theatre,  and by 1960 had become one of Hungary’s leading stage stars.  Highly versatile,  her repertory ranged from the classics (Shakespeare,  Moliere,  Shaw) to musicals (“The Threepenny Opera”) to […]

Beatrice Dominguez (1896 - 1921)

Actress. She made screen history dancing a tango with  Rudolph Valentino in “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1921). This was the first time that sultry dance appeared in an American film; the scene captivated audiences and made Valentino a star. It is still one of the most famous moments of silent cinema.  Dominguez was […]

Dora Doll (1922 - 2015)

Actress. She enjoyed a lengthy career in French movies and went on to make her mark internationally. Born Dorothea Hermina Feinberg, she moved with her family to Paris during her early youth and made her film debut at the age of sixteen with an uncredited part in “The Curtain Rises” (1938). She may perhaps be […]

Claire Anne Dodd Dodd (1911 - 1973)

Actress. She starred in several dozen Hollywood features during the 1930s. Born Dorothy Arlene Dodd, to Walter and Ethel Cool Dodd (who later divorced), she was raised in Iowa until she moved to New York in her mid-teens in order to support herself. While working on Broadway in the “Ziegfeld Follies”, she was spotted by […]

Tamara Dobson (1947 - 2006)

Actress. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dobson is best remembered for her role as Cleopatra Jones in the 1973 blaxploitation film, “Cleopatra Jones”, and the 1975 follow-up film, “Cleopatra Jones And The Casino Of Gold”. A 6’2 former fashion model, she became known as the Fashionable Kung Fu Queen and was also considered to be […]

Cardella DiMilo (1930 - 2003)

Actress. Born in Oklahoma, she was a popular blues singer when she made her film debut in “Blackenstein” (1973), which she also composed the music for. Her other credits included “Dolemite” (1975), “Rude” (1982), “Penitentiary” (1979) and “Pirates Of Silicon Valley” (1999). For television, she was best remembered for the role of ‘Lucille Pinkney’ on […]

Josephine Dillon (1884 - 1971)

Drama Coach,  Actress.  The first wife of  Clark Gable.  The daughter of prominent attorney  Henry Clay Dillon,  she was born in Denver and raised in Long Beach,  California.  After graduating from Stanford University in 1908,  she pursued an unremarkable stage career and then set up an acting studio in Portland,  Oregon,  in 1923.  There she […]

Edith Hallor Dillon (1896 - 1971)

Entertainer.  An ebullient singer and dancer,  she enjoyed fleeting fame on the Broadway stage during the World War I years.  She co-starred in the hit Jerome Kern musical “Leave It to Jane” (1918) and had major roles in “The Peasant Girl” (1915),  Irving Berlin’s all-star revue “Dance and Grow Thin” (1917),  and the “Ziegfeld Follies […]

Phyllis Ada Driver Diller (1917 - 2012)

Comedienne, Actress. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes self-deprecating jokes about her age and appearance, her terrible cooking, and a husband named “Fang”. She began her career at a radio station in Oakland, California, in 1952. In November of that year, she began filming a television show titled […]

Diana Dill (1923 - 2015)

Actress. She was formerly married to actor Kirk Douglas and during their union (1943 to 1951), their children Michael Douglas (who went on to become a successful actor and producer) and Joel Douglas were born. Diana Love Dill was the daughter of a high-ranking Bermudian military official and made a name for herself as a […]

Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992)

Actress, Singer. She appeared in over 70 motion pictures in a career that spanned from 1914 to movie releases made after her death in 1992.  Born just outside Berlin, Germany, her father was a police lieutenant (other biographies state he was an Army officer), and she was noted for having a number of affairs, including […]

Rosita Díaz Gimeno (1911 - 1986)

Motion Picture and Stage Actress. She worked in Hollywood with Fox and Paramount in 1930’s, appearing in “Angelina o el Honor de un Brigadier” (1935), “Rosa de Francia” (1935) and “Vida Bohemia” (1938). He returned to Spain and become one of the most important actresses of the cinema of Second Spanish Republic. She was forced […]

Marujita Diaz (1932 - 2015)

Singer, Actress. A versatile performer, she shall be remembered as a long-time star of the Spanish stage, screen, and recording studio. Born Maria del Dulce Nombre Diaz Ruiz, she was raised within the theatrical milieu, made her professional stage debut at six, had her 1948 silver screen bow in “The Cicada”, and achieved her first […]