Dorothy Jordan (film actress)
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Jordan was an American
movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.
, Jordan made her screen debut in the 1929 film The Taming of the Shrew
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
.
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
. 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.
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
. Her body was cremated and her ashes are interred at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
in Los Angeles.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.
Early career
Born in Clarksville, TennesseeClarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...
, Jordan made her screen debut in the 1929 film The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
and went on to make twenty-two more films in the next four years, including Min and Bill
Min and Bill
Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson....
with Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
and Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
in 1930 and The Cabin in the Cotton
The Cabin in the Cotton
The Cabin in the Cotton is a 1932 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Paul Green is based on the novel of the same title by Harry Harrison Kroll....
with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in 1932. During that time, she appeared in films with Ramon Novarro
Ramón Novarro
Ramón Novarro was a Mexican leading man actor in Hollywood in the early 20th century. He was the next male "Sex Symbol" after the death of Rudolph Valentino...
, Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
, Walter Huston
Walter Huston
Walter Thomas Huston was a Canadian-born American actor. He was the father of actor and director John Huston and the grandfather of actress Anjelica Huston and actor Danny Huston.-Life and career:...
and Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
.
Film retirement and return
In 1933, Jordan left films and married filmmaker, screenwriter and later World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
U.S. Army Air Forces Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Merian C. Cooper
Merian C. Cooper
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American aviator, United States Air Force and Polish Air Force officer, adventurer, screenwriter, and film director and producer. His most famous film was the 1933 movie King Kong.-Early life:...
, who co-wrote, produced and directed the 1933 film King Kong
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
. 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
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
. Cooper was a good friend and frequent collaborator with Western director John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
, forming Argosy Productions in 1947. It was for Argosy's The Sun Shines Bright
The Sun Shines Bright
The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 comedy film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb stories. Ford had adapted some of the same material in 1934 in his film Judge Priest. That film originally had a scene depicting the lynching of Stepin Fetchit’s character , but...
, 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
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
's character, Ethan Edwards, who seeks Jordan's daughter, played by Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
, in the epic 1956 Argosy film The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
. Jordan appeared once more, in a small role in the John Ford film The Wings of Eagles
The Wings of Eagles
The Wings of Eagles is a 1957 Metrocolor film about Frank "Spig" Wead and US Naval aviation from its inception through World War II. The film is a tribute to Wead from his friend, director John Ford....
in 1957 before retiring.
Later years
Jordan and Cooper lived in Coronado, CaliforniaCoronado, California
Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
and remained married until his death of cancer on April 21, 1973. Jordan died of congestive heart failure
Congestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
on December 7, 1988 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Her body was cremated and her ashes are interred at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory
Chapel of the Pines Crematory is a crematory and columbarium located at 1605 South Catalina Street Los Angeles, California, in the historic West Adams District a short distance southwest of Downtown...
in Los Angeles.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Black Magic Black Magic (1929 film) -Cast:* Josephine Dunn as Katherine Bradbroke* Earle Foxe as Hugh Darrell* John Holland as John Ormsby* Henry B. Walthall as Dr. Bradbroke* Dorothy Jordan as Ann Bradbroke* Fritz Feld as James Fraser* Sheldon Lewis as Witchdoctor* Ivan Linow as Zelig... |
Ann Bradbroke | |
| Words and Music Words and Music (1929 film) Words and Music is a 1929 American musical comedy film, directed by James Tinling, and starring Lois Moran, David Percy, Helen Twelvetrees, and Frank Albertson... |
Song and dance principal | ||
| The Taming of the Shrew The Taming of the Shrew (1929 film) The Taming of the Shrew is the first sound film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name. It stars Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks.-Cast:*Mary Pickford as Katherine*Douglas Fairbanks as Petruchio... |
Bianca | ||
| Devil-May-Care Devil-May-Care Devil-May-Care is a sound American musical film with Technicolor sequences released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on 27 December 1929... |
Leonie | ||
| 1930 | In Gay Madrid In Gay Madrid In Gay Madrid is an American musical comedy, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Ramón Novarro and Dorothy Jordan, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Production:... |
Carmiña Rivas | |
| Call of the Flesh Call of the Flesh Call of the Flesh is an American musical film directed by Charles Brabin. The film stars Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, and Renée Adorée... |
Maria Consuelo Vargas | ||
| Love in the Rough | Marilyn Crawford | ||
| Min and Bill Min and Bill Min and Bill is a 1930 American comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery and based on Lorna Moon's novel Dark Star, adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson.... |
Nancy Smith | ||
| 1931 | A Tailor Made Man | Tanya | |
| Shipmates | Kit Corbin | ||
| Young Sinners Young Sinners Young Sinners was a film released on 17 May 1931, directed by John G. Blystone. The screenplay was initially written by Maurine Watkins Young Sinners was a film released on 17 May 1931, directed by John G. Blystone. The screenplay was initially written by Maurine Watkins Young Sinners was a film... |
Constance Sinclair | ||
| Beloved Bachelor | Mitzi Stressman | ||
| Hell Divers Hell Divers Hell Divers is a 1931 movie starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers on board the USS Saratoga... |
Ann Mitchell | ||
| 1932 | The Lost Squadron The Lost Squadron The Lost Squadron is a action film starring Richard Dix, Mary Astor, and Robert Armstrong, with Erich von Stroheim and Joel McCrea, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is about three World War I pilots who find jobs after the war as Hollywood stunt fliers... |
'Pest' Curwood | |
| The Wet Parade The Wet Parade The Wet Parade is a 1932 film directed by Victor Fleming based on a 1931 novel by Upton Sinclair, starring Robert Young, Myrna Loy, Walter Huston, and Jimmy Durante.... |
Maggie May 'Persimmon' Chilcote | ||
| The Roadhouse Murder | Mary Agnew | ||
| Down to Earth | Julia Pearson | ||
| 70,000 Witnesses | Dorothy Clark | ||
| That's My Boy That's My Boy (1932 film) That's My Boy is a 1932 film that stars Richard Cromwell and Dorothy Jordan. It features John Wayne in an uncredited role as a football player.-Cast:* Richard Cromwell - Tommy Jefferson Scott* Dorothy Jordan - Dorothy Whitney* Mae Marsh - Mom Scott... |
Dorothy Whitney | ||
| The Cabin in the Cotton The Cabin in the Cotton The Cabin in the Cotton is a 1932 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Paul Green is based on the novel of the same title by Harry Harrison Kroll.... |
Betty Wright | ||
| 1933 | Strictly Personal | Mary | |
| Bondage | Judy Peters | ||
| One Man's Journey One Man's Journey One Man's Journey was a 2005 documentary series on PBS, featuring the canoe travels of naturalist and filmmaker Robert Perkins.-References:-External links:... |
Letty McGinnis | ||
| 1953 | The Sun Shines Bright The Sun Shines Bright The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 comedy film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb stories. Ford had adapted some of the same material in 1934 in his film Judge Priest. That film originally had a scene depicting the lynching of Stepin Fetchit’s character , but... |
Lucy Lee's mother | |
| 1956 | The Searchers The Searchers (film) The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars... |
Martha Edwards | |
| 1957 | The Wings of Eagles The Wings of Eagles The Wings of Eagles is a 1957 Metrocolor film about Frank "Spig" Wead and US Naval aviation from its inception through World War II. The film is a tribute to Wead from his friend, director John Ford.... |
Rose Brentmann |