Constance Dowling

Constance Dowling (July 24, 1920 – October 28, 1969) was an American actress and model born in New York City. She attended Wadleigh High School for Girls and worked as a model and chorus girl before launching her performing career. To secure a dancing position at the Paradise nightclub in New York City, she misrepresented her age to her employer while concealing the job from her mother. She was the elder sister of actress Doris Dowling, and her brothers were Richard Dowling and Robert Smith Dowling.

Before relocating to California in 1943, Dowling built a stage career in New York that spanned from 1940 to 1942. Her Broadway credits included the musical Hold on to Your Hats, Liberty Jones, The Strings, My Lord, Are False, and Liliom. She also appeared in Quiet City and Panama Hattie, the latter alongside her sister Doris.

Dowling's film career began in 1944 when producer Samuel Goldwyn cast her in Up in Arms. Newspaper columnist Sheilah Graham noted at the time that Danny Kaye had hoped for an established star opposite him, but Goldwyn chose Dowling instead. Press agents for Goldwyn promoted her as possessing three distinct talents: singing, dancing, and acting. That same year she appeared opposite Nelson Eddy in Knickerbocker Holiday. Columnist Hedda Hopper reported in 1946 that Dowling had signed a long-term contract with Eagle-Lion Films, and she subsequently appeared in The Well-Groomed Bride and Black Angel before being loaned to Columbia Pictures for Boston Blackie and the Law.

From 1947 through 1950, Dowling lived in Italy and appeared in several Italian productions. She returned to Hollywood in the 1950s and took a role in the science fiction film Gog, which proved to be her final screen appearance.

Among the notable figures in Dowling's personal life was director Elia Kazan, with whom she had a long affair in New York. The relationship ended when she departed for Hollywood under her Goldwyn contract. In Italy, she became linked with poet and novelist Cesare Pavese, who referenced her in his poetry, often associating her with spring. Pavese died by suicide in 1950 following a lifelong depression, and one of his final poems, entitled "Death will come and she'll have your eyes," is connected to her. In early 1964, Dowling introduced researcher John C. Lilly to LSD for the first time.

In 1955, Dowling married film producer Ivan Tors, who had produced her final film. She retired from acting following the marriage and had three sons with Tors — Steven, David, and Peter — as well as a foster son, Alfred Ndwego, from Kenya. Dowling died on October 28, 1969, of a heart attack at UCLA Medical Center at the age of 49. She was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.