Doris Dowling

Doris Dowling (May 15, 1923 – June 18, 2004) was an American actress whose career spanned film, stage, and television across more than three decades. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she grew up in New York City alongside her siblings Robert, Richard, and Constance, the last of whom also pursued an acting career. After completing her education at Hunter College High School, Dowling briefly joined a Folies Bergère group in San Francisco before her mother returned her to New York to attend Hunter College.

Dowling's professional career began on Broadway, where she appeared in a succession of productions between 1940 and 1973. Her early Broadway work included the musicals Panama Hattie and Banjo Eyes, both in 1942, followed by Beat the Band that same year and New Faces of 1943 the following year. She also appeared in The Old Women during this period. Her Broadway career culminated in a revival of The Women, for which she shared the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Ensemble Performance for the 1972–1973 season.

Following her time as a chorus girl on Broadway, Dowling moved to Hollywood, where her elder sister Constance had already established herself. Her first credited film role came in the 1945 production The Lost Weekend, in which she played Gloria opposite Ray Milland. She next appeared in The Blue Dahlia, portraying the wife of Alan Ladd in the film that also starred Veronica Lake. As film opportunities in the United States diminished after the war, Dowling relocated to Italy, where she appeared in several notable productions, including Bitter Rice in 1949, one of the films for which she became best known. In 1951, she played Bianca in Orson Welles's European production of Othello. Returning to American film, she appeared in Running Target in 1956 and The Car in 1977.

On television, Dowling accumulated an extensive list of credits. She co-starred with Bob Cummings and Julie Newmar in the sitcom My Living Doll, playing Irene Adams from 1964 to 1965. Her other television appearances included The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, Have Gun – Will Travel, Cheyenne, Daktari, Adam 12, One Step Beyond, Science Fiction Theater, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Kojak, Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk, and The Dukes of Hazzard.

In her personal life, Dowling dated director Billy Wilder during the 1940s and was married three times. In 1952 she became the seventh wife of bandleader Artie Shaw; the two had a son, Jonathan, before divorcing in 1956. Later that same year, on April 27, 1956, she married film executive Robert F. Blumofe, a union that ended in divorce in 1959. On April 20, 1960, she married Leonard Kaufman, to whom she remained married until her death.

Dowling died on June 18, 2004, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 81. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.