Doris Nolan

Doris Murdock Nolan (July 14, 1916 – July 29, 1998) was an American actress whose career spanned Broadway, Hollywood, and British television across several decades. Born in New Rochelle, New York, she was the daughter of Frank J. Nolan, a woolen goods importer, and Mary L. Fields. Nolan began acting during her high school years in New Rochelle, and after graduating she joined the Provincetown Players in 1933, working as a director's secretary to offset her tuition costs. The following summer she performed at the Clinton Hollow Theatre in Poughkeepsie, New York, where her work as the female lead in The Late Christopher Bean attracted the attention of a talent scout and led to a contract with Fox Film Corporation.

Nolan was sixteen years old when she signed with Fox, making it her first professional acting contract. She was assigned a small part in Our Little Girl, a film starring Shirley Temple, but after repeated difficulties with her scene, Fox removed her from the production and offered her no further work. She redirected her focus to Broadway, where her manager Al Woods cast her as the female lead in Night of January 16th despite her being only seventeen. The role required her to portray an older femme fatale — the mistress and possible murderer of a wealthy businessman — a prospect that made Nolan apprehensive, though the production succeeded and she received favorable notices.

Following her departure from that play, Woods arranged a new Hollywood contract for her, this time with Universal Pictures, and Nolan continued moving between stage and screen throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Her most prominent film role came in the 1938 production of Holiday, in which she appeared alongside Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Her subsequent film work proved less distinguished, but she revitalized her stage career with an eighteen-month run in The Doughgirls, a comedy about the hardships of wartime domestic life that was later adapted into a film. Her Broadway career, which ran from 1935 to 1949, also included the productions Lorelei, The Cat Screams, and Cue for Passion. Her final Broadway appearance came in The Closing Door, a drama written by her husband, which closed after a short run following poor reviews.

On December 30, 1944, Nolan married Canadian actor Alexander Knox in a civil ceremony. The presiding judge nearly pronounced her married to Knox's best man before the error was caught and the vows were repeated. The couple had a son, Andrew Joseph Knox, who became an actor and appeared in the sitcom Doctor on the Go. Andrew was briefly married to actress Imogen Hassall and died by suicide in 1987. Alexander Knox's political activities drew scrutiny during the Hollywood blacklist period, and the family relocated to the United Kingdom so he could continue his career.

Nolan remained in the UK for the rest of her life, working in regional stage productions and making guest appearances on British television. Among her television credits was a 1962 appearance in "The Latin Touch," the second episode of the first season of The Saint. Her final television role was in ITV's 1981 serial adaptation of Brideshead Revisited. Nolan died on July 29, 1998.