Dorothy Adams

Dorothy Adams (January 8, 1900 – March 16, 1988) was an American character actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across several decades. Born in Hannah, North Dakota, she was the daughter of Rachel Jamison and W. E. Adams, a hardware salesman. The family later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Adams attended Braemar School and the University of British Columbia.

Adams began building her stage experience in the 1920s through work with the Moroni Olsen Players. Her Broadway career brought her to New York in 1934, when she appeared in the play Whatever Possessed Her.

On screen, Adams became particularly recognized for her portrayal of Wilma Cameron's mother in the 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives. Television work occupied much of her time in the 1950s, during which she accumulated a wide range of appearances across multiple genres. She appeared in Gunsmoke alongside James Arness and in four episodes of the Western series The Adventures of Kit Carson, starring Bill Williams. The crime drama Dragnet, starring Jack Webb, featured her in four episodes, while she made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. She also appeared in a 1958 episode of the comedy series Leave It to Beaver, starring Jerry Mathers.

In the 1960s, Adams transitioned into education, serving as an acting instructor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, where she developed a following among students.

In her personal life, Adams married character actor Byron Foulger in 1926, a union that lasted until his death in 1970. She was the mother of soap opera actress Rachel Ames. Adams died of heart failure on March 16, 1988, in Woodland Hills, California. Her ashes are interred alongside those of her husband in niche A142 in the Del Prado Mausoleum at Inglewood Park Cemetery in California.