Dorothy Dell

Dorothy Dell, born Dorothy Goff on January 30, 1915, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was an American performer who worked in vaudeville, Broadway, and film before her death in an automobile accident on June 8, 1934, at the age of 19. Her mother was a descendant of Jefferson Davis, and her family relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, when she was 13. From an early age she pursued a career in entertainment, initially focusing on singing, and was discovered by composer Wesley Lord, which led to a radio contract.

Dell's entry into public life accelerated through beauty competitions. At 17 she won the title of Miss New Orleans in 1930, and that same year she competed at the International Pageant of Pulchritude in Galveston, Texas, where she was crowned Miss Universe, a title distinct from the Miss Universe pageant established in 1952. Her friend Dorothy Lamour went on to win the Miss New Orleans title in 1931, succeeding Dell. Following her pageant victories, Dell established a vaudeville act and spent 32 weeks on the vaudeville circuit, a path she chose in part because she believed it would help Lamour's career, a promise she had made before winning the Miss Universe title.

In 1931 Dell moved to New York City, and her Broadway career began that same year when she was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld after singing at a benefit performance. Ziegfeld arranged for her to appear in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931, and she subsequently appeared in the revue Tattle Tales in 1933, completing a Broadway career that spanned 1931 to 1933. During her time in New York she was closely associated with entertainer Russ Colombo, whom she had met at her Ziegfeld audition. The relationship attracted considerable media attention, with both Dell and Colombo denying rumors of an impending marriage. Colombo's manager, Con Conrad, worked to end the relationship by arranging a series of publicity-oriented romances between Colombo and other actresses.

In December 1933 Dell moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. She won her debut film role in Wharf Angel (1934) over competitors including Mae Clarke and Isabel Jewell, and the film's reception led Paramount to regard her as a potential star. Her most substantial screen role came in the Shirley Temple film Little Miss Marker. A role in Now and Forever was subsequently recast with Carole Lombard, who went on to achieve one of her earliest significant successes in the part.

Dell died on June 8, 1934, following a car accident in California. She had agreed to ride with Dr. Carl Wagner, age 38, to Pasadena during a break from filming Shoot the Works. After attending a party at an inn in Altadena, the car left the highway, struck a telephone pole, bounced off a palm tree, and hit a boulder. Dell was killed instantly, and Wagner, who had been driving between 50 and 70 miles per hour, died six hours later in a hospital. She was interred at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the weeks before her death, Dell had reportedly been engaged to caricaturist Nat Carson, whom she had met while performing as a chorus girl in Earl Carroll's Vanities. Carson had proposed by telephone from London one week before her death, and upon learning of her death he chose to remain in London rather than return to Broadway.