Dorothy Greener

Dorothy "Dot" Greener (October 16, 1917 – December 6, 1971) was an English-born American actress and singing comedian whose Broadway career spanned from 1951 to 1963.

Greener was born in Gateshead, England, and emigrated with her family to Montreal, Canada at the age of eight. Immigration quotas delayed the family's onward journey for three years before they settled in East Hartford, Connecticut, where Greener studied viola and also learned violin and ukulele. At East Hartford High School she took a bookkeeping class, a skill that led to her first professional employment at a drug company, where she eventually rose to head of the billing department over seven years. She subsequently won a sculpture scholarship to the Hartford Art School but shifted direction into journalism, taking a position as secretary to the managing editor at The Hartford Times while also writing human interest stories and reviews. After four years she left the job and relocated to New York, where she supported herself working as a switchboard operator and secretary.

Her performing career began in an unlikely setting: while vacationing in Provincetown, Massachusetts, she won a bottle of champagne by singing two original songs, "Oi Should 'Ave Let 'Im 'Ave It With Me 'Atpin" and "Mame of the Chorus." The performance led to an engagement singing for the remainder of her stay at the hotel. She went on to perform at New York's Blue Angel nightclub, sharing a bill with the King Odom Quartet and The Mademoiselles.

Greener's stage work encompassed both off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including Come What May, Razzle Dazzle, Leave It to Jane, The Shoestring Revue in 1955, Shoestring '57 at the Barbizon-Plaza in 1956, and My Mother, My Father and Me. Her screen credits included Don Ameche's Musical Playhouse, Lux Video Theatre, Cauliflower Cupids, and Camera Three.

Greener died of cancer on December 6, 1971, at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Her personal papers are preserved in the Archives and Manuscripts Department of the New York Public Library.