Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour, born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton on December 10, 1914, in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an American actress, singer, and Broadway performer. She died on September 22, 1996, in Los Angeles at the age of 81. Her stage name derived from the surname of her mother's second husband, Clarence Lambour, which she later modified. She was of Spanish descent, with English and French ancestry as well.

Lamour was raised in poverty by her single mother in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans. She left school at age 14 and, after completing a business course, worked as a secretary. She entered beauty pageants during this period and was crowned Miss New Orleans in 1931, subsequently competing in Galveston's Pageant of Pulchritude. She and her mother later relocated to Chicago, where Lamour worked as an elevator operator at Marshall Field's department store at age 16. Her supervisor, Douglas Singleterry, referred to her as "Dolly Face" and recalled that she spent considerable time auditioning around the city. Orchestra leader Herbie Kay discovered her at a talent show held at the Hotel Morrison and hired her as a singer. In 1935, she toured with Kay's orchestra, and that same year hosted her own 15-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. She also performed on the Rudy Vallée radio show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour.

In 1936, Lamour moved to Hollywood and signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. Her first film for the studio was College Holiday, in which she appeared in an uncredited bit part. Her second Paramount film, The Jungle Princess, in which she played the jungle native Ulah in an Edith Head-designed sarong alongside Ray Milland, brought her widespread fame and established her enduring association with the sarong. The film produced the hit song "Moonlight and Shadows." She subsequently appeared in a range of films throughout the late 1930s, including The Hurricane for Sam Goldwyn and director John Ford, in which she starred alongside Jon Hall and which yielded another hit song, "The Moon of Manakoora." She also appeared in The Big Broadcast of 1938, billed third after W.C. Fields and Martha Raye, in a cast that included an early appearance by Bob Hope.

In 1940, Lamour starred alongside Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in Road to Singapore, the first entry in what became the Road to... series of comedy films. Originally conceived with different cast members, the film was reassigned to Crosby, Hope, and Lamour, with Lamour billed after Crosby and above Hope. The series continued through the 1940s and became one of the most popular comedy franchises of the era. The sixth film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952. In 1961, Crosby and Hope made The Road to Hong Kong with Joan Collins as the female lead; Lamour made a brief appearance and sang a song near the end of that film.

As her film career slowed following the early 1950s, Lamour shifted her focus to stage and television work. She appeared on Broadway between 1958 and 1967, with credits that included the musical Oh Captain! and a starring role in Hello, Dolly!. In the 1970s, she revived her nightclub act. In 1980, she published her autobiography, My Side of the Road. Her final film appearance came in 1987.

Lamour married William Ross Howard III in 1943. The couple had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. On January 30, 1944, she starred in "For This We Live," an episode of the CBS radio program Silver Theater. In a 1954 episode of the television program This Is Your Life, she recounted a childhood memory of visiting Gordon's Grocery in New Orleans at age eight, where the store's owner, Harrison Gordon, gave her a football and refused to charge her.