Sandra Dorsey

Sandra Dorsey (September 28, 1939 – September 26, 2023) was an American actress, director, writer, and choreographer born in Atlanta, Georgia. Her career spanned Broadway, film, and television, and she maintained deep roots in Atlanta's arts community throughout her life. She was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actors' Equity Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Arts, the DeKalb Council for the Arts, the College Music Society, the Episcopal Drama Foundation, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and she served as SAG president for the state of Georgia.

Dorsey appeared in five Broadway productions between 1965 and 1971. She performed in Illya Darling alongside Melina Mercouri, Gantry with Robert Shaw and Rita Moreno, and Drat! The Cat! with Elliott Gould. She also appeared in On the Town with Bernadette Peters and Phyllis Newman, and in Mata Hari, which starred Pernell Roberts and was directed by Vincente Minnelli. Beyond her Broadway work, she played Fraulein Kost in the National Tour of Cabaret, directed by Harold Prince.

Prior to her screen career, Dorsey taught acting and singing in New York City and later at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and at Emory University. She attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and studied with the David LeGrant Actors Studio in New York. She also worked in academic settings at Oglethorpe University and the University of Georgia. In 1977, she founded Dorsey Studios in Atlanta. Her directing and choreography credits include Amahl and the Night Visitors in Atlanta, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and Biba Revue at Maxim's in Chicago, which she also wrote. She served as musical director for An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein at Emory University.

Dorsey began her film career in 1976 with the horror film Grizzly, followed by They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way in 1978. In 1979, she appeared in Norma Rae alongside Sally Field and Beau Bridges. In 1986, she worked with director Michael A. Simpson on Impure Thoughts, and she reteamed with Simpson for Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland, in which she played camp owner Lily Miranda opposite Michael J. Pollard and Pamela Springsteen. Her husband, Joe Dorsey, appeared alongside her in Grizzly, They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way, and Norma Rae, as well as in the television film Angel City. Her final feature film was the 1995 Disney production Gordy, in which she played the role of Maxine.

Her television work included an appearance on The Dukes of Hazzard and roles in the television films Passing Glory with Rip Torn and Frankenstein with Parker Posey. Dorsey died of pancreatic cancer on September 26, 2023, two days before her 84th birthday.