Dorothy Dalton (September 22, 1893 – April 13, 1972) was an American silent film actress and stage personality who worked her way from a stock company to a movie career. Beginning in 1910, Dalton was a player in stock companies in Chicago; Terre Haute, Indiana; and Holyoke, Massachusetts. She joined the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Corporation vaudeville circuits. By 1914 she was working in Hollywood.
Career
Born in Chicago, Dalton made her movie debut in 1914 in Pierre of the Plains, co-starring Edgar Selwyn, followed by the lead role in Across the Pacific that same year. In 1915, she appeared with William S. Hart in The Disciple. This production came before she left Triangle Film Corporation and was signed to Thomas Harper Ince Studios. While Ince meant to cast her in mature roles, she had preferred to play ingénues.
Her role in The Disciple, however, in which she attracts a man who is not her husband, led to her being cast as a vamp. Her vamp, however, was untraditional in that she vamped unconsciously; in the words of Kay Anthony, "Not because she wanted people to think she was a full-fledged shatterer of hearts before the camera did she make pulses beat hard and fast, but because she couldn't help it: 'I guess I just must have been born that way!'"
Ince's company was operative from 1919 until his death in 1924. With Ince, she played in The Price Mark and Love Letters, both co-starring William Conklin. Dalton also performed with Rudolph Valentino in Moran of the Lady Letty (1922), and with H.B. Warner in The Flame of the Yukon (1917) and The Vagabond Prince (1916). Dalton's stage career included performances as Chrysis in Aphrodite by Morris Gest in 1920.
Personal life and death
Dalton was first married to actor Lew Cody (lead actor in the Broadway version of Pierre of the Plains) in 1913, divorcing him then remarrying him in 1914 and divorcing him again.Dorothy Dolton and Lewis J. Cody in the New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-2016. 1913. New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, New Jersey; Marriage Indexes; Index Type: Bride; Year Range: 1910-1914; Surname Range: D - G. "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7F9-954 : 10 March 2018), Lewis J. Cody and Dorothy Dalton, 07 Jul 1914. In 1924 she married theatrical producer Arthur Hammerstein, uncle of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and son of impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. They had a daughter, Carol Hammerstein. After this marriage, Dalton retired. Arthur Hammerstein died in 1955.
Dorothy Dalton died in 1972, age 78, at her home in Scarsdale, New York. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Dorothy Dalton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street.
Filmography
YearTitleRoleNotes1914 Pierre of the Plains Jen Galbraith Lost film Across the Pacific Elsie Escott Lost film 1915 The Disciple Mary Houston Lost film1916 The Three Musketeers Queen Anne Alternative title: D'Artagnan The Raiders Dorothy Haldeman Lost film Civilization's Child Ellen McManus Lost film The Captive God Tecolote The Jungle Child Ollante Alternative title: The Barbarian Lost film The Vagabond Prince Lola "Fluffy" A Gamble in Souls Freda Maxey Lost film The Female of the Species Gloria Marley Alternative title: The Vampire Lost film1917 The Weaker Sex Ruth Tilden Lost film Chicken Casey Chicken Casey/Mavis Marberry Alternative title: Waifs Back of the Man Ellen Horton Lost film The Dark Road Cleo Morrison Alternative title: The Road to Honour Lost film Wild Winship's Widow Catherine Winship Lost film The Flame of the Yukon Ethel Evans/The Flame Ten of Diamonds Neva Blaine Lost film The Price Mark Paula Lee Love Letters Eileen Rodney 1918 Flare-Up Sal Flare-Up Sal Love Me Maida Madison Unfaithful Helen Karge Lost film Tyrant Fear Allaine Grandet The Mating of Marcella Marcella Duranzo Lost film The Kaiser's Shadow Paula Harris Alternative title: The Triple Cross Lost film Green Eyes Shirley Hunter Lost film Vive la France! Genevieve Bouchette Dorothy Dalton in a Liberty Loan Appeal Red Cross nurse Quicksand Mary Bowen Alternative title: Quicksands Lost film1919 The Market of Souls Helen Armes Hard Boiled Corinne Melrose Extravagance Helen Douglas Lost film The Homebreaker Mary Marbury Lost film The Lady of Red Butte Faro Fan Alternative title: The Lady of Red Brute Lost film Other Men's Wives Cynthia Brock Lost film L'apache Natalie "La Bourget" Bourget/Helen Armstrong Lost film His Wife's Friend Lady Miriam Grimwood Lost film1920 Black Is White Margaret Brood/Yvonne Strakosch The Dark Mirror Priscilla Maine/Nora O'Moore Guilty of Love Thelma Miller Lost film Half an Hour Lady Lillian Garson Lost film A Romantic Adventuress Alice Vanni Lost film1921 The Idol of the North Colette Brissac Lost film Behind Masks Jeanne Mesurier Alternative titles: In Men's Eyes Incomplete film Fool's Paradise Poll Patchouli 1922 Moran of the Lady Letty Moran Letty Sternersen The Crimson Challenge Tharon Last Lost film The Woman Who Walked Alone The Honorable Iris Champneys The Siren Call Charlotte Woods, a dancer On the High Seas Leone Deveraux Lost film1923 Dark Secrets Ruth Rutherford Lost film Fog Bound Gale Brenon Lost film Law of the Lawless Sahande Lost film1924 The Moral Sinner Leah Kleschna Lost film The Lone Wolf Lucy Shannon Lost film
References
External links
Photographs and literature