Doris Dowling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Doris Dowling | |
 Doris Dowling |
|
| Born | May 15, 1923 Detroit Michigan, U.S.A |
| Died | June 18, 2004, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A |
After serving her time as a chorus-girl on Broadway, Doris followed her elder sister Constance Dowling to Hollywood. Her first credited film role was that of barfly and drinking companion Gloria to fellow alcoholic Ray Milland in the classic The Lost Weekend. Things looked good when she followed up the Best Picture winning film with The Blue Dahlia starring Alan Ladd (despite her being noticeably taller than him) and Veronica Lake. However post-war work became more scarce and she emigrated to Italy to revive her career, as her sister had done.
In Italy Dowling starred in several acclaimed films including Bitter Rice and Rome, Open City, she also appeared in Orson Welles's European production of Othello in 1952 playing Bianca. Upon returning to the U.S. much of her work was in theatre and on television. She appeared in such well-known television shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, Perry Mason and later in her career The Incredible Hulk, Kojak and finally The Dukes of Hazzard in 1984. She also appeared in 1977's cult horror The Car.
In 1973, Dowling shared an Outer Critics Circle award for her performance in the all-star stage production of The Women on Broadway.
Dowling was married three times, she was wife number 7 to band leader Artie Shaw by whom she had a son, Jonathan Shaw. He is now a famous tattoo artist who owned Manhatten, New York's oldest tattoo parlour until 2004. Her other husbands were Robert F. Blumofe between 1956 and 1959 and Leonard B. Kaufman between 1960 to her death in 2004.
