Doris Kenyon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doris Kenyon (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1979) was a star of silent and sound motion pictures and television.
She grew up in Syracuse, New York, where the family had a home at 1805 Harrison Street. Her father, Dr. James B. Kenyon, was a Methodist Episcopal Church minister at University Church. Doris first studied at Packer College Institute and later at Columbia University. She sang in the choirs of Grace Presbyterian and Bushwick Methodist Churches in Brooklyn, New York.
Her voice attracted the attention of Broadway theatrical scouts who enticed her to become a performer on the stage. She first appeared in the Victor Herbert operetta Princess Pat.
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[edit] Film Career
In 1917 she made her first film, A Girl's Folly, with World Film Company of Fort Lee, New Jersey. One of the most remembered fims of her early career is Monsieur Beaucaire (1924). She starred opposite Rudolph Valentino. She was with Paramount Pictures for the studio's first dramatic, all-talking movie, Intereference, in 1928.
This pairing with William Powell followed her appearance in The Thief of Paradise (1928), with Ronald Colman. Miss Kenyon then appeared in a series of films with actor George Arliss. These are Alexander Hamilton (1931), Voltaire (1933), and Whom The Gods Destroy (1934). She particpated in Counselor at Law in 1933 with John Barrymore. In the autumn of 1935 Doris appeared with Ramon Navarro in the play, A Royal Miscarriage, in London, England. Her fifty picture career ended in 1939 with a cameo in Man In The Iron Mask.
[edit] Television
Doris continued her acting in television in the 1950s. She was seen in episodes of The Secret (1954), Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, All Our Yesterdays (TV series) (1958), and 77 Sunset Strip. Also, following her film career, she continued a singing career she pursued first as a girl. She gave this up to live in semiretirement in Beverly Hills, California.
[edit] Marriages
The actress was married a number of times. Her first husband was the actor Milton Sills, who Kenyon wed in 1926. She was widowed in 1930. She married wealthy New York real estate broker Arthur Hopkins in 1933. The two divorced the following year, citing incompatibility. In 1938 Doris married Albert D. Lasker, owner of Lord & Thomas, a wealthy advertising agency. They divorced in 1939. Her final marriage was to Bronislaw Mlynarski. He was the son of a Polish composer and the brother-in-law of Arthur Rubenstein. Evidently she had no children.
Doris Kenyon died in 1979 at her Beverly Hills home four days before her 82nd birthday.
In 1924 a young girl was called Doris after her.; She grew up to be the actress, Doris Day.
[edit] References
- Los Angeles Times, Doris Kenyon Sills Dies, Known On and Off Screen, September 10, 1979, Page B18.
- Syracuse Herald, Doris Kenyon and Hopkins To Be Married, Sunday Morning, April 15, 1933, Second Section, Page 2.
- Syracuse Herald, Will Play In England, Thursday, June 27, 1935, Page 14.
