Dorothy Seastrom

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Dorothy Seastrom (March 16, 1903 - January 31, 1930) was a motion picture actress from Dallas, Texas. She won a beauty contest in competition with fourteen other girls who vied to be named the perfect 1925 model. It was occasionally reported that she was originally from Norway. She was an un-bobbed blonde of uncommon beauty.

[edit] Brief Stardom

Dorothy's film career began in 1923 with the role of Eleanor Harmon in The Call of the Canyon, directed by Victor Fleming. Her first screen work was in comedies. Later she acted under the direction of Cecil B. Demille. She signed a five year contract with First National Pictures in September 1925. She was affectionately called the Candy Kid at First National because of her taffy colored hair. As with many other First National stars, Dorothy had an antifat clause written into her contract. Her current weight was listed as 117 pounds with a deadline weight or limit of 140 pounds being stipulated.

She appeared in The Perfect Flapper with Colleen Moore and Classified with Corinne Griffith. During the filming of We Moderns (1925), also with Colleen Moore, Miss Seastrom barely avoided a potentially disfiguring accident. A shower of sparks from a short-circuited light at the United Studios fell upon her hair and shoulders. Dorothy escaped injury through the effort of James Dunne, an assistant director. He grabbed a table cloth from a prop table and enveloped the actress' head. Electricians shut off the power to the light which was hung from the fly gallery above the scene. Dorothy made a full recovery from the burns she sustained and returned to complete the film directed by John Francis Dillon.

[edit] Health Issues and Early Death

Following several years as an extra the actress was beginning to realize success, when her declining health became an issue. She returned to Dallas for a rest in the fall of 1925. While there she became ill and physicians ordered her to a rest sanitorium for several months. It was feared that if she continued working she would be forced out of movies completely. First National management agreed to hold the starting date of her contract temporarily, until she regained her health. However she lost a role in Irene, which she was scheduled to make with Colleen Moore. Her frail strength and the hard work she undertook had left her a victim of tuberculosis.

The sanitorium in the hills of California where Dorothy was sent by her husband was also occupied by actress Barbara LaMarr. As Dorothy seemed to regain her physical health, LaMarr grew weaker. In 1926 Miss Seastrom returned to Hollywood to make Delicatessan with Colleen Moore. Her final film role was in It Must Be Love (1926).

Dorothy Seastrom died of tuberculosis in Dallas in 1930.

[edit] References

• Charleston, West Virginia Gazette, Dorothy Seastrom On For Long Term, September 27, 1925, Page 35.
• The Frederick, Maryland Daily News, She Just Worships Vikings, Tuesday, March 24, 1925, Page 11.
• Los Angeles Times, Beauty Periled By Shower of Sparks, August 18, 1925, Page A1.
• Los Angeles Times, Actress Burned In Film Set Recovers, August 24, 1925, Page A3.
• Los Angeles Times, Dorothy Seastrom Will Be With First National, September 9, 1925, Page A9.
• Los Angeles Times, Avoirdupois is Banned on First National Lot, September 16, 1925, Page 6.
• Los Angeles Times, Illness Halts Film Rise, September 28, 1925, Page A10.
• Nevada State Journal, Behind The Screen, Sunday, May 2, 1926, Page 6.