Gloria Dickson

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Gloria Dickson
from the film Lady of Burlesque (1943)
Born	August 13, 1917 Pocatello, Idaho
Died	April 10, 1945 Los Angeles, California

Gloria Dickson (Thais Alalia Dickerson) (August 13, 1917 - April 10, 1945) was a talented leading lady on stage and Hollywood's motion pictures in the late 1930's.

1 Life and career
2 Death
3 Filmography
4 Stageplay
5 External link

[edit] Life and career

During her high school years, the attractive young lady appeared in amateur theater productions. Encouraged by her acting coaches, she moonlighted doing dramatic readings at social clubs and on KFOX radio station in Long Beach, California. Things began looking up in April 1936 when she is spotted by Warner Brothers talent scout Max Arnow who signed her to a Warner contract. Her auspicious film debut in 1937's They Won't Forget landed her on the top of Hollywood's short list of important up and comers, a distinction which allotted her enormous publicity. In the fall of 1937 she was in many magazine covers and was the subject of several major movie mag articles with titles like, The Luckiest Girl in the World and New Star of the Year. One magazine proclaimed her one of the greatest American actresses yet discovered.

[edit] Death

Dickson died of asphyxiation from inhalation of flames that seared her lungs. She suffered first and second-degree burns over her entire body. It is theorized the fire began by an unextinguished cigarette that ignited an overstuffed chair on the main floor, while Gloria napped upstairs. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.