Dorothy Burgess
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Burgess was a stage and motion picture actress from Los Angeles, California
.
. On her father's side she was related to George Montgomery of Montgomery and Stone. Her grandfather was Henry A. Burgess, Sr. He came to Los Angeles in 1893, establishing a business at Terminal Island
. His home was at 637 West 41st Place. He was born in England
. Her dad was H.A. (Burgie) Burgess, a pioneer air transport executive. For a decade he was an assistant to Harris M. (Pop) Hanshue, who founded Western Air Express (Western Airlines
), and was its first president. Burgess studied
drawing, painting, and sculpture at Mrs. Dow's School in Briarcliff Manor, New York
. Her talent in the three artistic disciplines was evident in
the creative objects which decorated her Hollywood apartment. Burgess and her mother, Grace, resided in a home in Malibu, California, in 1932.
. Burgess was heralded as a combination of Eleanora Duse, Maude Adams
, Helen Hayes
, Janauschek, Katharine Cornell
, and, possibly, Mrs. Fiske
. A reviewer commented that she proved
an authentic success, especially considering the material she was
given.
Her knowledge of the stage was proficient and she combined this with ample charm and attractiveness. Burgess was co-featured in a stock company managed by George Cukor
and George Kondolf at the Lyceum Theatre in Rochester, New York
, during the summer of 1928. Her co-star
was Henry Hull
. The actors opened in Broadway on April 30. She learned about being a character actor
in stock, along with adapting her voice and mannerisms to each new role.
Burgess was on Broadway in
The Squall and played the title role in Lulu Belle, in Los Angeles. Burgess was given top billing by David Belasco
in Lulu Belle. The play was performed at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles in October 1929. In the theatrical world the name of a star above the title of the show itself was indicative of stardom for the performer. Lulu Belle was a dusky charmer from Harlem
. Burgess depicted a Mexican girl in The Broken Wing, a Paul Dickerson romantic comedy, staged at the El Capitan
Theater in Los Angeles, in July 1931. She was typecast as a Spanish woman so much that one reviewer commented that perhaps there was a Spanish onion or a Mexican chili pepper in her family tree. However, offstage she was much more a typical American co-ed than the Carmanesque young ladies, who she often played.
(1928), the first of the outdoor talking films. Burgess portrayed the Mexican minx who was desired by both Edmund Lowe
and Warner Baxter
. A reviewer noted that her voice was good. The first film made in the Movietone sound system
, it was a romance of the old southwest.
In May 1929 two large lamps mounted on a tripod toppled over on a
sound stage where Burgess was working at the Fox Movietone Studio. She
was cut severely over her left eye by one of the incandescent lamps. Burgess was rushed to a studio hospital where several stitches were taken in her wound.
Burgess won the feminine lead in Beyond Victory (1931) after Ann Harding
decided
not to make the movie. The Pathe Pictures release featured William Boyd
as the leading man. In December 1931 Burgess signed with First National Pictures for a significant role in Play-Girl
(1932), which had a screen story by Maude Fulton. The movie was produced by Warner Bros.
and First National.
Burgess had a featured role as a romantic rival of Jean Harlow
in Hold Your Man
(1932), also starring Clark Gable
. Burgess made Swing High (1930), Taxi (1932), Ladies They Talk About (1933), Malay Nights,
(1933), and Strictly Personal (1933). Burgess acted with Lowe and Nancy Carroll
in the Paramount Pictures
release, I Love That Man (1933). The motion picture was produced by Charles R. Rogers and directed by Harry Joe Brown
. Burgess
strained ligaments in her back and shoulders during filming at Universal Pictures
studio in July 1933. She was performing fight scenes with Mary Carlisle
and Sally O'Neil
.
Burgess appeared with Richard Barthelmess
and Jean Muir
in A Modern Hero
(1934), which deals with a young circus rider. Gambling (1934) starred George M. Cohan
. It
was produced by Harold B. Franklin at the Eastern Services Studios in Astoria, Queens
. Burgess played the part of Dorothy Kane. Her role as Trixie in Lone Star Ranger (1942) represented a return to playing a dance hall girl, as she did in In Old Arizona. The film was produced by Twentieth Century Fox.
, in 1932. She was involved in a romance with wealthy New York jeweler, Jules Galenzer, in 1934.
following an auto accident in which she was driving. 17-year-old Louise Manfredi died in the wreck, in San Francisco, California
, on the night of December 23, 1932. Burgess, driving alone, collided with a car
driven by 18-year-old, Andrew Salz, a student at the University of California-Berkeley. Burgess' hearing was postponed and her bail was fixed at $50. She suffered from shock and was placed in a San Francisco sanitorium. Salz and Burgess each accused the other of responsibility for the accident. Burgess was sued by Italo Manfredi and his wife, Marie, in January 1933.
They sought $25,000 in damages. A compromise payment of $6,150 was approved by the San Francisco Superior Court in August 1933.
Earlier a compromise amounting to $6,000 was agreed upon for damages claimed by 18-year-old swimmer, Betty Lou Davis, who was injured in the
same accident.
. But just months later, on August 21, 1961, she died at the Riverside County General Hospital in Riverside, California
. She was only 54 when she succumbed to tuberculosis
. She is interred at the Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside, California
.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Family, education
She was a niece of Fay BainterFay Bainter
Fay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress...
. On her father's side she was related to George Montgomery of Montgomery and Stone. Her grandfather was Henry A. Burgess, Sr. He came to Los Angeles in 1893, establishing a business at Terminal Island
Terminal Island
Terminal Island is an island located in Los Angeles County, California between Los Angeles Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Originally a mudflat known to the Spanish as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, and later called Rattlesnake Island, it has officially been Terminal Island since 1918...
. His home was at 637 West 41st Place. He was born in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Her dad was H.A. (Burgie) Burgess, a pioneer air transport executive. For a decade he was an assistant to Harris M. (Pop) Hanshue, who founded Western Air Express (Western Airlines
Western Airlines
Western Airlines was a large airline based in California, with operations throughout the Western United States, and hubs at Los Angeles International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, and the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver...
), and was its first president. Burgess studied
drawing, painting, and sculpture at Mrs. Dow's School in Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor is a village in Westchester County in the state of New York. It is shared between the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining, and lies entirely within the ZIP code of 10510...
. Her talent in the three artistic disciplines was evident in
the creative objects which decorated her Hollywood apartment. Burgess and her mother, Grace, resided in a home in Malibu, California, in 1932.
Stage actress
Burgess made her stage debut in a walk-on role in support of her mother's sister, Bainter. She first came to light as a specialty dancer in The Music Box Revue. Burgess played a 17-year-old in the comedy, The Adorable Liar, which was staged at the 49th Street Theater in August 1926. It was her first appearance in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Burgess was heralded as a combination of Eleanora Duse, Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
, Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
, Janauschek, Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
, and, possibly, Mrs. Fiske
Mrs. Fiske
Minnie Maddern Fiske , born as Marie Augusta Davey, but often billed simply as Mrs. Fiske, was one of the leading American actresses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She also spearheaded the fight against the Theatrical Syndicate for the sake of artistic freedom...
. A reviewer commented that she proved
an authentic success, especially considering the material she was
given.
Her knowledge of the stage was proficient and she combined this with ample charm and attractiveness. Burgess was co-featured in a stock company managed by George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
and George Kondolf at the Lyceum Theatre in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, during the summer of 1928. Her co-star
was Henry Hull
Henry Hull
Henry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
. The actors opened in Broadway on April 30. She learned about being a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
in stock, along with adapting her voice and mannerisms to each new role.
Burgess was on Broadway in
The Squall and played the title role in Lulu Belle, in Los Angeles. Burgess was given top billing by David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
in Lulu Belle. The play was performed at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles in October 1929. In the theatrical world the name of a star above the title of the show itself was indicative of stardom for the performer. Lulu Belle was a dusky charmer from Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. Burgess depicted a Mexican girl in The Broken Wing, a Paul Dickerson romantic comedy, staged at the El Capitan
Theater in Los Angeles, in July 1931. She was typecast as a Spanish woman so much that one reviewer commented that perhaps there was a Spanish onion or a Mexican chili pepper in her family tree. However, offstage she was much more a typical American co-ed than the Carmanesque young ladies, who she often played.
Movie career
Fox Film acquired her services and she debuted in In Old ArizonaIn Old Arizona
In Old Arizona is a 1929 American Western film directed by Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh, nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film, which was based on the character of the Cisco Kid in the story The Caballero's Way by O...
(1928), the first of the outdoor talking films. Burgess portrayed the Mexican minx who was desired by both Edmund Lowe
Edmund Lowe
Edmund Dantes Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. He was born in San Jose, California.-Film career:...
and Warner Baxter
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter was an American actor, known for his role as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona , for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1928–1929 Academy Awards. Warner Baxter started his movie career in silent movies...
. A reviewer noted that her voice was good. The first film made in the Movietone sound system
Movietone sound system
The Movietone sound system is a sound-on-film method of recording sound for motion pictures that guarantees synchronization between sound and picture. It achieves this by recording the sound as a variable-density optical track on the same strip of film that records the pictures...
, it was a romance of the old southwest.
In May 1929 two large lamps mounted on a tripod toppled over on a
sound stage where Burgess was working at the Fox Movietone Studio. She
was cut severely over her left eye by one of the incandescent lamps. Burgess was rushed to a studio hospital where several stitches were taken in her wound.
Burgess won the feminine lead in Beyond Victory (1931) after Ann Harding
Ann Harding
Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...
decided
not to make the movie. The Pathe Pictures release featured William Boyd
William Boyd (actor)
William Lawrence Boyd was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.-Biography:...
as the leading man. In December 1931 Burgess signed with First National Pictures for a significant role in Play-Girl
Play-Girl
Play-Girl is a 1932 romantic drama film starring Winnie Lightner, Loretta Young, and Norman Foster. A young woman marries a professional gambler.-Cast:*Winnie Lightner as Georgine Hicks*Loretta Young as Buster Green Dennis...
(1932), which had a screen story by Maude Fulton. The movie was produced by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and First National.
Burgess had a featured role as a romantic rival of Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
in Hold Your Man
Hold Your Man
Hold Your Man is a 1933 American romantic drama film directed by an uncredited Sam Wood and starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, the third of their six films together...
(1932), also starring Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
. Burgess made Swing High (1930), Taxi (1932), Ladies They Talk About (1933), Malay Nights,
(1933), and Strictly Personal (1933). Burgess acted with Lowe and Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll was an American actress.-Career:She was christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City. Of Irish parentage, she and her sister once performed a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen. She began her acting career in...
in the Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
release, I Love That Man (1933). The motion picture was produced by Charles R. Rogers and directed by Harry Joe Brown
Harry Joe Brown
Harry Joe Brown was a movie producer and supervisor who was also a theatre and film director...
. Burgess
strained ligaments in her back and shoulders during filming at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
studio in July 1933. She was performing fight scenes with Mary Carlisle
Mary Carlisle
Mary Carlisle was an American actress and singer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was a star of Hollywood films in the 1930s, having been one of thirteen girls selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1932. The archetypal blonde, Mary Carlisle was brought to Hollywood at the age of four by her...
and Sally O'Neil
Sally O'Neil
Sally O'Neil was an American film actress of the 1920s. She was born as Virginia Louise Noonan, one of 11 children born to a judge in Bayonne, New Jersey. One of her sisters was actress Molly O'Day....
.
Burgess appeared with Richard Barthelmess
Richard Barthelmess
Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...
and Jean Muir
Jean Muir
Jean Elizabeth Muir, CBE, FCSD was an English fashion designer .-History and early career:...
in A Modern Hero
A Modern Hero
A Modern Hero is a 1934 American drama film starring Richard Barthelmess and directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. It was Pabst's only American talking film.-Plot:...
(1934), which deals with a young circus rider. Gambling (1934) starred George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
. It
was produced by Harold B. Franklin at the Eastern Services Studios in Astoria, Queens
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the borough of Queens in New York City. Located in Community Board 1, Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Sunnyside , and Woodside...
. Burgess played the part of Dorothy Kane. Her role as Trixie in Lone Star Ranger (1942) represented a return to playing a dance hall girl, as she did in In Old Arizona. The film was produced by Twentieth Century Fox.
Private life
Burgess became engaged to movie director, Clarence BrownClarence Brown
Clarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was 11. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of...
, in 1932. She was involved in a romance with wealthy New York jeweler, Jules Galenzer, in 1934.
Manslaughter charge
Burgess was charged with manslaughterManslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
following an auto accident in which she was driving. 17-year-old Louise Manfredi died in the wreck, in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, on the night of December 23, 1932. Burgess, driving alone, collided with a car
driven by 18-year-old, Andrew Salz, a student at the University of California-Berkeley. Burgess' hearing was postponed and her bail was fixed at $50. She suffered from shock and was placed in a San Francisco sanitorium. Salz and Burgess each accused the other of responsibility for the accident. Burgess was sued by Italo Manfredi and his wife, Marie, in January 1933.
They sought $25,000 in damages. A compromise payment of $6,150 was approved by the San Francisco Superior Court in August 1933.
Earlier a compromise amounting to $6,000 was agreed upon for damages claimed by 18-year-old swimmer, Betty Lou Davis, who was injured in the
same accident.
Death
In May 1961, Dorothy Burgess was brought to the hospital from her home in Palm Springs, CaliforniaPalm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
. But just months later, on August 21, 1961, she died at the Riverside County General Hospital in Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
. She was only 54 when she succumbed to tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. She is interred at the Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside, California
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
.