Constance Dowling (July 24, 1920 – October 28, 1969) was an American

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

turned

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

of the 1940s and 1950s.

Early life and career

Born in New York City, Dowling was a model and chorus girl before moving to California in 1943. She had two brothers, Richard Dowling and Robert Smith Dowling, and was the elder sister of actress

Doris Dowling Doris Dowling (May 15, 1923 – June 18, 2004) was an American actress of film, stage and television. Best known for the films ''The Crimson Key'' (1946) and ''Bitter Rice'' (1949). Also known for playing Irene Adams on ''My Living Doll'' (196 ...

. She attended

Wadleigh High School for Girls The Wadleigh High School for Girls, which was established by the NYC Board of Education in 1897, and which moved into its new building in Harlem in September 1902, was the first public high school for girls in New York City. At the time, public ...

in New York City. Dowling was a dancer at the Paradise nightclub in New York City, a job that she obtained by lying about her age to her employer and lying about the job to her mother.

Stage

Prior to her move to Hollywood, she appeared in several Broadway productions, including '' Quiet City'', ''

Liliom ''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''. P ...

'', ''

Panama Hattie ''Panama Hattie'' is a 1940 American musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. The musical is about a nightclub owner, Hattie Maloney, who lives in the Panama Canal Zone and ends up dealing with ...

'' (with sister Doris), ''Hold On To Your Hats'', and ''The Strings, My Lord, Are False''.

Film

Dowling—promoted by press agents of producer

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor a ...

as three-dimensional ("she can sing, she can dance and she can act") —began her screen career appearing in ''

Up in Arms ''Up in Arms'' is a 1944 musical film directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. It was nominated for two Academy Awards in 1945. Plot Danny Weems works as an elevator operator in a New York Medical building, so he can b ...

'' (1944) for

. At the time, newspaper columnist

Sheilah Graham Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Flee ...

reported that Danny Kaye "was hoping for a big movie name to star opposite him ... but boss Sam Goldwyn thinks otherwise and has signed" Dowling. In the same year, she appeared opposite

Nelson Eddy Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclub ...

in ''

Knickerbocker Holiday ''Knickerbocker Holiday'' is a 1938 musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics); based loosely on Washington Irving's ''Knickerbocker's History of New York'' about life in 17th-century New Netherland (old New ...

'', In 1946, newspaper columnist

Hedda Hopper Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committ ...

reported that Dowling had signed a long-term contract with

Eagle-Lion Films Eagle-Lion Films was a British-American film production company owned by J. Arthur Rank intended to distribute British productions in the United States. In 1947, it acquired Robert R. Young's PRC Pictures, a small American production company, ...

. Soon after having appeared in ''

The Well-Groomed Bride ''The Well Groomed Bride'' is a 1946 American romantic comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Olivia de Havilland, Ray Milland, and Sonny Tufts. Written by Claude Binyon and Robert Russell, the film is about a man and a woman who f ...

'' (1946) and '' Black Angel'' (1946), she was loaned to

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

to appear in ''

Boston Blackie and the Law ''Boston Blackie and the Law'' is the twelfth of fourteen Columbia Pictures films starring Chester Morris as reformed crook Boston Blackie. Plot When Boston Blackie performs magic tricks at a Thanksgiving Day party for the inmates of a women's ...

''. Dowling lived in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1947 through 1950 and appeared in several

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

films. Dowling returned to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

in the 1950s and landed a part in the sci-fi film '' Gog'', her last film.

Personal life

Dowling had been involved in a long affair with married director

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

in New York. He couldn't bring himself to leave his wife and the affair ended when Dowling went to Hollywood under contract to Goldwyn. She was later linked with the famous Italian poet and novelist

Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese ( , ; 9 September 1908 – 27 August 1950) was an Italian novelist, poet, short story writer, translator, literary critic, and essayist. He is often referred to as one of the most influential Italian writers of his time. Early li ...

who committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in 1950 after a lifelong depression aggravated, at one point, by having been rejected by Dowling who, in Pavese's poetry, is often linked to spring ("face of springtime"). One of his last poems is entitled "Death will come and she'll have your eyes". In 1955, Dowling married film producer

Ivan Tors Ivan Tors (born Iván Törzs; June 12, 1916 – June 4, 1983) was a Hungarian playwright, film director, screenwriter, and film and television producer with an emphasis on non-violent but exciting science fiction, underwater sequences, and s ...

, writer and producer of her last film. (Another source, published two years earlier, refers to Dowling and Tors as "honeymooning.") She then retired from acting, going on to have three sons and a foster child with Tors: Steven, David, Peter and foster son Alfred Ndwego of

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. (An obituary listed Ndwego as an adopted son rather than a foster son and spelled his last name Ndewga.)

Death

On October 28, 1969, Dowling died at the age of 49 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

UCLA Medical Center Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (also commonly referred to as ''UCLA Medical Center'', "RRMC" or "Ronald Reagan") is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United ...

. Her burial was at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries''
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Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Constance 1920 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American actresses Female models from New York (state) American stage actresses American television actresses American film actresses Actresses from New York City Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Models from New York City