Dolores Jean Moran (January 27, 1926 – February 5, 1982) was an American film actress and model.
Early years
Moran was born in Stockton, California, and attended elementary and secondary schools there. She won the Northern California Oratorical Contest and starred in school plays.
Film career
In 1942, aged 16, Moran, originally named Jacqueline, the daughter of James G. Moran and his wife, Esther Moran
was signed by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
to a seven-year contract, with her parents' permission.
Moran's brief career as a film actress began with uncredited roles in such films as ''
Yankee Doodle Dandy
''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Ro ...
'' (1942) as "the Pippirino" (with whom George blows off a date to go out with Mary). By 1943, she had become a
pin-up girl
A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...
appearing on the cover of such magazines as ''Yank''. She was given supporting roles in films, such as ''
Old Acquaintance
''Old Acquaintance'' is a 1943 American drama film released by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The film was adapted from a screenplay by John Van Druten, Len ...
'' (1943) with
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
attempted to increase interest in her, promoting her along with
Lauren Bacall as a new screen personality when Bacall was cast alongside
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
in ''
To Have and Have Not
''To Have and Have Not'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1937 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The book follows Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain out of Key West, Florida. ''To Have and Have Not'' was Hemingway's second novel set in th ...
'' (1944). The film made a star of Bacall, but Moran languished, and subsequent films did little to further her career.
''
The Horn Blows at Midnight
''The Horn Blows at Midnight'' is a 1945 comedy fantasy film directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Jack Benny.
Following its poor box-office, Benny often exploited the film's failure for laughs over the next 20 years in his radio and television c ...
'' (1945) gave her a leading role with
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
and
Alexis Smith
Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons-Smith (June 8, 1921 – June 9, 1993) was a Canadian-born American actress and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Awar ...
, but her film appearances after this were sporadic, and she suffered ill health that reduced her ability to work. Her film career ended in 1954 with a featured role in the
John Payne and
Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Virginia Scott (born Emma Matzo; September 29, 1921 – January 31, 2015) was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir durin ...
western film
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
''
Silver Lode''.
Personal life
She married film producer
Benedict Bogeaus
Benedict Bogeaus (May 4, 1904, in Chicago – August 23, 1968, in Hollywood), was an independent film producer and former owner of General Service Studios.
Biography and filmography
Bogeaus' business career started when he was seventeen, workin ...
in Salome, Arizona in 1946. Their son Brett Benedict became a businessman. They divorced in 1962;
Moran had an affair with director
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A v ...
while filming ''To Have and Have Not'', which Hawks undertook mainly as revenge for his rejection by Bacall in favor of Bogart. Bacall chided Bogart in one scene where she copied one of Moran's lines and fluttered her eyes at Bogart to emphasize how corny she thought Moran's acting skills were.
In 1968, Moran was the recipient of bequest valued at $300,000 (worth nearly $2.5 million in 2022 dollar
. Anthony Ponce, "a recluse apricot grower", bequeathed the bulk of his estate to her because he appreciated her kindness 20 years earlier when she worked as a carhop at a drive-in.
Ponce's will directed that $6,000 go to his nephew and five nieces, with the rest to go to Moran. The nieces and nephew contested the will.
[
]
Death
In 1982, Dolores Moran died of cancer, aged 56.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1926 births
1982 deaths
20th-century American actresses
American film actresses
Female models from California
People from Stockton, California
Warner Bros. contract players
People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
Deaths from lung cancer in California
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