Dennie Moore (born Florence Moore; December 30, 1902 – February 22, 1978) was an American film and stage actress.

Early life

Moore was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 30, 1902, to immigrant parents of Scottish and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

descent. She was raised in

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Her brother, Joe Moore, was an

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

speed skater, and she had two step-sisters and one step-brother. She received six years of schooling.

Career

In the late 1920s, she decided to pursue an acting career, using the name Dennie Moore to avoid confusion with the actress

Florence Moore Florence E. Moore (November 13, 1886 – March 23, 1935) was an American vaudeville, Broadway performer, and actress in silent films. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Moore began singing in the choir of Saint Clement's Chur ...

. Starting in 1927, she appeared on Broadway in such plays as ''A Lady in Love'', ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'', ''Cross Roads'', ''Torch Song'', ''Twentieth Century'', ''Phantoms'', ''Conflict'', ''Anatol'', and ''Jarnegan''. She also appeared in productions in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. In 1935, Moore arrived in Hollywood and made her screen debut in an uncredited but substantial role in the

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

film, '' Sylvia Scarlett'' for

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

. She was primarily a freelance actress and floated between

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

and

Warner Bros. Studios 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 ...

. In the course of her film career, she appeared in twenty-two films between 1935 and 1951, including '' Boy Meets Girl'' (1938), '' The Women'' (1939), ''

Saturday's Children Saturday's Children may refer to: * ''Saturday's Children'' (1929 film), a romantic comedy film by Gregory La Cava * ''Saturday's Children'' (1940 film), a drama film by Vincent Sherman *''Saturday's Children'', a 1927 play by Maxwell Anderson ...

'' (1940), ''

Dive Bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

'' (1941), and '' Anna Lucasta'' (1949). By the mid-1940s, Moore found herself getting less work in Hollywood, but more parts on the New York stage. In 1951, she made her last screen appearance as Mrs. Bea Gingras in ''

The Model and the Marriage Broker ''The Model and the Marriage Broker'' is a 1951 romantic comedy film about a marriage broker. Though Jeanne Crain (as the model) is top billed, the movie revolves around Thelma Ritter's character (the broker), in a rare leading role for Ritter. ...

''. Moving back to New York City, she made one final performance onstage, creating the role of Mrs. Van Daan in ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

''. In 1957, she retired from acting at the age of 55.

Later life and death

Moore was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

who supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.''Motion Picture and Television Magazine'', November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers In 1977, David Ragan wrote in ''Who's Who in Hollywood'' that Moore "is retired, lives alone at an excellent hotel on Park Avenue, and is in her late 60s". Moore died of natural causes at age 75 on February 22, 1978, in her

apartment. She left no immediate survivors. She was

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

and her ashes scattered off her balcony.

Stage appearances

* ''A Lady in Love'' (1927) * ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' (1927) * ''Jarnegan'' (1928–1929) * ''Conflict'' (1929) * ''Cross Roads'' (1929) * ''Phantoms'' (1930) * ''Torch Song'' (1930) * ''Anatol'' (1931) * ''East Wind'' (1931) * ''The Man Who Reclaimed His Head'' (1932) * ''The Great Magoo'' (1932) * ''Twentieth Century'' (1932–1933) * ''Man Bites Dog'' (1933) * ''The Pursuit of Happiness'' (1933–1934) * ''Say When'' (1934–1935) * ''Swing Your Lady'' (1936–1937) * ''Hitch Your Wagon'' (1937) * ''In Clover'' (1937) * ''Ah, Wilderness!'' (1941) * ''Johnny on a Spot'' (1942) * ''Over 21'' (1944) * ''Seven Lively Arts'' (1944–1945) * ''Star-Spangled Family'' (1945) * ''The Rat Race'' (1949–1950) * ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1955–1957)

Filmography

References

External links

1940 US census, with "Florence D. Moore" listing, and age given as 36
familysearch.org; accessed March 30, 2015. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Dennie 1902 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New York City American film actresses American stage actresses American people of Irish descent American people of Scottish descent American Roman Catholics New York (state) Democrats California Democrats