Dorothy Malone was an American actress. Malone's film career began in the mid 1940s, and in her early years she played small roles, mainly in B movies. After a decade in films, she began to acquire a more glamorous image, particularly after her performance in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her film career reached its peak by the beginning of the 1960s, and she achieved later success with her television role of Constance MacKenzie on Peyton Place from 1964 to 1968. Less active in her later years, Malone returned to film in 1992 as the friend of Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct. Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a child model and began acting in school plays at Ursuline Convent and Highland Park High School. While performing at Southern Methodist University, she was spotted by a talent agent for RKO and was signed to a studio contract, making her film debut in 1943 in The Falcon and the Co-Eds. Much of Malone's early career was spent in supporting roles in B movies, many of them Westerns, although on occasion she had the opportunity to play small but memorable roles, such as that of a brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart, and the love interest of Dean Martin in the musical-comedy Artists and Models (1955). By 1956, Malone had transformed herself into a platinum blonde and shed her good girl image when she co-starred with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk's melodrama Written on the Wind. Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. As a result she was offered more substantial roles in Too Much, Too Soon, where she portrayed Diana Barrymore, Man of a Thousand Faces (with James Cagney), and Warlock (with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark). Additional screen credits include The Tarnished Angels (in which she reunited with former co-stars Hudson and Stack and director Sirk), The Last Voyage (with Stack), and The Last Sunset (with Hudson). In the 1963-1964 season, Malone guest starred on Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth. Thereafter, she became a household name when she accepted the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial Peyton Place, on which she starred from 1964 through to 1968. (There was, however, a brief stretch where she was absent because of surgery, and the announcement was made on the air that Lola Albright was filling in until the return of Dorothy Malone. Dorothy Malone's character could not be written off the show then.) She had a featured role in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). Her last screen appearance came as a mother convicted of murdering her family in Basic Instinct (1992), appearing with Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. Malone was married and divorced three times. From her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac she had two daughters, Mimi and Diane. Her star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1718 Vine. Malone, in retirement, was known to be living in Dallas, Texas in 2009.
Movie | Acting for Douglas Sirk | Self (archive footage) | 2008-11-05 |
Movie | The Adventures of Errol Flynn | Diana Barrymore (archive footage) | 2005-04-05 |
Movie | Basic Instinct | Hazel Dobkins | 1992-03-20 |
Movie | Rest in Pieces | Aunt Catherine | 1987-08-10 |
Movie | Peyton Place: The Next Generation | Constance Carson | 1985-05-13 |
Movie | He's Not Your Son | Dr. Sullivan | 1984-10-03 |
Movie | The Being | Marge Smith | 1983-11-18 |
Series | Matt Houston | Unknown | 1982-09-26 |
Movie | The Day Time Ended | Ana Williams | 1980-11-01 |
Movie | Douglas Sirk: Über Stars | Self | 1980-04-29 |
Series | Condominium | Molly Denniver | 1980-04-06 |
Movie | Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Mildred | 1979-04-13 |
Movie | Winter Kills | Emma Kegan | 1979-05-11 |
Movie | Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold | Myrtle Cutler | 1978-10-23 |
Series | Flying High | Unknown | 1978-09-29 |
Series | Vega$ | Unknown | 1978-09-20 |
Movie | Golden Rendezvous | Mrs. Skinner | 1977-12-25 |
Movie | Murder in Peyton Place | Constance MacKenzie | 1977-10-03 |
Series | The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries | Unknown | 1977-01-30 |
Movie | Little Ladies of the Night | Maggie | 1977-01-16 |
Movie | The November Plan | Dawn Archer | 1977-01-01 |
Series | City of Angels | Unknown | 1976-02-03 |
Movie | Abduction | Mrs. Prescott | 1975-05-05 |
Movie | The Man Who Would Not Die | Paula Stafford | 1975-06-01 |
Series | Ellery Queen | Unknown | 1975-09-11 |
Series | Police Woman | Unknown | 1974-09-13 |
Series | The Streets of San Francisco | Unknown | 1972-09-23 |
Movie | The Pigeon | Elaine Hagen | 1969-11-04 |
Movie | Carnal Circuit | Vanessa Brighton | 1969-01-01 |
Series | The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show | Unknown | 1968-09-15 |
Series | Ironside | Unknown | 1967-03-28 |
Movie | Fate Is the Hunter | Lisa Bond (uncredited) | 1964-11-08 |
Series | Peyton Place | Constance MacKenzie | 1964-09-15 |
Movie | Beach Party | Marianne | 1963-08-07 |
Series | Arrest and Trial | Unknown | 1963-09-15 |
Series | The Greatest Show on Earth | Unknown | 1963-09-17 |
Series | Dr. Kildare | Unknown | 1961-09-27 |
Movie | The Last Sunset | Belle Breckenridge | 1961-06-08 |
Series | Route 66 | Unknown | 1960-10-07 |
Series | Checkmate | Lorna Shay | 1960-09-17 |
Movie | The Last Voyage | Laurie Henderson | 1960-02-19 |
Movie | Warlock | Lily Dollar | 1959-05-15 |
Movie | Too Much, Too Soon | Diana Barrymore | 1958-04-17 |
Movie | The Tarnished Angels | LaVerne Shumann | 1957-11-21 |
Movie | Quantez | Chaney | 1957-09-06 |
Movie | Tip on a Dead Jockey | Phyllis Tredman | 1957-09-06 |
Movie | Man of a Thousand Faces | Cleva Creighton Chaney | 1957-08-15 |
Movie | Pillars of the Sky | Calla Gaxton | 1956-09-14 |
Movie | Written on the Wind | Marylee Hadley | 1956-10-04 |
Movie | Tension at Table Rock | Lorna Miller | 1956-10-03 |
Movie | At Gunpoint | Bob Dennis | 1955-12-25 |
Movie | Artists and Models | Abigail 'Abby' Parker | 1955-11-07 |
Movie | Sincerely Yours | Linda Curtis | 1955-11-05 |
Movie | Tall Man Riding | Corinna Ordway | 1955-06-18 |
Movie | Five Guns West | Shalee | 1955-04-15 |
Movie | Battle Cry | Mrs Elaine Yarborough | 1955-02-02 |
Movie | Loophole | Ruthie Donovan | 1954-03-28 |
Movie | The Lone Gun | Charlotte Downing | 1954-04-25 |
Movie | Pushover | Ann Stewart | 1954-07-14 |
Movie | Security Risk | Donna Weeks | 1954-08-08 |
Movie | Private Hell 36 | Francey Farnham | 1954-09-03 |
Movie | The Fast and the Furious | Connie Adair | 1954-11-01 |
Movie | Young at Heart | Fran Tuttle | 1954-12-01 |
Movie | Torpedo Alley | Susan Peabody | 1953-12-25 |
Movie | Jack Slade | Virginia Maria Dale | 1953-11-08 |
Series | Letter to Loretta | Unknown | 1953-09-20 |
Movie | Law and Order | Jeannie | 1953-05-13 |
Movie | Scared Stiff | Rosie | 1953-04-27 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Series | General Electric Theater | Unknown | 1953-02-01 |
Series | Omnibus | Unknown | 1952-11-09 |
Movie | Saddle Legion | Dr. Ann F. Rollins | 1951-04-07 |
Movie | The Bushwhackers | Cathy Sharpe | 1951-12-07 |
Movie | The Killer That Stalked New York | Alice Lorie | 1950-10-06 |
Movie | Convicted | Kay Knowland | 1950-08-01 |
Movie | The Nevadan | Karen Galt | 1950-01-11 |
Movie | Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone | Lola Gillway | 1950-12-08 |
Movie | Colorado Territory | Julie Ann Winslow | 1949-06-11 |
Movie | South of St. Louis | Deborah Miller | 1949-03-06 |
Movie | Flaxy Martin | Nora Carson | 1949-02-15 |
Movie | One Sunday Afternoon | Amy Lind | 1948-12-25 |
Movie | To the Victor | Miriam | 1948-10-26 |
Movie | Two Guys from Texas | Joan Winston | 1948-08-27 |
Movie | Janie Gets Married | Sgt. Spud Lee | 1946-06-22 |
Movie | The Big Sleep | Acme Bookstore Proprietress | 1946-08-23 |
Movie | Night and Day | Nancy | 1946-07-02 |
Movie | Frontier Days | Martha Mercer | 1945-12-08 |
Movie | Too Young to Know | Mary | 1945-12-01 |
Movie | Hollywood Canteen | Junior Hostess (uncredited) | 1944-12-15 |
Movie | One Mysterious Night | Eileen Daley (uncredited) | 1944-10-21 |
Movie | Youth Runs Wild | Girl in Booth (uncredited) | 1944-09-01 |
Movie | Show Business | Chorine | 1944-05-10 |
Movie | Seven Days Ashore | Betty | 1944-04-25 |
Movie | Gildersleeve on Broadway | Model | 1943-10-28 |
Movie | The Man Who Wouldn't Die | (uncredited) | 1942-04-27 |