Fond Farewell: Dorothy Malone 1924-2018

Do not ask me where I've been that I only found out yesterday about Dorothy Malone's passing, which occurred on January 19th, 2018. It could be because I steadfastly refuse to watch the news (if the event even made the news) and don't keep my hat very far into the ring of current entertainment programming. In any case, Ms. Malone was the subject of a tribute here eight years ago (!), but when one of our cherished stars moves on to the next realm, we like to give them a proper send-off nonetheless with a picture essay.

A pretty young brunette (and beauty pageant winner) from Dallas, Texas, she made her first film appearance in 1940 at only age sixteen. Countless bit roles as models, friends, showgirls and other assorted parts continued through the middle of the decade.

The powers that be began to take notice of Ms. Malone when she played the part of a bookshop proprietress in The Big Sleep (1946), opposite Humphrey Bogart, who may have more on her mind than it appears on the surface.

A very busy career as a leading lady followed, many times in (often) dreary westerns, which were hugely popular at the time. She worked opposite a gallery of actors from Joel McCrea to Ronald Reagan (shown here) and from Randolph Scott to Fred MacMurray to Glenn Ford and more. (Bottom right is Mark Stevens.)

A shift from brunette to a light, golden blonde seemed to unleash a sassier, sexier side to her than she had previously displayed. In color films in particular, her tan complexion paired with huge, liquid eyes and a prominent mouth and the flaxen hair made a striking visual impression.

Occasionally, if a role warranted it, she would return to darker locks, such as in Battle Cry (1955) opposite humpy Tab Hunter

Many more westerns were to come, though she also strove for versatility in lighter fare such as the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy Artists and Models (1955) as well as romances (though in the case of 1955's Sincerely Yours, opposite Liberace, it was closer to science fiction!) But bigger and better opportunities were on the horizon...

After toiling away in scads of rather unimportant films, Malone was at last on the crest of a career high.

In 1956, she was cast as the promiscuous, shameless Marylee Hadley in the colorful Douglas Sirk soap opera Written on the Wind. All about the romantic entanglements of a wealthy brother and sister and the objects of their affection, she rose to the occasion like never before, lusting after Rock Hudson, belittling her alcoholic brother Robert Stack, snidely cutting down her sister-in-law Lauren Bacall and, in a vivid sequence, violently dancing around in a sheer negligee while her father lies dying on the stairs outside her room.

Lauren Bacall's husband told her before his death that he didn't want her to make any more films like Written on the Wind, but for Malone it was a watershed. She took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her outrageous role.

Having already portrayed a multitude of worried wives, attractive diversions and sultry sirens, she next portrayed the troubled first wife of Lon Chaney in the (fictionalized) biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957.) So filled with hate towards her husband in the film (James Cagney), she marches on stage during a performance of his (which did happen in real life) and swallowed a vial of acid, permanently damaging her voice.

Director Douglas Sirk utilized her again (along with Robert Stack and, as shown here, Rock Hudson) for The Tarnished Angels (1957), a lesser-known film whose reputation (like that of its director) has grown over the years. She also costarred with Robert Taylor in Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957.)

At last Malone was ready to carry a film on her own without having to rely on a name-brand leading man opposite her.  For this, she reverted to dark hair once more for the last time.

Too Much, Too Soon (1958) was based upon the autobiography of Diana Barrymore, another in the long line of (troubled) actors from that famous family. A fast-dissipating Errol Flynn was cast as her father John Barrymore, from whom she inherited several issues. The melodramatic movie was hampered by sanitization of the material as well as the presence of the real-life actress as consultant, obscuring some of the harder facts.

After appearing in Warlock (1959) opposite Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda and her fellow Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn, Malone was reunited with Robert Stack for The Last Voyage (1960), a shipwreck drama in which Malone is buried under debris with water rising while her loving, frantic husband and petrified young daughter struggle to free her. It's a gutsy, gut-wrenching performance in a movie that demonstrates some seriously realistic submersion effects.

The ensuing years brought one last teaming with Rock Hudson (and Kirk Douglas) in The Last Sunset (1960) and the first Beach Party (1963) movie as well as a few TV guest roles. Then in 1964 she was selected (with top-billing) to portray the long-suffering Constance Mackenzie in the television version of Peyton Place. The part had first been played in the movies by Lana Turner (earning that actress her only Oscar nomination) and Eleanor Parker. The "widowed" Malone bore the secret that she'd never actually been married and her eighteen year-old daughter (Mia Farrow) was in fact born out of wedlock, her father locked away in prison! Her occupation in the series was as a bookstore owner, a possible nod to her role in The Big Sleep, though not much other than conversation or rearranging ever took place inside. Previous Constances had owned dress shops. Perhaps the bookstore allowed for more men to come and go.

The prime-time soap was a smashing success, airing twice, then three times a week as viewers followed the sometimes daring storylines. Her character eventually reunited with her long-departed love and they wed, having another child together. She was twice nominated for Golden Globes as Best TV Star-Female, but lost to Mary Tyler Moore of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Ann Francis of Honey West. Some significant health issues involving her heart and lungs drove her off the show for a time and eventually she left altogether when her story arc grew stale. (A tiff with 20th Century Fox over her dissatisfaction in the scripts versus her active contract led to a hefty out of court settlement.)

Malone did have better fish to fry as it were. She was mother to two lovely daughters (no, that isn't a young Celine Dion!), Mimi and Diane, from her 1959-1964 marriage to handsome devil Jacques Bergerac. Their bitter divorce and custody battle had occurred just when Peyton Place was beginning. Fearing for her girls' adjustment, she eventually moved back home to Dallas, TX and raised them away from Hollywood, occasionally taking a job on TV or in a movie. (In 1984, she was approached about taking over for ailing Barbara Bel Geddes on Dallas, but declined.) She had two more reasonably brief marriages, one annulled after a few months and one lasting almost two years.

After sporadic TV and low-budget movie appearances (including some Peyton Place reunion telefilms), Malone made one last sojourn onto the big screen in 1992 with a cameo role in Basic Instinct. She played an enigmatic murderess on parole who may or may not have something to do with a recent rash of killings. This part came fifty-two years after her initial endeavor on the big screen.

Despite her long career of appealing and/or sultry roles in the cinema and the fact that she WON an Oscar for Written on the Wind, the current people in charge felt that she wasn't significant enough to be represented in the annual "In Memorium" montage at this year's ceremony held a few days ago. (She share's this appalling distinction with John Gavin and Dina Merrill, among others.) But in Poseidon's Underworld, we would never dream of omitting these people and revel in the fact that we can keep their names alive to whoever may delve below the surface here.

Dorothy Malone was ninety-three when she passed away of natural causes, having cheated death at least once in the 1960s and having provided the world with more than a few memorable performances which will live on long past her demise. We hope that wherever she may be now that she knows she brought pleasure to millions of viewers on the big and small screen.