Dorothy Ford


Dorothy Ford was an American actress and model active during the 1940s through 1960s.
She began her career as a model, largely due to her height of and a 38-26-38-and-a-half figure. She went on to be the first woman signed by showman Billy Rose for the swimming chorus in his aquacade at the World's Fair in San Francisco. She studied at the Actors' Laboratory Theatre. After seven months with the aquacade, she worked for Earl Carroll for a year and a half.
In 1944, she made her screen debut in Lady in the Dark. She continued her acting career, including roles in the Andy Hardy movie Love Laughs at Andy Hardy and in Abbott and Costello's Jack and the Beanstalk, until 1966, when she put in her final performance in British film The Wrong Box. She made 39 movies from 1943 to 1962. In reality Dorothy Ford was only 5’11” in bare feet.

Personal life

Ford and James Sterling wed in Las Vegas in April 1949. The marriage was annulled two months later. On April 23, 1952, she married Tommy Chambers, a tennis player. She had a miscarriage the next year. Her third and final husband was Hollis Bane, an actor who was also billed as Mike Ragan. They remained married until his death.

Selected filmography