Dorothy Jordan (American actress)


Dorothy Jordan was an American movie actress who had a short but successful career beginning in talking pictures in 1929.

Early career

Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, Jordan studied at what is now Rhodes College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She performed in Broadway musicals, including Garrick Gaieties.
Jordan made her screen debut in the 1929 film The Taming of the Shrew. She went on to make twenty-two more films in the next four years including Min and Bill with Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler and The Cabin in the Cotton with Bette Davis. During that time, she appeared in films with Ramon Novarro, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston and Jimmy Durante.

Film retirement and return

In 1933, Jordan left films and married filmmaker, screenwriter and later World War II U.S. Army Air Forces Brigadier General Merian C. Cooper, who co-wrote, produced and directed the 1933 film King Kong. The couple had three children, a son and two daughters.
In 1937, Jordan came out of retirement to try for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind. Cooper was a good friend of and frequent collaborator with Western director John Ford, forming Argosy Productions in 1947. It was for Argosy's The Sun Shines Bright, directed by Ford in 1953, that Jordan again came out of retirement, for a small role. She later had another small role as the sister-in-law of John Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, who seeks Jordan's daughter, played by Natalie Wood, in the epic 1956 Argosy film The Searchers. Jordan appeared once more, in a small role in the John Ford film The Wings of Eagles in 1957 before retiring permanently.

Later years

Jordan and Cooper lived in Coronado, California and remained married until his death of cancer on April 21, 1973. Jordan died of congestive heart failure on December 7, 1988 in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Her body was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California, and her ashes scattered at sea.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1929Black MagicAnn Bradbroke
1929Words and MusicSong and dance principal
1929The Taming of the ShrewBianca
1929Devil-May-CareLeonie de Beaufort
1930In Gay MadridCarmiña Rivas
1930Call of the FleshMaria Consuelo Vargas
1930Love in the RoughMarilyn Crawford
1930Min and BillNancy Smith
1931A Tailor Made ManTanya
1931ShipmatesKit Corbin
1931Young SinnersConstance Sinclair
1931The Beloved BachelorMitzi Stressman
1931Hell DiversAnn Mitchell
1932The Lost Squadron'Pest' Curwood
1932The Wet ParadeMaggie May 'Persimmon' Chilcote
1932The Roadhouse MurderMary Agnew
1932Down to EarthJulia Pearson
193270,000 WitnessesDorothy Clark
1932The Cabin in the CottonBetty Wright
1932That's My BoyDorothy Whitney
1933Strictly PersonalMary O'Conner
1933BondageJudy Peters
1933One Man's JourneyLetty McGinnis
1953The Sun Shines BrightLucy Lee's mother
1956The SearchersMartha Edwards
1957The Wings of EaglesRose Brentmann