Dorothy Sebastian was an American film and stage actress.
Early years
Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Lycurgus Robert and Stella Armstrong Sabiston. An article on the website of the National Alumni Association of The University of Alabama noted, "Most accounts indicate that she was born Stella Dorothy Sabiston ..." In her youth, she aspired to be a dancer and a film actress. Her family frowned on both ambitions, however, so she fled to New York at the age of 15. Upon her arrival in New York City, Sebastian's southern drawl was thick enough to "cut with a knife". She followed around theatrical agents before returning at night to a $12-a-month room, after being consistently rejected.
Career
Before appearing in films, Sebastian was in George White's Scandals. Her first contact in Hollywood was Robert Kane, who gave her a film test at United Studios. She performed in George White's Scandals and later co-starred with Joan Crawford and Anita Page in a popular series of MGM romantic dramas including Our Dancing Daughters and Our Blushing Brides. Sebastian also appeared in 1929's Spite Marriage, where she was cast opposite her then-lover Buster Keaton. By the mid-1930s, Sebastian was semi-retired from acting after marrying Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd. After their 1936 divorce, she returned to acting appearing in mostly bit parts. Her last onscreen appearance was in the 1948 film The Miracle of the Bells.
Songwriting
Sebastian is credited with co-writing the Moon Mullicanblues ballad "The Leaves Mustn't Fall". Mullican recorded this in 1950 and 1958. and it has become a bluegrass standard.
Personal life
Sebastian married actor William Boyd in December 1930 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They began a relationship after meeting on the set of His First Command in 1929. They divorced in 1936. In 1947, Sebastian married Miami Beach businessman Harold Shapiro to whom she remained married until her death.
Legal issues
On November 7, 1938, Sebastian was found guilty of drunk driving in a Beverly Hills, California Justice Court. The night she was arrested, she had been dining at the home of Buster Keaton with her nephew. She was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and paid a fine of $75. In 1940, Sebastian was denied an award of $10,000 from a San Diego court. She had appeared at a Red Cross benefit in San Francisco in 1937, and failed to pay her hotel bill. She contended the promoter for the event should have paid the bill. An employee of the Plaza Hotel took out the suit, charging "defrauding an innkeeper." The State Supreme Court of California reversed the lower court's decision, which had awarded her the money on grounds of malicious prosecution.
