Claire Dodd

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Birth Name: Dorothy Arlene Dodd

Born: 29 December 1908 Died: 23 November 1973

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 6"

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Scream Queens (1931 - 1949) (235 items)
list by Atomic Cinema

Published 10 years, 3 months ago

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Claire Dodd Videos

Rare Outtakes from "The Payoff" (1936) with James Dunn and Claire Dodd

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Movie Legends - Claire Dodd

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Description: Claire Dodd (December 29, 1908 – November 23, 1973) was an American film actress. Born Dorothy Arlene Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, she was the daughter of Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and his wife, Ethel V. (née Cool) Dodd, daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter. When her parents later separated in Montana, she went to California, where she worked as a model in Los Angeles and auditioned for minor film roles. She moved to New York City to study singing and dancing. She joined the Ziegfeld Follies where she was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck. Some confusion has Claire Dodd (December 29, 1908 – November 23, 1973) was an American film actress.

Born Dorothy Arlene Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, she was the daughter of Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and his wife, Ethel V. (née Cool) Dodd, daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter. When her parents later separated in Montana, she went to California, where she worked as a model in Los Angeles and auditioned for minor film roles. She moved to New York City to study singing and dancing. She joined the Ziegfeld Follies where she was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck.

Some confusion has led to Dodd's birthplace being listed as Des Moines, Iowa. Early in her career, Dodd applied for a passport in preparation for a trip to Europe, and was reported as saying she only knew she was born in Iowa. Whether an attempted bit of publicity, she wound up with plenty in her home state. Dodd had numerous relatives who still lived in and around Baxter when her apparent memory lapse was reported in the Register & Tribune's Iowa News Service on April 29, 1935. Locals were in an uproar for a time, spurred on by newspaper editorials taking the incident as an insult to a small town in rural Iowa. Deputy Jasper County Clerk John B. Norris quickly sent a copy of her birth certificate to Dodd by registered mail to end the question.

Dodd went on to work for Warner Brothers, Parmount and Universal studios. She twice played secretary Della Street to Warren William's Perry Mason, in The Case of the Curious Bride (1935), and The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936). One of her last films was Abbott and Costello's In the Navy (1941), in which she played opposite Dick Powell.

She worked in almost sixty films in twelve years from 1930 to 1942. She quit films and married H. Brand Cooper, with whom she had three children. A fourth child (Jon Michael Strauss, born 1936), was from her first marriage.

She died at her home in Beverly Hills, California from cancer, aged 61. She is buried in the Brand Family Cemetery on the grounds of the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale California. ... (more)

Tags: Born 1908 (2), Died 1973 (2), American (1), Actress (1), Died Aged 64 (1), Film Actress (1), Ziegfeld Follies (1), Goldwyn Girl (1)

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