Dorothy Mackaill

• Name — Dorothy Mackaill • Born — 4 March 1903 • Birthplace — Kingston upon Hull, England, UK • Died — 12 August 1990 • Place of death — Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. • Citizenship — * British • American • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1920–1937; 1976–1980

Mackaill was born at 20 Newstead Street in the Dukeries, Kingston upon Hull, in 1903. She was raised by her father, who owned a dance academy, after her parents separated when she was around eleven years old. She attended nearby Thoresby Primary School, where she is commemorated with a blue plaque, and one of the four school houses is named after her. In one account of her teenage years, Mackaill ran away to London to pursue a stage career as an actress. Another version of this period of her life describes Mackaill as teaching a Saturday evening dancing class at her father's academy when her talent was recognised by visitors who persuaded her father to send her to London to learn elocution and dancing. This she did at the Thorne Academy of Dramatic Art and Dancing in Wigmore Hall, attending the first year of a two-year course before leaving to start her paid career. At age 16, Mackaill danced in Joybelles at London's Hippodrome and worked in Paris acting in a few minor Pathé films. She met a Broadway stage choreographer who persuaded her to migrate to New York City at 17, where she became active in the Ziegfeld Follies, dancing in his Midnight Frolic revue.

By 1920, Mackaill had begun making the transition from "Follies Girl" to film actress. That same year she appeared in her first film, a Wilfred Noy-directed mystery, The Face at the Window. Mackaill also appeared in several comedies of 1920 opposite actor Johnny Hines. In 1921, she appeared opposite Anna May Wong, Noah Beery and Lon Chaney in the Marshall Neilan-directed drama Bits of Life. In the following years, Mackaill would appear opposite such popular actors as Richard Barthelmess, Rod La Rocque, Colleen Moore, John Barrymore, George O'Brien, Bebe Daniels, Milton Sills and Anna Q. Nilsson. • Illustration — Dorothy Mackaill, c. 1920 Mackaill rose to leading-lady status in the drama The Man Who Came Back (1924), opposite rugged matinee idol George O'Brien. In 1924, she also starred in the western film The Mine with the Iron Door, shot on location outside of Tucson, Arizona. That same year, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers of the United States presented Mackaill with one of its WAMPAS Baby Stars awards, which each year honored thirteen young women whom the association believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. Other notable recipients of the award in 1924 were Clara Bow, Julanne Johnston and Lucille Ricksen. Her career continued to flourish throughout the remainder of the 1920s, as she made a smooth transition to sound with the part-talkie The Barker (1928).

In September 1928, First National Pictures was acquired by Warner Bros., and her contract with First National was not renewed in 1931. Her most memorable role of this era was the 1932 Columbia Pictures B film release Love Affair (1932) with a then little-known Humphrey Bogart as her leading man. She made several films for MGM, Paramount and Columbia before retiring in 1937, to care for her ailing mother. In 1955, Mackaill moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. She had fallen in love with the islands while filming His Captive Woman (1929). Mackaill lived at the luxurious Royal Hawaiian Hotel on the beach at Waikiki as a sort of celebrity-in-residence and enjoyed swimming in the ocean nearly every day. She occasionally came out of retirement to appear in television productions, including two episodes of Hawaii Five-O in 1976 and 1980.

• Illustration — 1926 Dorothy Mackaill cover art from Picture-Play Magazine Mackaill was married three times. Her first marriage was to German film director Lothar Mendes, on November 17, 1926. They divorced in August 1928. On November 4, 1931, she married radio singer Neil Albert Miller. They divorced in February 1934. Her third and final marriage was to horticulturist Harold Patterson in June 1947. She filed for divorce in December 1948. Mackaill had no children.

Mackaill resided in Honolulu, Hawaii, during the last 35 years of her life. She died there of liver failure in her room at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on August 12, 1990. She was cremated and her ashes scattered off Waikiki Beach.

• Film • Year — Film — Role — Notes • 1920 — The Face at the Window — Lost film • Torchy — Short film • Torchy's Millions — Short film • 1921 — Torchy's Promotion — Short film • Bits of Life — Lost film • The Lotus Eater — Uncredited — Lost film • 1922 — Isle of Doubt — Eleanor Warburton — Lost film • A Woman's Woman — Sally Plummer — Lost film • The Streets of New York — Sally Ann — Lost film • The Inner Man — Sally — Lost film • 1923 — Mighty Lak' a Rose — Rose Duncan — Lost film • The Broken Violin — Constance Morley — Lost film • The Fighting Blade — Thomsine Musgrove — A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • The Fair Cheat — Camilla — Lost film • His Children's Children — Sheila — Lost film • Twenty-One — Lynnie Willis • 1924 — The Next Corner — Elsie Maury — Lost film • What Shall I Do? — Jeanie Andrews — Lost film • The Man Who Came Back — Marcelle — An incomplete copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • The Painted Lady — Violet — Lost film • The Mine with the Iron Door — Marta Hillgrove — A copy is preserved at the Gosfilmofond and the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée • 1925 — The Bridge of Sighs — Linda Harper — An incomplete copy is held at the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée • One Year to Live — Marthe — Lost film • Chickie — Chickie — Lost film • The Making of O'Malley — Lucille Thayer — Lost film • Shore Leave — Connie Martin • Joanna — Joanna Manners — Lost film • The Dancer of Paris — Consuelo Cox — Lost film • 1926 — Ranson's Folly — Mary Cahill • Subway Sadie — Sadie Hermann — Lost film • Just Another Blonde — Jeanne Cavanaugh — Alternative title: The Girl from Coney Island An incomplete copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • 1927 — The Lunatic at Large — Beatrix Staynes — Lost film • Convoy — Sylvia Dodge — Lost film • Smile, Brother, Smile — Mildred Marvin — Lost film • The Crystal Cup — Gita Carteret — Lost film • Man Crazy — Clarissa Janeway — Lost film • 1928 — Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath — Helen Slocum — A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • Lady Be Good — Mary — Lost film • The Whip — Lady Diana — Copies are held at the Cineteca Italiana and the UCLA Film and Television Archive • Waterfront — Peggy Ann Andrews — A copy is held at the Cineteca Italiana • The Barker — Lou — A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • 1929 — His Captive Woman — Anna Janssen — A copy is held at the Library Of Congress • Children of the Ritz — Angela Pennington — Lost film • Two Weeks Off — Kitty Weaver — A copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive • Hard to Get — Bobby Martin — Lost film Alternative title: Classified • The Great Divide — Ruth Jordan • The Love Racket — Betty Brown — Lost film • 1930 — Strictly Modern — Kate — Lost film • The Flirting Widow — Celia • The Office Wife — Anne Murdock • Man Trouble — Joan • Bright Lights — Louanne — Produced in Technicolor, which is now lost, only a black-and-white edited copy survives Alternative title: Adventures in Africa • 1931 — Once a Sinner — Diana Barry • Kept Husbands — Dorothea "Dot" Parker Brunton • Party Husband — Laura • Their Mad Moment — Emily Stanley — Alternative title: Basquerie • The Reckless Hour — Margaret "Margie" Nichols • Safe in Hell — Gilda Carlson - aka Gilda Erickson • 1932 — Love Affair — Carol Owen • No Man of Her Own — Kay Everly • 1933 — Neighbors' Wives — Helen McGrath • Curtain at Eight — Lola Cresmer — Alternative title: Backstage Mystery • The Chief — Dixie Dean • 1934 — Picture Brides — Mame Smith • Cheaters — Mabel • 1937 — Bulldog Drummond at Bay — Doris Thompson • Television • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1953 — Studio One in Hollywood — Episode: "The Magic Lantern" • 1976 1980 — Hawaii Five-O — Mrs. Pelcher Old Lady — Episode 202: "Target–A Cop"; Episode 271: "School for Assassins"