Dorothy Lamour

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Birthday:

10 December 1914, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Birth Name:

Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton

Height:

165 cm

In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and continued to play female Tarzan-Crusoe-Gauguin-girl-with make-up parts through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the popular Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" pictures - a strange combination of adventure, slapstick, ad-libs and Hollywood inside jokes. Of these she said, "I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business." As she aged, however, the quality of her films dropped. Among her serious films were Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Medal for Benny (1945). Show less «

I made 60 motion pictures and only wore the sarong in about six pictures, but it did become a kind of trademark.

[on working with Hope and Crosby] I felt like a wonderful sandwich, a slice of white bread between two slices of ham.

I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business.

[on Bing Crosby] As I look back, I think he was a very shy, insecure man. The world looked upon him as one of the great talents, he just nev...Show more »

[on Bing Crosby] As I look back, I think he was a very shy, insecure man. The world looked upon him as one of the great talents, he just never saw himself in that light. Show less «

I'm no prude. I know you have to come up a little bit modern. But all this filth and homosexuality and sex and nudity today are ruining any ...Show more »

I'm no prude. I know you have to come up a little bit modern. But all this filth and homosexuality and sex and nudity today are ruining any hope of our young people having the beautiful life. Show less «

Glamor is just sex that got civilized. A pretty girl, tastefully posed in a scant costume, is even a sort of cultural achievement.

After the first "Road" film, I never studied dialogue. Never. I'd wait to get on the set to see what they were planning. I was the happiest ...Show more »

After the first "Road" film, I never studied dialogue. Never. I'd wait to get on the set to see what they were planning. I was the happiest and highest paid straight woman in the business. Show less «

Some day I hope the critics will say of me, not only that I wear a sarong becomingly, but also that I gave a good performance. I've never ha...Show more »

Some day I hope the critics will say of me, not only that I wear a sarong becomingly, but also that I gave a good performance. I've never had any real theatrical training you know. Show less «

My first sarong was blue. I asked for it because that's my lucky color. We made the picture [The Jungle Princess (1936)] on some hard-to-rea...Show more »

My first sarong was blue. I asked for it because that's my lucky color. We made the picture [The Jungle Princess (1936)] on some hard-to-reach mountain crags in California. While we were there they remembered I could sing, so they wrote "Moonlight and Shadows" and sent the guy on a donkey with it through the passes. Show less «