Dorothy Granger

Dorothy Granger
Born	Dorothy Karolyn Granger (1912-11-21)November 21, 1912 New London, Ohio U.S.
Died	January 4, 1995(1995-01-04) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California U.S.
Years active	1929–1961
Spouse	John Hilder (? - ?)

Dorothy Karolyn Granger (November 21, 1912 – January 4, 1995) was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedies in Hollywood. She was also the stepmother of film maker and former record producer Anthony J. Hilder.

Career

There is some confusion as to the year of Granger's birth. The Social Security Death Index lists it as 1911 as does her death certificate; most biographies say 1912, although at least one site lists the year as 1914. Granger, with her parents, two brothers, Richard and James, and their grandmother, Clara (Wilcox) Granger, moved to Los Angeles during the late 1920s.

Granger got her start in the entertainment industry when she won a beauty contest at the age of 13 at Silver Beach Summer Resort near Houston. Her budding figure and confident stage presence were perfect for studios that made comedy shorts. In 1930 her father took her to producer Hal Roach, who was then testing talent for his upcoming comedy series, The Boy Friends. Granger’s natural comedy timing got her the job immediately and she was placed under contract to Hal Roach Studios. She became a charter member of the two-reel-comedy community, appearing opposite many major comedians at Roach, Mack Sennett, Educational Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and RKO Radio Pictures. Among her famous credits are Hog Wild with Laurel & Hardy, The Dentist with W.C. Fields, Punch Drunks and Termites of 1938 with The Three Stooges. Granger also appeared with Andy Clyde, Charley Chase, Edgar Kennedy, Harry Langdon, Gus Schilling & Richard Lane, and Joe DeRita, as well as on live television with Abbott & Costello. Granger is best remembered as the sarcastic, suspicious wife in Leon Errol’s series of two-reelers for RKO.

For her body of work in two-reelers, Granger was known as the "Queen of the Short Subject Films". However, she also appeared in about 100 feature films, including Frisco Jenny, Sunset in El Dorado, Kentucky Kernels, Dick Tracy vs. Cueball, Diamond Jim, and Show Boat.

Later years

Granger worked on a variety of television shows through the 1950s, including The Abbott and Costello Show, I Married Joan, Father Knows Best, Topper, Lassie, Death Valley Days and Wells Fargo. Her last television performance was a live show on Face The Facts in 1961. Granger left show business in 1963, calling it an “ulcer factory.”

Granger made her last public appearance in 1993 for the Screen Actors Guild’s 60th anniversary celebration. She was an honored guest at the celebration because she was one of SAG’s first members. In later years she helped her husband run an upholstery shop in Los Angeles.

Death

Granger died of cancer on January 4, 1995 in Los Angeles, California.

Partial filmography

• Words and Music (1929) as Bit Part (uncredited)
• The Sophomore (1929) as Co-Ed (uncredited)
• Dance Hall (1929) as Dancer (uncredited)
• Hog Wild (1930, Short) as Tillie - The Hardys' Maid / Girl Lifting Her Skirt by Puddle (uncredited)
• The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930, Short) as Young Relative (uncredited)
• Noche de duendes (1930) as La mujer furiosa (uncredited)
• Garde la bombe (1930)
• Primrose Path (1931) as Rita Johnson
• Behind Office Doors (1931) as Girl in Duneen's Apartment (uncredited)

• Honeymoon Trio (1931)
• One Good Turn (1931)
• One Quiet Night (1931)
• Under Eighteen (1931)
• Temptation's Workshop (1932)
• A Woman Commands (1932)
• The Fighting Fool (1932)
• The Sign of the Cross (1932)
• Back Street (1932)
• Afraid to Talk (1932)
• Keep Laughing (1932)
• The Dentist (1932)
• Frisco Jenny (1933)
• Second Hand Wife (1933)
• He Learned About Women (1933)
• He Couldn't Take It (1933)
• Love, Honor, and Oh Baby! (1933)
• Only Yesterday (1933)
• King for a Night (1933)
• I'll Tell the World (1934)
• Kentucky Kernels (1934)
• Two Heads on a Pillow (1934)
• Marriage on Approval (1934)
• The Merry Widow (1934)
• Nana (1934)
• Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934)
• Punch Drunks (1934)
• Naughty Marietta (1935)
• Manhattan Butterfly (1935)
• Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935)
• Diamond Jim (1935)
• The Affair of Susan (1935)
• Show Boat (1936)
• The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)
• Romeo and Juliet (1936)
• Camille (1936)
• Prescription for Romance (1937)
• Termites of 1938 (1938)
• Dramatic School (1938)
• Blue Montana Skies (1939)
• When the Daltons Rode (1940)
• The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)
• Honky Tonk (1941)
• North to the Klondike (1942)
• Pardon My Stripes (1942)
• Take a Letter, Darling (1942)
• In Old California (1942)
• The Old Homestead (1942)
• Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
• Cowboy in Manhattan (1943)
• True to Life (1943)
• Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)
• The Woman of the Town (1943)
• Chip Off the Old Block (1944)
• Lady in the Dark (1944)
• In Society (1944)
• One Body Too Many (1944)
• Practically Yours (1944)
• Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More (1944)
• Girls of the Big House (1945)
• Adventure (1945)
• Under Western Skies (1945)
• The Jade Mask (1945)
• Here Come the Co-Eds (1945)
• The Southerner (1945)
• Sunset in El Dorado (1945)
• Two Years Before the Mast (1946)
• Shadows Over Chinatown (1947)
• Killer Dill (1947)
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
• Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (1948)
• The Paleface (1948)
• The Walls of Jericho (1948)
• Michael O'Halloran (1948)
• Sealed Verdict (1948)
• The Strange Mrs. Crane (1948)
• Variety Time (shorts, 1948)
• Lonely Hearts Bandits (1950)
• Footlight Varieties (shorts, 1951)
• Westward the Women (1951)
• One Minute to Zero (1952)
• So Big (1953)
• New York Confidential (1955)
• The Desperadoes Are in Town (1956)
• Raintree County (1957)
• Dondi (1961)

External links

• Dorothy Granger at IMDb
• Dorothy Granger at the TCM Movie Database
• Dorothy Granger at Find a Grave