Gloria Dickson
| Gloria Dickson | |
|---|---|
From the film Lady of Burlesque (1943)
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|
| Born |
Thais Alalia Dickerson August 13, 1917 Pocatello, Idaho, U.S. |
| Died | April 10, 1945 (aged 27) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | house fire |
| Years active | 1937-1945 |
| Spouse(s) |
Perc Westmore (m.1938–1941; divorced) Ralph Murphy (m.1941-1944; divorced) William Fitzgerald (m.1944–1945; her death) |
Gloria Dickson (August 13, 1917 – April 10, 1945) was an American stage and screen actress of the 1930s and 1940s.
Born in Pocatello, Idaho as Thais Alalia Dickerson, she was the daughter of a banker. After her father's death in 1929, the family moved to California. She graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School.
She began acting during high school in amateur theatre productions. Encouraged by her acting coaches, she moonlighted doing dramatic readings at social clubs and on KFOX radio station in Long Beach, California.
In April 1936, as she worked in a production of the Federal Theatre Project, she was spotted by Warner Brothers talent scout Max Arnow who signed her to a Warner contract. Her film debut in 1937's They Won't Forget landed her on the top of Hollywood's short list of important up and comers, a distinction which allotted her enormous publicity. In autumn 1937, she was on many magazine covers and was the subject of several major movie magazine articles with titles like, The Luckiest Girl in the World and New Star of the Year.
Dickson married Perc Westmore June 20, 1938, in Santa Barbara, California. She filed suit for divorce from him May 17, 1940. The uncontested divorce was granted June 22, 1941, in Los Angeles, California. Her second marriage was to director Ralph Murphy, whom she divorced in 1944. Later in 1944, she married William Fitzgerald, a former boxer.
Dickson died during a fire at her Los Angeles home caused by an unextinguished cigarette that ignited an overstuffed chair on the main floor while she slept upstairs. Her body, and that of her pet dog, were found in the bathroom, and it was assumed that she had attempted to escape through the bathroom window. She died from asphyxiation; flames had seared her lungs, and her body had suffered first- and second-degree burns. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
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