1909-1990
American actress of the stage and silver screen Lois Moran was born Lois Darlington Dowling on this day in Pittsburgh. Her birth father was tragically killed in an auto accident when she was just one; while she was a toddler, her mother remarried a doctor whose surname was Moran, explaining how she came by the name for which she is known today (unfortunately, she also lost him at the age of just 9, a blow to her as she was closer to him than any other relative). A great aunt (her mother's aunt) provided funds for a move all the way to France when Lois was just 12; she was taken out of the arts and dance school that she had been attending in Pennsylvania for the move. Her studies in song and dance, however, continued in Paris. She made her debut at the Paris National Opera the following year at just the age of 13. She later debuted on Broadway (and was involved in at least three major productions in the 1930's). She made her film debut in the Jacque Catelain directed joint French/Spanish production La galerie des monstres in 1924 (Catelain was an actor, not a director--the film was the second of only two films that he directed himself in). Her next film appearance is famous, she appeared as Laurel Dallas to Belle Bennett and Ronald Colman's Stella and Stephen Dallas in the Goldwyn production Stella Dallas in 1925. The film represents her official debut onto the big screen. She thereafter made steady work of film acting during the of the decade. Her next film saw her in a leading role, opposite Richard Barthelmess, for the first time in the romantic drama Just Suppose (January 1926). She then went to act along side Noah Beery, Owen Moore, Jack Mulhal, and Florence Turner in 1926; in addition to making another film with Belle Bennett. She played Lon Chaney's daughter in Tod Browning's The Road to Mandalay (June) and appeared with Paul Robeson, and writers Anita Loos and Sinclair Lewis in the short film Camille; all also in 1926. By 1927, she was a big enough name to headline and see her name splashed on print posters. The Whirlwind of Youth (April 1927) was one such film; a Paramount film, she appeared with Russian born actress Vera Voronina and Donald Keith. She then moved on to star opposite heart-throb leading man George O'Brien in Sharp Shooters and opposite Lawrence Gray in Love Hungry both Fox productions released in 1928. Also in 1928 she appeared in her first sound film at Fox: The River Pirate, a partial silent that starred Victor McLaglen. Her first full sound film was a short The Belle of Samoa, intended by Fox to be a part of it's Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, but edited out for time. While her first full sound feature was the Irving Cummings directed mystery Behind That Curtain (June 1929); the film features one Boris Karloff as a cast member in an early speaking role for him. Her last film of the decade was a dramatic musical A Song of Kentucky, filmed on location at Churchill Downs. She obviously had no trouble with the transition to sound and had musical talent to boot, so it is not surprising that her first film of the 1930's is the excellently made, though now controversial, Al Jolson film Mammy (controversial for obvious reasons: blackface, minstrelsy and the title itself). But, she would only appear in eight more features during the decade before retiring for a time. Her last feature was the John Gilbert MGM production West of Broadway in 1931; she was also the star of the 20 minute comedy Ladies Not Allowed in 1932. Moran was married in 1935 and had a son; she stayed out of acting for family reasons (her husband was involved with federal government work and that meant lots of travel). She did return to acting for a short time in the 1950's, acting in television. She was given a starring role in the cast of the adventure series "Waterfront," which ran for two seasons and starred Preston Foster; she appeared in 31 episodes. Moran's last film came in a tiny role amongst the cast of Wim Wenders' 1974 New York set drama Alice in the Cities. She retired to Arizona and died there in a Sedona nursing facility after failing terminally ill with cancer. She passed away on the 13th of July in 1990 at the age of 81. At her request, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered in Red Rock. In addition to having been a movie star for a time in life, she is also known for having had a short very intense affair with the married F. Scott Fitzgerald, who modeled the character of Rosemary Hoyt in his novel Tender is the Night on her.
Moran in God Gave Me Twenty Cents in 1926
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