Dorothy Wilson

Who was Dorothy Wilson?

Dorothy Wilson was an American film actress of the 1930s.

Wilson was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, moving to Los Angeles, California after her high school graduation. Ironically, she had no interest in acting and had moved to Los Angeles due to an urge to travel. In 1930 she began working as a secretary and applied at several employment agencies. She received a job at RKO Pictures, and for two years she worked there as a secretary. While often taking notes for director Gregory La Cava, he noticed her and had her do a screen test for his upcoming 1932 film The Age of Consent. She won one of the two lead coed roles, placing her opposite Richard Cromwell. Her performance in the film received good reviews.

That same year she was selected as one of fifteen girls to be "WAMPAS Baby Stars", a list which that year included future Hollywood legends Gloria Stuart and Ginger Rogers. She would go on to star opposite some of Hollywood's biggest names, to include Harold Lloyd, Richard Dix, Tom Keene, Preston Foster and Will Rogers. She would star in twenty films between 1932 to 1937.

In 1936 she had married scriptwriter Lewis R.