Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny; May 14, 1903
[ – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.][
]
Early life and career
Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagl) Bohny, both immigrants from Switzerland. She had a younger brother, Charles Reinhardt Bohny (1906-1963). As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager by Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the ''Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He also p ...
to appear in his Ziegfeld Follies Revue. She legally changed her name to Lillian Bohny in the early 1920s and moved to Hollywood, where she began appearing in silent films. She soon became one of the more popular actresses of the 1920s, appearing in Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
' smash hit Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
film '' The Black Pirate'' (1926), as Rodeo West in ''The Painted Angel'' (1929), and '' The American Beauty'' (1927).
She married Irvin Willat
Irvin V. Willat (November 18, 1890 – April 17, 1976) was an American film director of the silent film era. A short biography reprinted from ''Blue Book of the Screen'' (1923). He directed 39 films between 1917 and 1937. Early in his career ...
, the director of her seventh film, in 1923. The two divorced in 1929. Dove had a legion of male fans, one of her more persistent was Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...
. She had a three-year romance with Hughes and was engaged to marry him, but she ended the relationship.
Hughes cast her as a comedian in his film ''Cock of the Air
''Cock of the Air'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code aviation comedy film directed by Tom Buckingham and written by Charles Lederer and Robert E. Sherwood. The film stars Chester Morris, Billie Dove, Matt Moore (actor), Matt Moore ...
'' (1932). She also appeared in his movie ''The Age for Love
''The Age for Love'' is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film (now lost) directed by Frank Lloyd based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Ernest Pascal. The film was a vehicle for Howard Hughes' mistress Billie Dove. The film was a commerc ...
'' (1931).[
]
Early retirement
Following her last film ''Blondie of the Follies
''Blondie of the Follies'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Anita Loos and Frances Marion.
Plot
In a crowded New York tenement on the upper east side, Blondie and Lottie are neighbors and best f ...
'' (1932), Dove retired from the screen to be with her family. She married wealthy oil executive Robert Alan Kenaston in 1935, a marriage that lasted for 35 years until his death in 1970. The couple had a son, Robert Alan Kenaston, Jr., who married actress Claire Kelly
Claire Kelly (March 15, 1934 – July 1, 1998) was an American actress and model.
Early life
Born Claire Ann Green, the daughter of a wealthy California rancher, she was trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
Kelly started out a ...
and died in 1995 from cancer, and an adopted daughter, Gail who briefly married media mogul Merv Adelson
Mervyn Lee Adelson (October 23, 1929 – September 8, 2015) was an American real estate developer and television producer who co-founded Lorimar Television.
Early life
Adelson was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles on October 23, 1929 to Nat ...
.Los Angeles Times: "Gail Adelson; Hostess, Home Designer to the Stars" by Myrna Oliver
February 22, 1999 Billie Dove later had a brief third marriage to architect John Miller, which ended in divorce in the 1970s.
Last years
Aside from a cameo in '' Diamond Head'' (1963), Dove never returned to the movies. She spent her retirement years in Rancho Mirage
Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...
, then moved to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and me ...
in Woodland Hills, California where she died of pneumonia on New Year's Eve 1997, aged 94.[
She is interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.
]
Legacy
Dove has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
located at 6351 Hollywood Blvd. Jazz singer Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...
took her professional pseudonym from Dove as an admirer of the actress.
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
Photographs and bibliography for Billie Dove
film.virtual-history.com; accessed February 17, 2015.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dove, Billie
1903 births
1997 deaths
American silent film actresses
Deaths from pneumonia in California
People from Greater Los Angeles
Ziegfeld girls
American people of Swiss descent
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Women aviators
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City