Caren Marsh Doll

Caren Marsh Doll (born Aileen Betty Morris; April 6, 1919), also credited as Caren Marsh, is an American former stage & screen actress and dancer specializing in modern dance and tap. She is notable as one of Judy Garland's stand-ins in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939) and '' Ziegfeld Girl'' (1941). She is one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. From 1937 until 1948, Marsh appeared in motion pictures with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including a small uncredited part in ''Gone with the Wind''. She became a dance instructor in 1956.

Early life

Marsh was born in Los Angeles, California on April 6, 1919.Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2001).
Ladies of the Western : Interviews with Fifty-one More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s
'. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. pp. 183. Her father was a Hollywood stockbroker. She and her family were active in the Methodist church. In 1937, she graduated from Hollywood High School and wanted to become an actress despite her parents wanting her to focus on studies first.

Film career

Marsh auditioned for a role in '' Rosalie'' (1937), starring Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell, but did not win the role. She later re-auditioned for the movie in a new outfit, hoping nobody would remember her from the first time, and got the part. She was hired as Judy Garland's stand-in for ''The Wizard of Oz''. She was hired primarily because she was similar in height and build to Garland and even received her own pair of ruby slippers. In fact, hers are the feet seen in the film when Dorothy taps the heels of the slippers together. She served as a stand-in for Garland a second time with ''Ziegfeld Girl'' (1941).

In film, credited under the name Caren Marsh, she appeared in films such as '' That Night in Rio'' (1941), '' Hands Across the Border'' (1944), '' Wild Harvest'' (1947), ''Girl Crazy'' (1943),'' Best Foot Forward'' (1943), '' Seven Sweethearts'' (1942), and '' Night and Day'' (1946). She did appear in speaking parts in films as ''Secrets of a Sorority Girl'' (1945) and '' Navajo Kid'' (1945).

In 1947, Marsh was named Miss Sky Lady of 1947 and began appearing in fewer films to focus on her new interest in dance. After appearing in an airshow as Miss Sky Lady, she took flight instruction classes, learned to fly and later dropped leaflets of her acting profile on various movie studios in Hollywood. On March 6, 1949, Marsh, along with singers Delora Bueno and Louise Howard, appeared on the Ted Steele Show.

1949 plane crash survival

On July 12, 1949, aged 30, Marsh was aboard Standard Air Lines Flight 897R, when the C-46E crashed. The flight had left Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 4:43 am. While on approach to the Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California, at 7:40 am, the twin engine plane, flying too low, hooked a wingtip on a hill and crashed near Chatsworth, California, and Marsh was one of the 13 people who survived. Marsh was pulled from the wreckage by another passenger named Judy Frost. Marsh was hospitalized at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for several weeks, and nearly had her left foot amputated. Marsh's doctors told her that she would likely never dance again, but after careful exercise she was able to heal and continue in her dancing.

''The Wizard of Oz''

As a stand-in for Judy Garland, Marsh's role in the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz'' was uncredited. Nonetheless, she has appeared in ''Wizard of Oz'' film festivals, conventions, and reunions. As of 2025, she is one of just four known surviving alumni to have worked on the film (the other three being Priscilla Montgomery, Elaine Mirk and Valerie Lee), outliving all major cast members, original Tin Man Buddy Ebsen, adult Munchkins, and several extras.

In 2011, Marsh served as the Grand Marshal of the Oz-Stravaganza Parade in Chittenango, New York.

Personal life

In 1939, Marsh married Lewis Isaacs Edwards.
On September 28, 1950, Marsh married Bill Doll, a press agent to theatre and film producer, Mike Todd. They had a son, Jonathan. She turned 100 in April 2019. Her younger sister was film and television actress Dorothy Morris.

Once a month on the first Monday, Marsh volunteers as a dance therapy instructor at the Palm Springs Stroke Activity Center where the styles taught range from themes like ballroom dancing, country, Hawaiian, and belly dancing. She is an active member of The Palm Springs United Methodist Community Church.Doll, Caren-Marsh ''Hollywood's Babe'' BearMedia Manor, November 1, 2007, p. 279.

Filmography

References

External links

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Caren Marsh Interview
at Western Clippings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doll, Caren Marsh
1919 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American women
American film actresses
American television actresses
Actresses from Palm Springs, California
American female dancers
Dancers from California
Writers from Los Angeles
American United Methodists
Actresses from Hollywood, Los Angeles
American tap dancers
American memoirists
Hollywood High School alumni
Actresses from Greater Los Angeles
American modern dancers
Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents
American women memoirists
American women centenarians