Dorothy Sebastian (born Stella Dorothy Sabiston; April 26, 1903
[The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Sebastian's date of birth as April 26, 1907.] – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress.
Early years
Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Lycurgus (Lawrence) Robert and Stella Armstrong Sabiston.
In her early years she aspired to be a missionary, as her grandparents were missionaries. She would be taken to a theater during this time and would change her aspirations to be an actress. She would attend the University of Alabama but only for a short while. She then would marry her "High school Sweetheart" some time in 1920. She would live with Allen Stafford in Birmingham and would help operate the Stafford's laundry store. Her marriage would come to an end in 1924 and she would leave for New York sometime after.
After leaving Alabama and starting a career on the stage, she changed the spelling of her name to Sebastian.
Upon her arrival in New York City, Sebastian's southern drawl was thick enough to "cut with a knife". She followed around theatrical agents before returning at night to a $12-a-month room, after being consistently rejected.
Career
Her first break would be securing a role in ''
George White's Scandals
''George White's Scandals'' were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modeled after the ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W. C. ...
''. as a chorus girl. She would then meet
Max Aitken, otherwise known as Lord Beaverbrook. Through this connection she would score a screen test with
Henry King. She would successfully acquire a lead role in the movie ''
Sackloth and Scarlet,'' making this the first film she would star in. This role would get her a five year contract with MGM where she co-starred with
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...
and
Anita Page in a popular series of
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
romantic dramas, including ''
Our Dancing Daughters'' (1928) and ''
Our Blushing Brides'' (1930). Sebastian appeared in 1929's ''
Spite Marriage'', where she was cast opposite the then-married
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...
, with whom she began an affair.
MGM released Sebastian in 1930; her last film for the studio was a short subject starring the young
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
.
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958) was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures Corporation.
Life and career
Cohn was born to a working-class Jewish family in New York City. His fath ...
of then-low-budgeted
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
seized on Sebastian's availability by signing her to a Columbia contract; Cohn welcomed any former MGM players for their name value. Columbia released Sebastian after one year and she began freelancing, mostly at low-budget independent studios. Her most familiar appearance in sound films is probably in ''
Allez Oop'' (1934), a short comedy produced by
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational p ...
that reunited her with Buster Keaton.
In 1930 Sebastian married outdoor-adventure star
William Boyd (the future
Hopalong Cassidy). After their 1936 divorce, she returned to acting, appearing in mostly bit parts. Her last onscreen appearance was in the 1948 film ''
The Miracle of the Bells
''The Miracle of the Bells'' is a 1948 American drama film directed by Irving Pichel, written by Quentin Reynolds and Ben Hecht, and produced by RKO. It stars Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb.
The film is based on the 1 ...
''.
Songwriting
Sebastian co-wrote the ballad "The Leaves Mustn't Fall" with Jack Kenney.
Personal life

While still in Birmingham, Sebastian married her high-school sweetheart, Allen Stafford, on November 9, 1920. The marriage ended four years later just before she moved to New York.
Sebastian married actor
William Boyd in December 1930 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They began a relationship after meeting on the set of ''His First Command'' in 1929. They divorced in 1936.
[
In 1947, Sebastian married Miami Beach businessman Harold Shapiro, to whom she remained married until her death.]
Legal issues
On November 7, 1938, Sebastian was found guilty of drunk driving in a Beverly Hills, California Justice Court. The night she was arrested, she had been dining at Buster Keaton's home with her nephew. She was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and paid a fine of $75.
In 1940, Sebastian was denied an award of $10,000 from a San Diego court. She had appeared at a Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
benefit in San Francisco in 1937, and failed to pay her hotel bill. She contended the promoter for the event should have paid the bill. An employee of the Plaza Hotel took out the suit, charging "defrauding an innkeeper". The State Supreme Court of California reversed the lower court's decision, which had awarded her the money on grounds of malicious prosecution
Malicious prosecution is a common law intentional tort. Like the tort of abuse of process, its elements include (1) intentionally (and maliciously) instituting and pursuing (or causing to be instituted or pursued) a legal action ( civil or crim ...
.
Death and legacy
On April 8, 1957, Sebastian died of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was several weeks shy of her 54th birthday. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Sebastian has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
at 6655 Hollywood Boulevard. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.
Filmography
Notes
References
*''Los Angeles Times'', "Alabama Steps To Top", August 10, 1930, Page B16.
*''Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...
'', "Kin of Actress Burns To Death", May 14, 1938, Page 1.
External links
*
*
*
DorothySebastian.com
Dorothy Sebastian
at Virtual History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastian, Dorothy
20th-century American actresses
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
American stage actresses
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Deaths from cancer in California
Actresses from Birmingham, Alabama
1903 births
1957 deaths