Dorothy Van (January 10, 1928 - May 16, 2002) was an American stage and TV actress who is best remembered for her comedic role as Aunt Effie Harper on the 1980s situation comedy ''

Mama's Family ''Mama's Family'' is an American sitcom television series starring Vicki Lawrence as Thelma Harper, Mama (Thelma Harper). The series is a spin-off of a recurring series of comedy sketches called "The Family (sketch), The Family" featured on ''T ...

''.

Early life

She was born Dorothy Helene Vanberryl in Moline, Illinois, to Elmer J. Vanberryl, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

post office worker, and Emeline Franks Vanberryl. As a child she spent considerable time watching the movies of the day. Her favorite actresses during this time were

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during Classical Hollywood cinema, the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she perf ...

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1989. She received numerous honors including an Academy Awards ...

, and

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

; and she remembered having a girlhood crush on

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

. She also enjoyed reading, writing, and painting. She was a devout

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, active in the church

Sunday School ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

at Christ United Methodist Church. Her father had suggested that upon completing high school, Dorothy should enroll in secretarial school, find a husband, and settle down. However, upon her 1946 graduation she pursued a stage career. Because her father did not approve of this decision she acted under the name "Dorothy Van" to avoid family embarrassment.

Acting career

When she arrived at Broadway theatre, Broadway, she began as a

chorus girl A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of th ...

in musicals. She often appeared in uncredited roles in such plays as ''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, ...

'', ''

All My Sons ''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan ...

'', ''

The Maids ''The Maids'' ( ) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed. The play has been revived in Fr ...

'', ''

The Heiress ''The Heiress'' is a 1949 American romantic drama film directed and produced by William Wyler, from a screenplay written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 stage play of the same title, which was itself adapted from Henry Jam ...

'', ''

The Shifting Heart ''The Shifting Heart'' is a play written in 1957 in Australia by Richard Beynon, it is an insight to the psychology of racism and its victims. In the background of 1950s Collingwood, Melbourne. It has been called "the second most famous Austr ...

'', and ''

The Mousetrap ''The Mousetrap'' is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The play opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemi ...

''. After years of stage work, she made her movie debut playing an army nurse in ''

Loose Shoes ''Loose Shoes'' (also known as ''Coming Attractions'' and ''Quackers'') is a 1978 comedy film directed by Ira Miller and featuring Bill Murray. The film is presented as a series of movie trailers with titles such as ''The Howard Huge Story'', ...

''. Later in the decade she landed a recurring role as Aunt Effie to

Vicki Lawrence Vicki Lawrence (born Vicki Ann Axelrad, March 26, 1949), sometimes credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her character Thelma Harper, Mama (Thelma Harper). Lawrence also originate ...

's character of

Thelma Harper Thelma Harper, better known as Mama, is a fictional character played by American actress Vicki Lawrence. Mama is a purse-lipped, thickset senior citizen in her mid-to-late 60s. She has lived in an unspecified part of the Southern United States cal ...

on ''

''; she appeared in seven episodes between 1983 and 1989.

Writing career

Van also wrote for television. In 1985, she wrote two episodes for the sitcom ''

Silver Spoons ''Silver Spoons'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982, to May 11, 1986, and in first-run syndication from September 27, 1986, to May 30, 1987. The series was produced by Embassy Television for th ...

''; she also wrote episodes for ''

'', ''

Punky Brewster ''Punky Brewster'' is an American Situation comedy, sitcom television series about a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes) in Chicago. The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984, to March 9, 1986, and ag ...

'', and ''

Major Dad ''Major Dad'' is an American sitcom television series created by Richard C. Okie and John G. Stephens, developed by Earl Pomerantz, that originally ran from September 17, 1989, to May 17, 1993, on CBS, starring Gerald McRaney as Major John D. M ...

''.

Retirement and later life

In 1992, Van retired from acting and writing. She and her husband continued living in Los Angeles; she worked in the St. Mark United Methodist Church as director of the church choir and Bible study sessions. She supported

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

, the Republican Party, and civil rights for the elderly. In spite of her relatively few TV appearances, she took pride in receiving fan letters, which she kept for many years. She was close friends with

and with

Ken Berry Kenneth Ronald Berry (November 3, 1933 – December 1, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series '' F Troop'' (1965–1967), '' Mayberry R.F.D.'' (1968–1971) and ''Mama's Family'' ( ...

, who was also a native from her hometown, and she even became good friends with her childhood idol

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

who attended the same Methodist church in Los Angeles. By 2000, Van had developed

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

and was homebound. Van died in her Los Angeles home on May 16, 2002, at age seventy-four.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van, Dorothy 1928 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American actresses People from Moline, Illinois Actresses from Los Angeles Actresses from Illinois American stage actresses American television actresses American film actresses Illinois Republicans California Republicans 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters Television writers from California 20th-century American memoirists American people of German descent American women comedians Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California American women memoirists 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters American United Methodists Screenwriters from Illinois Comedians from Los Angeles Comedians from Illinois 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians American women television writers 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century Methodists