Profile of Dorothy Fay on Famous Like Me

Dorothy Fay (born April 4, 1915; died November 5, 2003) was an American actress.

She was born Dorothy Fay Southworth in Prescott, Arizona, the daughter of Harry T. Southworth and Harriet Fay Fox. Her father was a medical doctor.

Dorothy attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

She began her motion picture career in the late 1930s, performing in several "B" grade Westerns. In 1938, she appeared opposite George Houston in Frontier Scout at Grand National Pictures. She also appeared with Western stars Buck Jones and William Elliott.

Fay made four movies with country singer and actor Tex Ritter at Monogram Pictures: Song of the Buckaroo (1938), Sundown on the Prairie (1939), Rollin' Westward (1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (1940).

She played a heroine in The Green Archer (1940) and White Eagle (1941), both at Columbia Pictures.

Fay also made a few small appearances in other genres, such as the crime drama Missing Daughters (1939). In 1940, she asked Monogram to give her a different part and was loaned to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a small role in The Philadelphia Story, which starred Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. She also appeared as a debutante in the MGM musical Lady Be Good (1941) starring Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young and Lionel Barrymore.

Dorothy Fay was married to singer/actor Tex Ritter (June 14, 1941-his death January 2, 1974). They had two sons, Thomas Ritter and John Ritter. She is also the grandmother of Jason Ritter.

Fay made several more movies after her marriage to Ritter, but then retired from show business in late 1941.

In 1965, she and Tex moved to Nashville, Tennessee, because of his singing and recording career. For a time, she was an official greeter at the Grand Ole Opry. Her husband died in Nashville in 1974. She moved back to Southern California in 1981.

Fay turned down several offers to return to movie work, including an opportunity to appear on the television series The Love Boat playing the mother of real-life son, John Ritter. But she was a frequent guest at Western movie conventions.

In 1987, Fay suffered a stroke and it impacted her speech. She moved to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, in 1989.

In August 2001, her death was mistakenly reported in the obituary section of The Daily Telegraph in London. This reportedly happened when a nurse at the Motion Picture Hospital returned after a holiday to find her not in her room. When told that she had "gone," as she had, but only to another wing, the nurse promptly called one of Dorothy Fay's friends, who happened to be a regular contributor to the Telegraph obituaries desk. Fay and her family found the blunder amusing and took it in good sport.

Dorothy Fay died in Woodland Hills less than two months after the death of her younger son, John. She is interred with her parents in Pioneer Cemetery, Prescott, Arizona.

Filmography

• Frontier Scout (1938) (Grand National) ... Julie (woman at dance)
• The Stranger From Arizona (1938) (Columbia) ... Ann Turner
• Law of the Texan (1938) (Columbia) ... Helen Clifford
• Prairie Justice (1938) (Universal) ... Anita Benson
• Song of the Buckaroo (1938) (Monogram) ... Anna Alden
• The Long Shot (1939) (Grand National) ... (uncredited)
• Trigger Pals (1939) (Grand National) ... Doris Allen
• Sundown on the Prairie (1939) (Monogram) ... Ruth Graham ... aka Prairie Sundown (UK)
• Rollin' Westward (1939) (Monogram) ... Betty ... aka Rollin' West (UK)
• Missing Daughters (1939) (Columbia) ... Showgirl (uncredited)
• Convicted Woman (1940) (Columbia) ... Frances (uncredited)
• Sporting Blood (1940) (MGM) ... (uncredited)
• Rainbow Over the Range (1940) (Monogram) ... Mary Manners
• The Green Archer (1940) (Columbia) ... Elaine Bellamy
• The Philadelphia Story (1940) (MGM) ... Main Line Society Woman (uncredited)
• Glamour for Sale (1941) (Columbia) ... Trilby (uncredited)
• White Eagle (1941) (Columbia) ... Janet Rand
• North From Lone Star (1941) (Columbia) ... Madge Wilson
• The Iron Claw (1941) (Columbia)
• Lady Be Good (1941) (MGM) ... Della, a debutante (uncredited)

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