Constance Dowling (July 24, 1920 – October 28, 1969) was an American model turned actress of the 1940s and 1950s.
Constance Dowling | |
|---|---|
 Andrea Checchi and Constance Dowling in Stormbound (1950) | |
| Born | July 24, 1920 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 28, 1969 (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City |
| Years active | 1944–1955 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Doris Dowling (sister) |
Early life and career
editBorn in New York City, Dowling was a model and chorus girl before moving to California in 1943. She had two brothers, Richard Dowling[1] and Robert Smith Dowling,[2] and was the elder sister of actress Doris Dowling.[3] She attended Wadleigh High School for Girls in New York City.[4]
Dowling was a dancer at the Paradise nightclub in New York City,[5] a job that she obtained by lying about her age to her employer and lying about the job to her mother.[4]
Stage
editPrior to her move to Hollywood, she appeared in several Broadway productions, including Quiet City, Liliom,[4] Panama Hattie (with sister Doris), Hold On To Your Hats, and The Strings, My Lord, Are False.[6]
Film
editDowling—promoted by press agents of producer Samuel Goldwyn as three-dimensional ("she can sing, she can dance and she can act")[4]—began her screen career appearing in Up in Arms (1944) for Samuel Goldwyn. At the time, newspaper columnist Sheilah Graham reported that Danny Kaye "was hoping for a big movie name to star opposite him ... but boss Sam Goldwyn thinks otherwise and has signed" Dowling.[7] In the same year, she appeared opposite Nelson Eddy in Knickerbocker Holiday,[8]
In 1946, newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper reported that Dowling had signed a long-term contract with Eagle-Lion Films.[9] Soon after having appeared in The Well-Groomed Bride (1946) and Black Angel (1946), she was loaned to Columbia Pictures to appear in Boston Blackie and the Law.[10]
Dowling lived in Italy in 1947 through 1950 and appeared in several Italian films. Dowling returned to Hollywood in the 1950s and landed a part in the sci-fi film Gog, her last film.
Personal life
editDowling had been involved in a long affair with married director Elia Kazan in New York. He couldn't bring himself to leave his wife and the affair ended when Dowling went to Hollywood under contract to Goldwyn.[11] She was later linked with the famous Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese who committed suicide in 1950 after a lifelong depression aggravated, at one point, by having been rejected by Dowling who, in Pavese's poetry, is often linked to spring ("face of springtime").[12] One of his last poems is entitled "Death will come and she'll have your eyes".[13][14]
In 1955, Dowling married film producer Ivan Tors, writer and producer of her last film. (Another source, published two years earlier, refers to Dowling and Tors as "honeymooning.")[15] She then retired from acting, going on to have three sons and a foster child with Tors: Steven, David, Peter and foster son Alfred Ndwego of Kenya.[16] (An obituary listed Ndwego as an adopted son rather than a foster son and spelled his last name Ndewga.)[17]
In early 1964, Dowling introduced John C. Lilly to LSD for the first time.[18]
Death
editOn October 28, 1969, Dowling died at the age of 49 of a heart attack[16] at UCLA Medical Center.[19][17] Her burial was at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.[20]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Up in Arms | Nurse Lt. Mary Morgan | |
| Knickerbocker Holiday | Tina Tienhoven | ||
| 1946 | The Well-Groomed Bride | Rita Sloane | |
| Black Angel | Mavis Marlowe | ||
| Boston Blackie and the Law | Dinah Moran | Alternative title: Blackie and the Law | |
| 1947 | Blind Spot | Evelyn Green | |
| The Flame | Helen Anderson | ||
| 1948 | Mad About Opera | Margaret Jones | Alternative title: Follie per l'opera |
| 1949 | City of Pain | Lubitza | Alternative title: La città dolente |
| Addio Mimí! | Student | Alternative title: Her Wonderful Lie | |
| Una Voce nel tuo Cuore | Dolly | Alternative title: A Voice in your Heart | |
| 1950 | My Beautiful Daughter | Lilly | |
| 1951 | Nash Airflyte Theatre | Episode: "Pearls Are a Nuisance" | |
| Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | Episode: "The Haunted House" | ||
| Duello Senza Onore | Olga | Alternative title: Duel Without Honor | |
| The Adventures of Ellery Queen | 1 episode | ||
| Cosmopolitan Theatre | Episode: "Mr. Pratt and the Triple Horror Bill" | ||
| La Strada finisce sul fiume | Barbara | Alternative title: Stormbound | |
| 1951–1952 | Lights Out | Adele Bryan | 2 episodes |
| 1953–1954 | City Detective | Karen / Sheila / Blonde Mrs. Nato | 2 episodes |
| 1954 | Gog | Joanna Merritt | |
| 1955 | Fireside Theater | Betty | Episode: "Cheese Champion", (final film role) |
References
edit- ^ Chapman, Frank (January 20, 1946). "Bad Girl -- but Good!". The Post-Standard. New York, Syracuse. p. 49. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Carroll, Harrison (December 14, 1943). "Behind the Scenes in Hollywood". The Wilkes-Barre Record. Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. p. 15. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (June 28, 2004). "Doris Dowling, 81, Is Dead; Known for Classic Films of 40's". New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Johnson, Erskine (July 3, 1943). "Screen Chats". Shamokin News-Dispatch. Pennsylvania, Shamokin. p. 5. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Dowling Is Signed for Film Lead in Picture". Waco Tribune-Herald. Texas, Waco. June 6, 1943. p. 19. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Constance Dowling, 49, Is Dead; Acted on Broadway and in Films". The New York Times. Reuters. October 29, 1969. p. 52. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
- ^ Graham, Sheilah (June 3, 1943). "Marx Brothers Plan Return To Movies". The Winnipeg Tribune. Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba. p. 8. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Johnson, Erskine (October 18, 1943). "In Hollywood". Ironwood Daily Globe. Michigan, Ironwood. p. 7. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hopper, Hedda (August 10, 1946). "Looking at Hollywood". Harrisburg Telegraph. Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. p. 19. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hollywood Notes". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. August 19, 1946. p. 6. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Schickel, Richard (May 9, 1988). "Incaution on A Grand Scale Elia Kazan: A Life". Time. p. 2. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ Pavese, Cesare (1950). The cats will know. Einaudi.
- ^ di Vincenzo, Ludovica (2014). "Death will come and she'll have your eyes - The Times Stephen Spender Prize 2013 (commended)". Stephen Spender Trust. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ Williamson, Alan (September 10, 1997). "Pavese's late love poems". The American Poetry Review. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ Gwynn, Edith (February 27, 1953). "Hollywood". Pottstown Mercury. Pennsylvania, Pottstown. p. 29. Retrieved April 20, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "The Private Life and Times of Constance Dowling". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
- ^ a b "Death Claims Actress". The Ottawa Journal. Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. October 30, 1969. p. 28. Retrieved April 21, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tripping on LSD at the Dolphin Research Lab". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
- ^ "Notable Deaths From Everywhere". Simpson's Leader-Times. Pennsylvania, Kittanning. October 29, 1969. p. 19. Retrieved April 21, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries
