Dees, Mary, 1911-2004

Mary Ella Dees was born on 3 June 1911. Her place of birth is claimed by both Syracuse, New York, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, although her death certificate indicates she was born in Tuscaloosa County. There also appears to be some evidence that she spent her childhood and probably a significant part of her adolescence in Tuscaloosa. She started her career in summer stock companies before heading for New York, where she joined the back row of a chorus line.

Once in Hollywood, Mary Dees had parts in Dinner at Eight (1933), which starred Jean Harlow, and then in Eddie Cantor's comedy Kid Millions (1934) in which she played Paulette, a peach in a fruity ice-skating sequence. She appeared with Edward G. Robinson and Mary Astor in The Man with Two Faces (1934), and was a beautiful beach babe in Let's Talk it Over (1934).

In 1935, she had the lead female role, as a pestered party guest, in Hoi Polloi with The Three Stooges, and appeared in the boxing saga Two Fisted . Apart from the notice she received as Jean Harlow's stand-in, Mary Dees attracted gossip columnists' attention as the girlfriend of the boxer Jack Dempsey and also of a reputed mobster, Johnny Roselli. Later she began a long-term relationship with the actor Bruce Cabot, star of King Kong (1933).

Mary Dees achieved a small place in Hollywood history by taking over the lead role in Saratoga after the death of Jean Harlow in the course of filming in 1937. She was in only four minutes in the last third of the film, with either her back to the camera or wearing a floppy hat. Since her voice was of a high pitch than Jean Harlow's, a second double, Virginia Verrill, was hired to say the lines.

Her screen career was already fading when she played a moll in The Last Gangster (1937), with James Stewart and Edward G. Robinson. She had a role in another James Stewart picture, The Shopworn Angel (1938) and was a showy model in The Women (1939), starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer. She finally quit the film industry in 1946 after appearing in the Marx Brothers' A Night in Casablanca .

Mary Dees continued to appear on the stage in the New York area until 1960 when she retired to Florida. She died on 4 August 2004, in Lake Worth, Florida, aged 93, after a long illness.

From the guide to the Mary Dees Scrapbooks MSS. 2562., 1933-2004, (W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama)