Dorothy Sebastian

Acting

Dorothy Sebastian

Born 1903-04-26 · Birmingham, Alabama, USA

From Wikipedia Dorothy Sebastian (April 26, 1903 – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress. Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In her youth, she aspired to be a dancer and a film actress. Her family frowned on both ambitions, however, so she fled to New York at the age of 15. 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. Sebastian's first contact in Hollywood was Robert Kane, who gave her a film test at United Studios. She performed in George White's Scandals and later co-starred with Joan Crawford and Anita Page for a popular series of MGM romantic dramas including Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and Our Blushing Brides (1930). Sebastian also appeared in 1929's Spite Marriage, wherein she was cast opposite her then-lover Buster Keaton. By the mid-1930s, Sebastian was semi-retired from acting after marrying Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd. 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. 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. On April 8, 1957, Sebastian died of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Dorothy Sebastian has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6655 Hollywood Blvd.

Acting credits

The Women poster
7.2

A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.

The Women

1939

The Show poster
6.1

Cock Robin is the swaggering ballyhoo man of a Hungarian sideshow known as the Palace of Illusions. The highlight of the show is a reenactment of Salome's dance of the seven veils, replete with the beheading of Jokanaan. The performer portraying Salome is in love with Cock Robin. Jealous, sinister The Greek is determined to eliminate that competition.

The Show

1927

Show People poster
7.1

Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.

Show People

1928

Spite Marriage poster
6.6

An unimpressive but well-intentioned man is given the chance to marry a popular actress, of whom he has been a hopeless fan. But what he doesn't realize is that he is being used to make the actress' old flame jealous.

Spite Marriage

1929

The Rounder poster
5.8

A drunkard climbs a ladder into a bedroom in the wrong house and gets romantically involved with the woman who lives there.

The Rounder

1930

The Miracle of the Bells poster
6.2

The body of a young actress is brought to her home town by the man who loved her. He knows that she wanted all the church bells to ring for three days after she was buried, but is told that this will cost a lot of money. The checks that he writes to the various churches all bounce, but it is the weekend and, in desperation, he prays that a miracle will happen before the banks reopen. It does, but not in the way he hoped.

The Miracle of the Bells

1948

No artwork available
7.0

A swift moving drama of ritzy crooks and the New York Police. Pitfalls and dangers in the love story of a beautiful girl who was a "come on" for a gang of crooks, and a young Irishman who was "rarin' to go" in the brass buttons of a policeman

The House of Scandal

1928

Free and Easy poster
6.1

Gopher City Kansas hosts a beauty contest. The winner, Elvira Plunkett, and her mother go to Hollywood. The Chamber of Commerce also provides Elvira with an agent, Gopher City's own Elmer J. Butz. Elmer likes Elvira and the shy Elvira likes him, but Mrs. Plunkett, a formidable woman, has little use for hapless Elmer. On the train west, they meet movie star Larry Mitchell, who takes a shine to Elvira and helps her meet MGM directors once they get to Tinsel Town. Elmer, meanwhile, wants to help Elvira with her career and he also wants to be her man. Movie stardom does come to the Gopher City entourage, but to whom is a surprise. And who will win the lovely Elvira's hand?

Free and Easy

1930

Sackcloth and Scarlet poster
7.0

Silent Drama

Sackcloth and Scarlet

1925

The Isle of Forgotten Women poster
9.0

Bruce Paine arrives as a fugitive on Paradise Island. Fiancée Alice Burroughs remains steadfast in her faith for Bruce and waits for his name to be cleared back home. Young native islander Marua sees no reason to wait and pursues Bruce herself. Set in a remote, exotic locale.

The Isle of Forgotten Women

1927

Among the Living poster
6.1

A mentally unstable man, who has been kept in isolation for years, escapes and causes trouble for his identical twin brother.

Among the Living

1941

California poster
7.5

"The war with Mexico serves to bring together American officer and Mexican senorita, the former all ardent and the latter defiant because of the fact that their countries are at war. Coincident with the American victory is the successful conquest by the 'gringo' of the girl's heart."

California

1927

You'd Be Surprised poster
7.0

A diamond is stolen at a houseboat party given by the district attorney. He gives the thief a chance to return it by putting an empty box on a table and turning out the lights. When the lights are turned back on the box is gone, and the district attorney has a knife in his back and is quite dead. The police and the coroner arrive. There are several attempts made on the life of the coroner. Ruth Whitman is found hiding in a grandfather-clock, holding the gem box. She claims the box was pushed into her hands and she was pushed into the clock. The district attorney's butler/valet tells the coroner he saw who killed his employer and a few minutes later he is also murdered. The mystery deepens.

You'd Be Surprised

1926

Montana Moon poster
4.7

A wild-partying flapper marries a cowboy and tries to adjust to life on a western ranch.

Montana Moon

1930

The Big Gamble poster
6.1

A gambler, hopelessly in debt, agrees to pay off his debt by allowing his creditor to take out a life insurance policy on him and collecting once the one-year suicide clause has elapsed.

The Big Gamble

1931

Hell's Island poster
8.0

In this adventure, trouble ensues when two American French Legionnaires fall for the same girl and begin fighting over her when one of them announces that he plans to marry her. The argument is quite heated and in the ensuing scuffle one of them is shot and wounded.

Hell's Island

1930

Our Blushing Brides poster
5.6

Gerry, Connie, and Franky are small-town girls seeking wealthy husbands in New York City. But, while Connie and Franky are reckless with their affections — one bedding a married man and the other marrying a scoundrel — Gerry is determined to remain practical. As she mothers her wounded, heartbroken friends, she stalwartly but foolishly resists the advances of the good-hearted and affluent Tony Jardine.

Our Blushing Brides

1930

Torrent poster
6.7

A young girl and her father are kicked out of their house by a cruel noblewoman, and the girl's heart is broken when her sweetheart, the noblewoman's son, won't go to Paris with them. After becoming an opera star in Paris, the girl returns to her homeland and finds her romance with the nobleman rekindled.

Torrent

1926

The Demi-Bride poster
8.0

Trouble begins when Madame Girard steps out on her husband, Criquette's father, to fool around with rakish Phillippe Levaux. When Monsieur Girard finds out, Criquette saves her stepmother from scandal by tricking Levaux into a hasty marriage.

The Demi-Bride

1927

His First Command poster
8.5

A playboy is in love with a woman and enters the army thinking it will improve his chances with her.

His First Command

1929

The Arizona Kid poster
6.1

Roy is a Confederate officer stationed in Missouri during the Civil War. He must put an end to outlaw gangs working under the pretense of service to the Confederacy.

The Arizona Kid

1939

A Woman of Affairs poster
6.5

Childhood friends Diana, Neville and David are caught in a love triangle as adults. Diana and Neville have long been smitten with each other, but her father disapproves of the relationship, resulting in her eventual marriage to David. It's not long after their wedding, however, that tragedy strikes, sending Diana on a downward spiral. When Neville reappears in her life, will he be able to save her from her own misery?

A Woman of Affairs

1928

The Rainbow poster
9.0

The Rainbow is a 1929 American Western film directed by Reginald Barker and starring Dorothy Sebastian, Lawrence Gray and Sam Hardy.

The Rainbow

1929

Officer O'Brien poster
5.3

Bill O'Brien is promoted to lieutenant in the police department for his arrest of Mike Patello, gang leader and racketeer, for murder. Ruth Dale, who loves Bill, is concerned when her brother, Johnny, who witnessed the murder, proposes to testify against the racketeer. Meanwhile, Captain Antrim informs Bill that his father has just been released from prison and does not know his son is a policeman. On the way from prison, O'Brien (J. P.) meets Limo, a former cockney pal who recognizes Bill and keeps J. P. from seeing his son; later, J. P. arrives intoxicated and is enraged, forcing Bill to knock him unconscious. J. P. is arrested for robbery but returns the loot to save his son from disgrace; Johnny is killed before testifying against Patello, who is released but confronted by J. P., who proves his guilt and, when he struggles with the police, kills him. Bill plans to resign, but confident of Ruth's love, he decides to remain on the force.

Officer O'Brien

1930