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{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox actor▼
|name = Mary Dees▼
{{for| the African American radio personality|Mary Dee}}
|imagesize = 160px▼
▲|name = Mary Dees
|caption =▼
|image =
|birth_date = {{birth_date|1911|9|1|mf=y}}▼
▲|imagesize = 160px
|birth_place = Syracuse, New York, U.S.▼
▲|caption =
|death_date = {{death_date and age|2004|8|4|1911|9|1|mf=y}}▼
|death_place = Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.▼
|occupation = Actress▼
|yearsactive =1929-1985▼
▲|death_place = [[Lake Worth Beach, Florida|Lake Worth, Florida]], U.S.
▲|occupation = Actress
}}
'''Mary Ella Dees''' (June 3, 1911 – August 4, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress who once served as a primary stand-in double for actress [[Jean Harlow]].
==Biography and career==
Born in [[Syracuse, New York]], on June 3, 1911,<ref>Born on June 3, 1911, not in September 1911 as per the [http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index, under name DEES, MARY E (SS# 569-18-8259)]</ref> the daughter of a successful lawyer, Dees was for a time raised in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama]].<ref>[http://acumen.lib.ua.edu/u0003_0002562 Guide to actress Mary Dees' scrapbooks MSS.2562-001, University of Alabama, accessed 2011-01-02.]</ref> She worked for a short time as a typist before moving to Hollywood in 1932. She was named Miss America in Hollywood in 1932, an accomplishment that led director [[Jack Conway (filmmaker)|Jack Conway]] to give her a bit part in ''[[Red-Headed Woman|Red Headed Woman]]''. That film starred [[Jean Harlow]], who befriended Dees. She advised the newcomer to study dancing, helped her to shop for "the right clothes" and helped to pay for Dees's gowns.<ref name="bn">{{cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=Lily Mae |title=Birmingham's Mary Dees Soars to Stardom, Love As Harlow's Double |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82128305/mary-dees/ |access-date=July 25, 2021 |work=The Birmingham News |date=August 3, 1937 |page=10|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>
Dees was a dancer<ref>{{cite news |title=Mary Dees slated for Harlow Role |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/102347236 |access-date=March 7, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 19, 1937 |page=20|id={{ProQuest|102347236}} }}</ref> when, in 1937, after the sudden death of Harlow, she was cast by MGM boss [[Louis B. Mayer]] as a four-minute stand-in for the star, who was acting opposite [[Clark Gable]] on the film ''[[Saratoga (film)|Saratoga]]'', which was still in production.<ref name=Guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/sep/22/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries ''The Guardian'' obituary for Mary Dees, September 22, 2005; accessed January 2, 2011.]</ref>
Dees had parts in ''[[The Last Gangster]]'' (1937), ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' (1939), as well as a number of [[Three Stooges]] shorts, which included ''[[Hoi Polloi (1935 film)|Hoi Polloi]]'' (1935), and numerous [[Marx Brothers]] comedies.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}
===Later career===
Dees appeared in her last film role in 1946,
==Death==
▲Dees appeared in her last film role in 1946, appearing in the [[Marx Brothers]] film ''[[A Night in Casablanca]]''. She continued on act on stage in repretoiry theatre, first in her homestate [[New York]] area and then, after later on, in a move to [[South Florida]], from 1960 on. She retired from acting altogether in 1985.
Dees died on August 4,
==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
▲Dees died on August 4, 2004 in [[Lake Worth, Florida]] at age 92, less than a month before her 93rd birthday, after a long bout with an undisclosed illness.<ref>[http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sflodees,0,1039840.photo South Florida Sun-Sentinel article with photo, August 10,2004]</ref>
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1931|| ''[[Flying High (1931 film)|Flying High]]'' || Chorus Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1933|| ''[[Dinner at Eight (1933 film)|Dinner at Eight]]'' || Minor Role || Uncredited
|-
|1933|| ''[[Footlight Parade]]'' || Chorus Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1934|| ''[[Let's Talk It Over]]'' || Woman at Beach || Uncredited
|-
|1934|| ''[[The Man with Two Faces (1934 film)|The Man with Two Faces]]'' || Theatregoer || Uncredited
|-
|1934|| ''[[Kid Millions]]'' || Paulette || Uncredited
|-
|1935|| ''[[Gold Diggers of 1935]]'' || Chorus Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1935|| ''[[Redheads on Parade]]'' || Redhead || Uncredited
|-
|1935|| ''[[Two-Fisted]]'' || Minor Role || Uncredited
|-
|1936|| ''[[Anything Goes (1936 film)|Anything Goes]]'' || Chorus Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1936|| ''[[Born to Dance]]'' || Chorine || Uncredited
|-
|1937|| ''[[Saratoga (film)|Saratoga]]'' || Carol Clayton || (after Jean Harlow's Death)<br> Uncredited
|-
|1937|| ''[[Bad Guy (1937 film)|Bad Guy]]'' || Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1937|| ''[[The Last Gangster]]'' || Virginia Bauche || Uncredited
|-
|1938|| ''[[The Shopworn Angel]]'' || Babe #1 || Uncredited
|-
|1939|| ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' || Girl || Uncredited
|-
|1946|| ''[[A Night in Casablanca]]'' || Minor Role || Uncredited, (final film role)
|}
==References==
{{
==External links==
▲*{{imdb name|0214414|Mary Dees}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dees, Mary}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:
[[Category:American film
[[Category:American stage
[[Category:
[[Category:People from Lake Worth Beach, Florida]]
[[Category:People from Tuscaloosa, Alabama]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
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