Mary Dees: Difference between revisions

|birth_place = [[Syracuse,Tuscaloosa NewCounty, YorkAlabama]], U.S.

|death_date = {{death_date and age|20042005|8|4|1911|6|3|mf=y}}

|death_place = [[Lake Worth Beach, Florida|Lake Worth, Florida]], U.S.

'''Mary Ella Dees''' (June 3, 1911 – August 4, 20042005) was an American stage and screen actress who once served as a primary stand-in double for late-1930s actress [[Jean Harlow]]. Dees had parts in ''[[The Last Gangster]]'' (1937), ''[[The Women]]'' (1939), as well as a number of [[Three Stooges]] shorts, which included ''[[Hoi Polloi]]'' (1935), and numerous [[Marx Brothers]] comedies.

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, sheDees 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>

InDees 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, uponin 1937, after the sudden death of actress Jean Harlow, Deesshe was cast by MGM boss [[Louis B. Mayer]] as a four-minute stand-in for Harlowthe star, who was acting opposite [[Clark Gable]] on the film ''[[Saratoga (film)|Saratoga]]'' with [[Clark Gable]], which was still in production at the time.<ref name=Guardian>[httphttps://www.guardian.cotheguardian.ukcom/news/2005/sep/22/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries ''The Guardian'' obituary for Mary Dees, September 22, 2005; accessed January 2, 2011.]</ref>

Dees died on August 4, 20042005, in [[Lake Worth Beach, Florida|Lake Worth, Florida]], aged 9394, after a long illness.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170528151456/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sflodees,0,1039840-photo.photohtml ''South Florida Sun-Sentinel'' article with photo, August 10, 2004]</ref>

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*{{imdbIMDb name|0214414|Mary Dees}}

[[Category:20042005 deaths]]

[[Category:Disease-relatedActresses deathsfrom inSyracuse, FloridaNew York]]

[[Category:People from Syracuse,Lake NewWorth Beach, YorkFlorida]]