Doro, Marie

(1882-1956)

   Née Marie Stuart, the pretty actress with delicate features was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Kansas City. She performed in local amateur productions as a child and was often engaged by professional touring companies as an extra; thus she played Little Eva with a visiting Uncle Tom's Cabin company. She began her adult career in stock in St. Paul, then toured in musical chorus parts. In 1903, she reached New York, playing opposite Jerome Sykes in the comic opera The Billionaire. As a protégée of producer Charles Frohman, Doro enjoyed a succession of major roles and a London engagement. She was William Gillette's leading lady in three plays, including a tour. She gave up singing for straight comedy, finding her greatest success in The Morals of Marcus in 1907 in New York and on a long national tour. In the 1910s, Doro turned to motion picture acting. Kansas City drama critic Austin Latchaw remembered that "Miss Doro had pretty little tricks." To show petulance, for example, "she had a way of screwing up her face as if to sneeze."