Dorothy Sebastian

The daughter of a clergyman and a mother, who was an accomplished painter of portraits and landscapes, Stella Dorothy Sabiston spent her formative years in her home state of Alabama. She had three siblings, all of whom died relatively young. She attended the University of Alabama, but always harbored ambitions of becoming an actress. In the early 1920s, the curly-haired brunette abandoned her studies and ran away to New York (as Dorothy Sebastian), where she took up acrobatic dancing at the prestigious Ned Wayburn academy. By the time she took elocution lessons to get rid of her noticeable southern drawl, Dorothy had her first failed marriage (1920-24) behind her. Living in a cheap apartment, and after several rejections, she landed her first job in show business as a chorus girl in "George White's Scandals" in June 1924. The show opened at the Apollo Theatre and ran for 198 performances, closing in December. Sometime prior to that, according to recollections of fellow cast member and friend Louise Brooks, Dorothy struck up a somewhat personal connection with then-British cabinet minister Lord Beaverbrook. Their meeting took place during a party at the Ritz Hotel in an apartment owned by producer Otto Kahn, at which several Scandals girls and Hollywood producers were present. The end result was an MGM contract for Dorothy.