Dorothy Appleby
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Dorothy Appleby (January 6, 1906 – August 9, 1990) was an American film actress. She appeared in over 50 films between 1931 and 1943. Appleby gained early acting experience as an understudy and a chorus member in plays in New York City. A newspaper article reported that Appleby "came to New York fresh from winning a Maine beauty contest."
Appleby was seen in many supporting roles, almost always in short subjects or low-budget feature films. She never progressed to leading roles in important pictures because of her height, which made her difficult to cast The trim brunette stood just over five feet tall, and her early leading men (like comedian Charley Chase) towered over her.
She soon found steady if not prestigious work in Columbia Pictures' two-reel comedies. She appeared frequently with The Three Stooges, who were only a few inches taller than she was, and in 1940 she became Buster Keaton's leading lady, for the same reason: her height complemented his. She worked with Columbia comics Andy Clyde, El Brendel, and Hugh Herbert, and she had an uncredited part in John Ford's Stagecoach.
Some of her Stooge comedies were Loco Boy Makes Good, So Long Mr. Chumps, and In the Sweet Pie and Pie. One memorable appearance was as Mexican brunette Rosita in 1940's Cookoo Cavaliers. In the film, Appleby gets clobbered by the Stooges when a facial "mud pack" made of cement dries on her face. Her petite figure belied her age, and she continued to play "younger" roles into the 1940s. One of her last screen roles was a one-line bit (playing a college co-ed at age 35) in the 1941 Jane Withers feature Small Town Deb.
Acting
Movie
Stagecoach
as Girl in Saloon (uncredited)
1939
Movie
High Sierra
as Margie (uncredited)
1941
Movie
The Women
as Treatment Girl (uncredited)
1939
Movie
Charlie Chan in Paris
as Nardi
1935
Movie
Manpower
as Wilma
1941
Movie
Riffraff
as Gertie
1936
Movie
When Tomorrow Comes
as Waitress (uncredited)
1939
Movie
Rockin' Thru the Rockies
as Tessie
1940
Movie
Under Eighteen
as Elsie
1932
Movie
Cookoo Cavaliers
as Rosita (uncredited)
1940
Movie
From Nurse to Worse
as Dr. Lerious' Receptionist (uncredited)
1940
Movie
So Long Mr. Chumps
as Pomeroy's Girlfriend (uncredited)
1941
Movie
In the Sweet Pie and Pie
as Tiska Jones
1941
Movie
Make a Wish
as Telephone Girl
1937
Movie
His Ex Marks the Spot
as His wife
1940
Movie
Loco Boy Makes Good
as Twitchell's Girl
1942
Movie
What's the Matador?
as O'Brien's Secretary
1942
Movie
The Doctor Takes a Wife
as Woman in Book Store (uncredited)
1940
Movie
As the Earth Turns
as Doris
1934
Movie
Live, Love and Learn
as Lou - Bob's Model (uncredited)
1937
Movie
Nothing But Pleasure
as Mrs. Plunkett
1940
Movie
The Spook Speaks
as Newlywed wife
1940
Movie
Convicted Woman
as Daisy
1940
Movie
The Flying Irishman
as Maybelle
1939