Biografia
Some actresses entered the film industry through the stage, while others built successful modeling careers. Dolores Dorn combined both paths, graduating from Chicago's Goodman Art Theatre and placing second and third in the 1950 and 1951 Miss Chicago contests, respectively. A blonde beauty with a radiant smile, she was also named 'Miss Photoflash' of 1951 by the Chicago Press Photographers Association.
Born Dolores Heft in 1933 (though some sources incorrectly list 1934) in Chicago, she was of mostly Lithuanian descent and the only child of Edward Heft, a prosperous automobile dealer, and his wife, Alice. She made her stage debut at the Chez Paris nightclub. In 1954, she joined the Schaffner Players repertory comedy troupe as the lead ingénue on tour across Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. While sipping soda at a drugstore, she was discovered by a Warner Brothers talent scout, which led to her first minor film role in Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) as one of the beast's victims, followed by a second-billed role in the Randolph Scott western The Bounty Hunter (1954).
Dorn made her New York stage debut in 1956 in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Fourth Street Theatre. The following year, she portrayed Yelena Andreyevna in the film adaptation, starring opposite future husband Franchot Tone, who was 29 years her senior. After attracting studio executives' attention with an off-Broadway performance in Between Two Thieves, director Samuel Fuller signed her to a Columbia contract.
Her first significant starring role for Columbia was in Underworld U.S.A. (1961), where she played "Cuddles," a gangster's moll and love interest of Cliff Robertson's vengeful ex-convict. Unlike her Broadway billing, she was credited simply as Dolores Dorn. Her final notable film appearance came in 13 West Street (1962), a stylish melodrama about teenage delinquency co-starring Alan Ladd.
In the late 1960s, Dorn concentrated on stage work in New York and Los Angeles. She made occasional TV guest appearances between 1973 and 1985, but her focus shifted behind the scenes. She taught acting at the American Film Institute (1977) and the Lee Strasberg Institute (1983), and served as an acting coach for the reality game show Star Search (1983).
