Dorothy Malone, Oscar-Winning Actress in ‘Written on the Wind’ and ‘Peyton Place’ Star, Dies at 92
Variety
By Kirsten Chuba
January 19, 2018
Dorothy Malone, star of the big and small screen with “Written on the Wind,” “Basic Instinct” and “Peyton Place,” died on Friday morning in Dallas of natural causes. She was 92.
Working in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the striking blonde actress won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in Douglas Sirk’s melodrama “Written on the Wind,” which she starred in with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall and Robert Stack. Among her more notable early roles was the bookshop proprietress in “The Big Sleep” opposite Humphrey Bogart.
After years of smaller roles, the Oscar helped her secure roles in larger projects like “Too Much, Too Soon,” “Man of a Thousand Faces,” and “Warlock.” She would frequently work with Hudson throughout the 1960s, as she played opposite him twice more in “The Tarnished Angels” and “The Last Sunset.”
After years in the film business, Malone waded into television with a starring role on prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place” from 1964 to 1968. She later revived her Constance MacKenzie character in TV movies based on the series, 1977’s “Murder in Peyton Place” and 1985’s “Peyton Place: The Next Generation.” She also appeared in a number of miniseries, including “Rich Man, Poor Man” and “Condominium.”
Malone’s last on-screen appearance may be one of her most famous, playing a mother convicted of murdering her family in 1992’s “Basic Instinct,” alongside Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.
Originally Dorothy Maloney, the star was born in Chicago but grew up in Dallas, attending Southern Methodist University. She was discovered there by a talent scout while acting in a school play, and soon after was signed to a studio contract.
Manager Burt Shapiro reported her death.
She was married and divorced three times, to actor Jacques Bergerac, Robert Tomarkin and Charles Huston Bell. She is survived by two daughters she had with Bergerac, Mimi and Diane.
MALONE, Dorothy (Dorothy Eloise Maloney)
Born: 1/30/1925, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died: 1/19/2018, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.
Dorothy Malone’s westerns – actress:
Frontier Days – 1945 (Martha Mercer)
Two Guys from Texas - 1948 (Joan Winston)
Colorado Territory – 1949 (Julie Ann Winslow)
South of St. Louis - 1949 (Deborah Miller)
The Nevadan – 1950 (Karen Galt)
The Bushwhackers - 1951 (Cathy Sharpe)
Saddle Legion - 1951 (Dr. Ann F. Rollins)
Jack Slade – 1953 (Virginia Maria Dale)
Law and Order – 1953 (Jeannie)
The Lone Gun - 1954 (Charlotte Downing)
At Gunpoint - 1955 (Martha Wright)
Five Guns West - 1955 (Shalee)
Tall Man Riding - 1955 (Corinna Ordway)
Pillars of the Sky – 1956 (Calla Gaxton)
Tension at Table Rock - 1956 (Lorna Miller)
Quantez - 1957 (Chaney)
Cimarron City (TV) – 1958 (Nora Atkins)
Warlock – 1959 (Lily Dollar)
The Last Sunset – 1961 (Belle Breckenridge)
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1961 (Mary Parker)