Kathryn Adams Doty
Kathryn Elizabeth Doty (née Hohn; July 15, 1920 – October 14, 2016), also known by her stage name Kathryn Adams or as Kathryn Adams Doty, was an American actress.
Kathryn Adams Doty | |
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Born | Kathryn Elizabeth Hohn July 15, 1920 New Ulm, Minnesota, U.S. |
Died | October 14, 2016 96) Mankato, Minnesota, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actress, novelist, psychologist |
Years active | 1939–1946 (acting career) |
Spouse(s) |
|
Children | 3 |
Early years
The daughter of a Methodist minister, Dr. Chris G. Hohn,[1] Doty was born in New Ulm, Minnesota. When she was six,[2] the family moved to Warrenton, Missouri,[1] where her father was chaplain and executive secretary at an orphans' home.[2] After she developed lung problems, she spent two years at a camp in Minnesota. As early as age 13, she took her father's place in the pulpit when he was sick. In a 1939 newspaper article, she recalled: "It was quite a radical thing, in that small town, for a little girl to conduct the church services and preach the sermon, but the congregation understood and were very kind to me."[2]
Doty was a student at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, (where she sang in the a cappella choir)[2] and worked as a catalog clerk at the headquarters of Montgomery Ward[3] when an opportunity for an acting career arose. She competed in 1939 in the national finals of the Jesse L. Lasky radio contest Gateway to Hollywood, received a contract,[2] and remained in California to begin a film career under the name of Kathryn Adams.
Film
Doty debuted on film in Fifth Avenue Girl (1939).[2] One of her more notable roles was as Mrs. Brown, the young mother in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942).[4] She co-starred in Sky Raiders (1941), a film serial from Universal Pictures and had the leading lady role in three Western films in which Johnny Mack Brown starred.[5]
Personal life
She married fellow actor Hugh Beaumont in an Easter wedding on April 13, 1941, at Hollywood Congregational Church.[6] They had three children. After divorcing Beaumont in 1974, she married Fred Doty, and relocated to her native Minnesota. Fred Doty (1922 – 2011) died on January 8, 2011, aged 88.
She earned a master's degree in educational psychology and had a career as a psychologist, working at the Footlight's Child Guidance Clinic at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and later in Minnesota after she moved back to her home state.[5]
Writing
While in her 80s, Adams Doty wrote two novels for young adult readers: A Long Year of Silence (2004) and Wild Orphan (2006). A Long Year of Silence, both set in New Ulm, Minnesota, during World War I. She was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and winner of the 2005 Midwest Book Award. A third book, Becoming the Mother of Me (2009), described her life growing up as a minister's daughter, her trip to Hollywood and her first marriage.
Writing as Kathryn Doty, she published short stories in Pocket, The Friend and various children's magazines.[5]
Partial filmography
- Fifth Avenue Girl (1939) - Katherine Borden
- That's Right—You're Wrong (1939) - Mrs. Elizabeth Ralston (uncredited)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) - Fleur's Companion
- Millionaire Playboy (1940) - Betty (uncredited)
- If I Had My Way (1940) - Miss Corbett
- Ski Patrol (1940) - Lissa Ryder
- Love, Honor, and Oh-Baby! (1940) - Susan
- Black Diamonds (1940) - Linda Connor
- Argentine Nights (1940) - Carol
- Spring Parade (1940) - Girl with Fortune Teller (uncredited)
- The Invisible Woman (1940) - Peggy
- Meet the Chump (1941) - Gloria Mitchell
- Nice Girl? (1941) - Bride (uncredited)
- Bury Me Not on the Prairie (1941) - Dorothy Walker
- Sky Raiders (1941) - Mary Blake
- Model Wife (1941) - Salesgirl (uncredited)
- Bachelor Daddy (1941) - Eleanore Pierce, aka Jane Smith
- Rawhide Rangers (1941) - Jo Ann Rawlings
- Unfinished Business (1941) - Katy
- Arizona Cyclone (1941) - Elsie
- Hellzapoppin' (1941) - Girl (uncredited)
- Junior G-Men of the Air (1942) - Grace - Bolt's Girl [Chs. 1, 7] (uncredited)
- Saboteur (1942) - Young Mother
- You're Telling Me (1942) - Girl (uncredited)
- Blonde for a Day (1946) - Phyllis Hamilton (final film role)
References
- "Former Warrenton Girl in Movies". St. Clair Chronicle. Missouri, St. Clair. November 23, 1939. p. 1. Retrieved October 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- Clark, W.K. (September 17, 1939). "Prepared for Screen Stardom in the Pulpit!". The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah, Salt Lake City. p. 77. Retrieved October 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- Othman, Frederick C. (April 15, 1940). "Hollywood Day By Day". The Danville Morning News. Pennsylvania, Danville. United Press. p. 2. Retrieved October 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- Fitzgerald, Mike. "Kathryn Adams Interview". Western Clippings. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
- Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. pp. 9–13. ISBN 9780786426560. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
- "News Briefs". The Daily Reporter. Indiana, Greenfield. International News Service. April 14, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved October 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- Gelt, Jessica (October 22, 2016). "Kathryn Adams Doty, actress in Hitchcock's 'Saboteur,' dies at 96". Los Angeles Times.
- Barnes, Mike (October 22, 2016). "Kathryn Adams, Actress in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and Hitchcock's 'Saboteur,' Dies at 96". The Hollywood Reporter. ISSN 0018-3660.
External links
- Kathryn Adams Doty on IMDb
- Kathryn Adams Doty at Edinborough Press