Classic Movie Travels: Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill was born on March 4, 1903, in Kingston upon Hull, England, to John Mackaill and Florence Pickard Mackaill. She was primarily raised by her father after her parents separated in 1914. He owned a dance academy nearby. During this time, Mackaill was a student at Thoresby Primary School.
As a teenager, Mackaill was interested in pursuing a stage career. She danced in a production of Joybelles at the Hippodrome in London and also had minor roles in Pathé films shot in Paris. She moved to New York City when she was 17, dancing in the Ziegfeld Follies’ Midnight Frolic Revue.
In 1920, Mackaill focused on her film career, making her feature film debut in the British silent crime film The Face at the Window (1920). She made several comedies with Johnny Hines in addition to appearing alongside Anna May Wong, Noah Beery, and Lon Chaney in Bits of Life (1921). Over the years, she worked with many popular stars, including the likes of Richard Barthelmess, Colleen Moore, John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, and more.
Mackaill became a lead actress in The Man Who Came Back (1924), co-starring George O’Brien. In the same year, she starred in The Mine with the Iron Door, leading to her acknowledgment as one of the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) Baby Stars. Among the 13 recipients of the title in 1924 were Clara Bow and Lucille Ricksen. As the 1920s continued, she successfully made the transition to sound films in the part-talking film The Barker (1920).
Mackaill became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1926, giving a false birth year of 1904 to shave one year off her actual age. In the same year, she married German film director Lothar Mendes, divorcing in 1928.
In 1931, her film contract with First National Pictures was not renewed. Before retiring to care for her mother in 1937, she appeared alongside Humphrey Bogart in Love Affair (1932) and made additional films for Paramount, MGM, and Columbia.
Mackaill married twice more: next to radio singer Neil Albert Miller from 1931 to 1934, and finally to horticulturist Harold Patterson from 1947 to 1948.
In 1955, she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, after being captivated by the islands decades earlier. She lived in Room 253 of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach and enjoyed swimming in the ocean almost daily.
After her move, she made occasional television appearances, including two episodes of Hawaii Five-O.
She passed away from liver failure in her room at the Royal Hawaiian on August 12, 1990, at age 87. Her ashes were scattered off Waikiki Beach.
Mackaill was born at 20 Newstead St., Dukeries, Kingston upon Hull.
Today, Thoresby Primary School is located at Thoresby St., Hull HU5 3RG, United Kingdom. There, Mackaill is honored with a blue plaque in addition to one of the schoolhouses being named after her.
In 1926, she lived at 22 Willard Ave., Mt. Vernon, New York.
By 1927, she and her first husband lived at 7415 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California. The original home no longer stands.
In 1938, she resided with her mother and cook, Rose Fausel, at 78 Ocean Way, Los Angeles, California. This home stands.
In 1940, she resided at the Warwick Hotel at 65 W 54th St., New York, New York.
In 1944, she lived at 15 E. 58th St., Room 3A, New York, New York, which no longer stands.
The Royal Hawaiian remains in operation as a luxury hotel at 2259 Kalākaua Ave., Honolulu, Hawaii.
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–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub
Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.
Annette Bochenek, Ph.D., is a film historian, professor, and avid scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the “Hometowns to Hollywood” blog, in which she profiles her trips to the hometowns of classic Hollywood stars. She has also been featured on the popular classic film-oriented television network, Turner Classic Movies. A regular columnist for Classic Movie Hub, her articles have appeared in TCM Backlot, Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, The Dark Pages Film Noir Newsletter, and Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine.
