Billie Dove

Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Bohny; May 14, 1903[1] – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.[2][3]

Billie Dove
Born
Bertha Bohny

(1903-05-14)May 14, 1903
New York City, U.S.
DiedDecember 31, 1997(1997-12-31) (aged 94)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Other namesLillian Bohny
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1932, 1962
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1923; div. 1929)​

Robert Kenaston
​
​
(m. 1933; died 1970)​

John Miller
​
(m. 1973)​
Children2

Early life and career

Dove was born Bertha Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagan) Bohny, Jewish immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his Ziegfeld Follies Revue. She legally changed her name to Lillian Bohny in the early 1920s and moved to Hollywood, where she began appearing in silent films. She soon became one of the more popular actresses of the 1920s, appearing in Douglas Fairbanks' smash hit Technicolor film The Black Pirate (1926), as Rodeo West in The Painted Angel (1929), and The American Beauty (1927).

She married Irvin Willat, the director of her seventh film, in 1923. The two divorced in 1929. Dove had a legion of male fans, one of her more persistent was Howard Hughes. She had a three-year romance with Hughes and was engaged to marry him, but she ended the relationship.

Hughes cast her as a comedian in his film Cock of the Air (1932). She also appeared in his movie The Age for Love (1931).[4]

Dove was also a pilot, poet, and painter.[5]

Early retirement

Following her last film Blondie of the Follies (1932), Dove retired from the screen to be with her family. She married wealthy oil executive Robert Alan Kenaston in 1933, a marriage that lasted for 37 years until his death in 1970. The couple had a son, Robert Alan Kenaston, Jr., who married actress Claire Kelly and died in 1995 from cancer, and an adopted daughter, Gail who briefly married media mogul Merv Adelson.[6] Billie Dove later had a brief third marriage to architect John Miller, which ended in divorce in the 1970s.

Last years

Aside from a cameo in Diamond Head (1963), Dove never returned to the movies. She spent her retirement years in Rancho Mirage, then moved to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California where she died of pneumonia on New Year's Eve 1997, aged 94.[7]

She is interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Legacy

Dove has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6351 Hollywood Blvd. Jazz singer Billie Holiday took her professional pseudonym from Dove as an admirer of the actress.[8]

Filmography
Year Title Role Note
1921Get-Rich-Quick WallingfordDorothy WellsLost film
At the Stage DoorMary MathewsLost film
1922Polly of the FolliesAlysia PotterLost film
Beyond the RainbowMarion Taylor
Youth to YouthEve AllisonLost film
One Week of LoveBathing Party GuestUncredited
1923All the Brothers Were ValiantPriscilla HoltIncomplete
Madness of YouthNanette BenningLost film
Soft BoiledThe Girl
The Lone Star RangerHelen LongstrethLost film
The Thrill ChaserOlala UssanIncomplete
1924On TimeHelen HendonLost film
Try and Get ItRhoda PerrinLost film
Yankee MadnessDoloresLost film
Wanderer of the WastelandRuth VireyLost film
The RoughneckFelicity ArdenLost film
The Folly of VanityAlice
1925The Air MailAlice Rendon
The Light of Western StarsMadeleine HammondLost film
Wild Horse MesaSue Melberne
The Lucky HorseshoeEleanor Hunt
The Fighting HeartDoris AndersonLost film
The Ancient HighwayAntoinette St. IvesLost film
1926The Black PiratePrincess Isobel
The Lone Wolf ReturnsMarcia Mayfair
The Marriage ClauseSylvia JordanIncomplete
Kid BootsEleanore Belmore
1927An Affair of the FolliesTamaraLost film
Sensation SeekersLuena "Egypt" Hagen
The Tender HourMarcia Kane
The Stolen BrideSari
The American BeautyMillicent HowardLost film
The Love MartAntoinette FrobelleLost film
1928The Heart of a Follies GirlTeddy O'DayLost film
Yellow LilyJudith Peredy
Night WatchYvonne Corlaix
AdorationElena
1929CareersHélène Gromaire
The Man and the MomentJoan Winslow
Her Private LifeLady Helen Haden
The Painted AngelMammie HudlerLost film; Vitaphone track survives
1930The Other TomorrowEdith LarrisonLost film
A Notorious AffairPatricia Hanley
Sweethearts and WivesFemme de Chambre
One Night at Susie'sMary Martin
1931The Lady Who DaredMargaret Townsend
The Age for LoveJean HurtLost film
1932Cock of the AirLili de Rosseau
Blondie of the FolliesLottie
1962Diamond HeadHerselfCameo role

References
  1. Other sources including the California registry of births and deaths cite 1900 or 1901 as her year of birth, although the 1910 census supports 1903 as her year of birth, as does her entry in the New York City Birth Registry.
  2. Drew, William M. Billie Dove profile Archived July 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Lady in the Main Title: On the Twenties and Thirties. Vestal Press, 1997.
  3. Wagner, Bruce. "Moving Pictures", Annals of Hollywood, The New Yorker. July 20, 1998, p. 54.
  4. Dietrich, Noah; Thomas, Bob (1972). Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc. p. 89.
  5. Gussow, Mel (January 6, 1998). "Billie Dove, Damsel in Distress In Silent Films, Is Dead at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  6. Los Angeles Times: "Gail Adelson; Hostess, Home Designer to the Stars" by Myrna Oliver February 22, 1999
  7. "Billie Dove (1903–1997)", Goldensilents.com. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  8. Kliment, Bud. Billie Holiday. Holloway House Publishing, 1990, p. 29. ISBN 978-0-87067-561-4.
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