Doro Merande

Born in Columbus, Kansas as Dora Matthews,[1] she grew up in boarding schools in Michigan. Orphaned at a young age, she later headed to New York City to become an actress.

Merande found her first part in a small summer company in Massachusetts. She coveted Broadway parts during the Great Depression. Her career began with the Jules Levanthal Company.

She appeared on Broadway using her birth name in That Ferguson Family (1928) and Montmartreas (1922).[2] Her first Broadway appearance as Doro Merande was as "Sophie Tuttle" in Loose Moments in 1935. Soon she was cast in One Good Year, Red Harvest, and Angel Island.[3] Her first major stage role was playing the gossip in Our Town by Thornton Wilder repeating her performance in the 1940 film. Merande later appeared with Leo G. Carroll in Lo and Behold, The Rat Race with Betty Field, and in The Silver Whistle, with Jose Ferrer. She performed with Clifton Webb (in Mr. Belvedere Rings The Bell), Walter Huston (in Apple of His Eye), and Franchot Tone (in Hope for Your Best). Her final Broadway appearance was in the 1969 revival of The Front Page, in which she portrayed the cleaning woman, as she had also done in the film and television versions.

Merande appeared onscreen in bit parts starting in the early 1930s and had her first substantial role in 1940, reprising her role as the gossip in the film adaptation of Our Town.

Merande attended The Honeymooners anniversary special with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in Florida. A short time later, she died of a stroke at the age of 83 at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She never married.[5]

• Doro Merande at IMDb
• Doro Merande at the Internet Broadway Database
• Doro Merande at the Internet Off-Broadway Database