The lovely Dorothy Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney on January 30, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois. Was one of five children. Two older sisters died very young of complications from polio, and another younger brother was struck and killed by lightning while on a Dallas golf course. She was a former beauty contest winner before coming to Hollywood.
Much of her early career was spent in supporting roles in Grade-B Westerns, although on occasion she had the opportunity to play small but memorable roles, such as that of the young, brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in "The Big Sleep", with Humphrey Bogart, in 1946.
In 1956, Malone co-starred with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk's melodrama, "Written on the Wind". Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress (which she dedicated to her late brother).
As a result, she was offered meatier roles in better films, including "Man of a Thousand Faces" (with James Cagney), "The Tarnished Angels" (again with Hudson and Stack, again directed by Sirk), "The Last Voyage" (with Stack), "Warlock", and "The Last Sunset".
Other films included, "Janie Gets Married", "Night and Day", "Two Guys from Texas", "One Sunday Afternoon", "Flaxy Martin", "Scared Stiff", "Pushover", "Young at Heart" (for which she turned blonde and remained that way for the rest of her career), "Battle Cry", "Sincerely Yours", "Tension at Table Rock", "Too Much, Too Soon" as Diana Barrymore, "The Last Sunset", etc
Malone became a household name when she accepted the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial "Peyton Place", on which she starred from 1964 through 1968 receiving two Emmy nominations. In 1965, while working on "Peyton Place" she suffered a near-fatal illness that included a pulmonary embolism, blood clots on both lungs, an enlarged heart, and pneumonia. Upon fully recuperating, she returned to the show after being temporarily replaced by Lola Albright.
She often complained that her character was not given enough to do in the series, and that Mia Farrow's character was monopolizing the story lines. She was quoted as saying, "I live much more drama and tragedy in my own life than I ever do on Peyton Place!" She was written out of show in 1968 and sued 20th Century-Fox for $1.6 million for breach of contract. It was settled out of court.
Her last notable screen appearance was as a mother convicted of murdering her family in "Basic Instinct" (1992) opposite Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.
While in the process of moving she didn't receive her invitation from the Academy Awards to attend the special gathering of former Oscar winners which she was miffed about since she would have attended.
Malone was married and divorced three times and has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, from her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. She became embroiled in heavy litigation and a messy divorce action with Bergerac, whom she accused of marrying famous women only to promote his career. Bergerac was previously married to Ginger Rogers.
Still striking at age 82, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.