Billie Dove

Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny;[1] May 14, 1903[2] – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.[3][4]

Billie Dove
Dove in 1920
Born
Bertha Eugenie 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.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1932, 1962
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1923; div. 1929)​
    Robert Kenaston
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1935; died 1970)​
      John Miller
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1973, divorced)​
      Children2

      Early life and career

      Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagl) Bohny,[5] both immigrants from Switzerland. She had a younger brother, Charles Reinhardt Bohny (1906-1963).[6] 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).[7]

      Dove was also a pilot, poet, and painter.[8]

      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 1935,[9] a marriage that lasted for 35 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.[10] Billie Dove later had a brief third marriage, in 1973, to architect John Miller, which ended in divorce.[11]

      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.[12]

      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.[13]

      Filmography
      Year Title Role Note
      1921Get-Rich-Quick WallingfordDorothy WellsLost film
      At the Stage DoorMary MathewsLost film
      1922Polly of the FolliesAlysia PotterLost film
      Trailer survives
      Beyond the RainbowMarion TaylorA copy is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive
      Youth to YouthEve AllisonLost film
      One Week of LoveBathing Party GuestLost film
      Uncredited
      1923All the Brothers Were ValiantPriscilla HoltLost film
      Madness of YouthNanette BenningLost film
      Soft BoiledThe GirlA copy is held at the George Eastman Museum
      The Lone Star RangerHelen LongstrethLost film
      The Thrill ChaserOlala UssanLost film
      1924On TimeHelen HendonLost film
      Try and Get ItRhoda PerrinA copy is held at the Library of Congress
      Yankee MadnessDoloresLost film
      Wanderer of the WastelandRuth VireyLost film
      filmed in Technicolor
      The RoughneckFelicity ArdenLost film
      The Folly of VanityAliceA copy is held at the Czech Film Archive
      1925The Air MailAlice RendonAn incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress
      The Light of Western StarsMadeleine HammondLost film
      Wild Horse MesaSue Melberne
      The Lucky HorseshoeEleanor HuntA copy is preserved at the Museum of Modern Art
      The Fighting HeartDoris AndersonLost film
      The Ancient HighwayAntoinette St. IvesLost film
      1926The Black PiratePrincess IsobelFilmed in Technicolor
      The Lone Wolf ReturnsMarcia MayfairA copy is held at the George Eastman Museum
      The Marriage ClauseSylvia JordanAn incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress
      Kid BootsEleanore BelmoreA copy is held at the Library of Congress
      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 PeredyA copy is held at the BFI National Archive
      Night WatchYvonne CorlaixA copy is held at the Cineteca Italiana
      AdorationElenaA copy is held at the Czech Film Archive
      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. Ancestry.com https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61779&h=2504737&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=60901&requr=281474977005568&ur=0&gsfn=&gsln=&h=2504737. Retrieved October 25, 2021. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
      2. 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.
      3. 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.
      4. Wagner, Bruce. "Moving Pictures", Annals of Hollywood, The New Yorker. July 20, 1998, p. 54.
      5. "Billie Dove - Silent Star of May, 1997". Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
      6. "Archived copy". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
      7. Dietrich, Noah; Thomas, Bob (1972). Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc. p. 89.
      8. 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.
      9. "Archived copy". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
      10. Los Angeles Times: "Gail Adelson; Hostess, Home Designer to the Stars" by Myrna Oliver February 22, 1999
      11. "Obituary: Billie Dove". The Independent. January 14, 1998. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
      12. "Billie Dove (1903–1997)", Goldensilents.com. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
      13. Kliment, Bud. Billie Holiday. Holloway House Publishing, 1990, p. 29. ISBN 978-0-87067-561-4.
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