Reel Character Series

 

The American character actress, Dorothy Adams (1900-88), began her film career in the late 1930s almost entirely in uncredited roles. She is probably best known for her downtrodden or careworn roles as a servant, maid or hard-working pioneering type, always generating a spark into a scene. She worked steadily through the 1950s before a brief transition into television. Adams' noted roles include “Elvy” in 1941's, The Shepherd of the Hills, starring John Wayne and the following year as the wild-eyed quirky “Deaf Annie,” a prison snitch whom every inmate assumed could not hear, in Lady Gangster starring Faye Emerson. She was noteworthy as the title character's maid, “Bessie Clary,” in 1944's Laura (above). Perhaps her most visible role was in 1946 as Wilma Cameron's mother in The Best Years of Our Lives.

Her film career was winding down by the 1960s, dividing her time as a popular acting instructor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Adams married character actor Byron Foulger (also in demand) in 1921. They remained together until his death in 1970.