Dorothy Sebastian
Dorothy Sebastian (April 26, 1903 - April 8, 1957) was an American film actress. Her birth name was Dorothy Sabiston.
Southern Birth
Sebastian was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In her youth she hoped to be a dancer and later a film actress. Her family frowned on both ambitions, however, so she fled to New York at the age of 15.
Dancer In New York, Hollywood Actress
Upon her arrival in New York City, Sebastian's southern drawl was thick enough to "cut with a knife". She followed around theatrical agents before returning at night to a $12-a-month room, after being consistently rejected.
Dorothy Sebastian was a former George White's Scandals performer who was teamed with fellow actors Joan Crawford and Anita Page for a popular series of MGM romantic dramas including Our Dancing Daughters (1928) and Our Blushing Brides (1930), both starring Crawford and Page. Her first contact in Hollywood was Robert Kane, who gave her a film test at United Studios.
Sebastian also acted in 1929's Spite Marriage, wherein she was cast opposite her then-lover Buster Keaton.
Personal life
Sebastian went into semi-retirement in the mid-1930s after marrying Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd. They wed in Las Vegas, Nevada following a romance which began on a set at Pathe Pictures. After their divorce in 1936, Dorothy attempted a comeback, appearing in much smaller parts than years before.
Sebastian's sister died of burns in a fire at a San Francisco, California hotel in May 1938. Mrs. Helene Bostick, 30, formerly Helene Sebastian, was a resident of Concord, California. She had been smoking in bed in the hotel at 242 Turk Street. The sisters corresponded with one another frequently.
Court Appearances
The actress was found guilty of drunk driving in November 1938 in a Beverly Hills, California Justice Court. She blamed her crash, at the 9000 block of Sunset Boulevard, on a reaction of garlic with three or four glasses of wine she consumed four or five hours earlier. She was dining at the home of Buster Keaton. She told the court she believed police assumed from this she had been drinking even more recently. She was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence and paid a fine of $75.
Sebastian was denied an award of $10,000 from a San Diego, California court in 1940. The actress appeared at a Red Cross benefit in San Francisco in 1937, and failed to pay her hotel bill. She contended the promoter should have met the expense. An employee of the Plaza Hotel took out the suit, charging "defrauding an innkeeper". The State Supreme Court of California reversed the decision, which awarded her the money on grounds of malicious prosecution.
Death
Sebastian died of cancer in 1957 in Los Angeles, California, only weeks away from 54th birthday. Her residence was in Brentwood, California.
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