Actor / Director Profile

Flashy, leggy, bouffant blonde Dorothy Provine graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Theater Arts. Hollywood folklore has it that the South Dakota-born beauty landed the role of the notorious femme bank robber in the low-budget "B" film The Bonnie Parker Story (1958) just three days after arriving in Hollywood. It certainly proved to be her lucky break, but it didn't lead lead to bigger and better screen roles or clinch movie stardom for her. On the contrary, she languished on in such innocuous programmers as Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959), Live Fast, Die Young (1958) and as the gigantic, radiation-exposed love interest in the extremely lame and unfunny The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) opposite comedian Lou Costello in his only effort without partner Bud Abbott.Better suited it would seem for the small screen, Dorothy became one of the more visible female faces on TV during the late 1950s and 1960s and would be best remembered for her role as Pinky Pinkham, the Charleston-dancing flapper in the Warner Bros. adventure series "The Roaring 20's" (1960). A vivacious guest on scores of TV shows, she occasionally reappeared in several 1960s films where she generally projected a squeaky-clean image playing various sparkly housewives and girlfriends. Dorothy co-starred in the all-star It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), appeared opposite Jack Lemmon in Good Neighbor Sam (1964) and made her last silver screen appearance alongside Dick Van Dyke_ in Never a Dull Moment (1968), which did not live up to its title. Dorothy abruptly left the business in 1969 after marrying director Robert Day, who was involved in several of the Tarzan movies of the 1960s.