Mary Doran Movies
Blonde leading 1920s starlet
Mary Doran attended college at Columbia University. Originally planning on a teaching career,
Doran instead became a professional tap dancer, working for
Flo Ziegfeld on Broadway before she was signed to an MGM contract in 1928. During the first years of the talkies,
Doran showed up in such major releases as
Broadway Melody (1929),
The Divorcee (1930), and
Our Blushing Brides (1930), usually cast as a flirt or gold digger. After her MGM option lapsed, she freelanced at Universal, Columbia, and Paramount; though no longer appearing in major roles in A-pictures, she was afforded a worthwhile supporting part in
Lubitsch's
Love Me Tonight (1932) and a funny bit as a screen-test actress in
Harold Lloyd's
Movie Crazy (1932).
Mary Doran left films after co-starring with
George O'Brien and
Polly Ann Young in the quickie Western
Border Patrolman (1936). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi