Down the Dolores Moran Rabbit Hole

Recently, I was watching the great Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins film, "Old Acquaintance" (1943), and I was struck by the resemblance between Ann Sheridan and Dolores Moran. Sheridan, at the time, was one of the biggest stars at Warner Bros., while Moran, who signed a five-year contract in 1943, mostly played uncredited or supporting roles.

Perhaps because of my research into Lila Leeds, I immediately wanted to learn about Moran's Hollywood experience. Leeds had it rough. She was one of thousands of blond beauties chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood system. I was curious about Moran, who, like Leeds in the mid-1940s, had a few roles in some good films and then, by the early 1950s, was mostly a footnote.

Moran was discovered in 1941, at the age of fifteen, by a Warner Bros. talent scout at an Elks Club picnic in Sacramento, California. Once at Warner Bros., studio publicity began building her up as the next Jean Harlow (these girls are always the next someone, never the first themselves). She appeared on magazine covers, was photographed for Esquire, was a popular GI pin-up girl, and the studio touted her as "the next big thing," all while she was still very much a teenager.

Dolores Moran in Esquire (1944). She was 18 years old.

In an interview from 1946 titled "Young Girls Not Emotionally Equipped: Film Beauty Dolores Moran Declares 20 Right Age to Begin Career in Pictures," Moran confessed that if given the chance to go to Hollywood at a young age again, she would not exchange her childhood for a career.

"Working seriously on a career is just too big a package for a kid to carry. A 15-year-old's talent will still be there at 20, but it will be fresh, ready, and better trained for normal expression by then. There are too many hurts in career building for any sensitive, high-strung youngster."

For Moran, that career, despite all the early build-up, was relatively short-lived, peaking in the mid-1940s with appearances in "Old Acquaintance," "To Have and Have Not," and "The Horn Blows at Midnight." Out of sixteen screen appearances, she had credited roles in only nine films between 1943 and 1954.

In "Old Acquaintance," Moran performs quite well. It's a role that does not require too much depth of emotion or technique. She plays Deirdre, the daughter of Miriam Hopkins' Millie, caught in the middle of Millie and Kit's (Bette Davis) toxic friendship. As Deidre, Moran handles her scenes with Davis exceptionally well. She holds her own, which is a compliment because Davis gives a very solid and grounded performance opposite her arch-enemy, Miriam Hopkins, who, shall we say, carries things a tad bit over the top.

Dolores Moran with Gig Young in Old Acquaintance

Her other notable film appearance was in 1944's “To Have and Have Not” as Mme Hélène de Bursac. The role was initially planned as a significant supporting part but was gradually reduced to build up newcomer Lauren Bacall's Marie 'Slim' Browning.

During the film’s pre-production the role of Hélène de Bursac was assigned to Ann Sheridan. Although Moran did bear a bit of a resemblance to Sheridan in some publicity photos, she did have her own distinct look, and Perc Westmore dyed her hair a signature 'Palladium Blonde,' making her an icy blonde, very distinct from Sheridan's red hair.

Dolores Moran in a Warner’s Brother publicity shot

Moran, like so many of the young starlets discovered in the small towns and cities around the United States during the Hollywood studio era, disappeared from the screen after a few years. I can happily report that she settled into life as a wife and mother.

She married producer Benedict Bogeaus in 1944 when she was 22, and he was 40. (Bogeaus married his second wife, actress Mimi Forsyth in 1939, when she was 18. He began his relationship with Moran while still married to Forsyth.) When her Warner’s contract expired she made a couple of films exclusively produced by Bogeaus. The two divorced in 1962.

Dolores Moran with her husband Benedict Bogeaus

In an interesting footnote, in 1968, an apricot grower bequeathed Dolores Moran $300,000 because he appreciated her kindness twenty years earlier when she worked as a carhop at a drive-in. When asked if she recalled the incident, Moran said “for the life of me, I cannot remember the man.”

Dolores Moran died in 1982 from cancer.