Wednesday 24 Sep 2014
The life of Hull's forgotten movie star Dorothy Mackaill is celebrated on Inside Out.
Reputed to be the first British actress to successfully cross the pond and conquer Tinseltown, Dorothy was the darling of Hollywood in the Twenties and Thirties and played opposite the likes of Gable and Bogart.
Twenty years after her death Inside Out, ´óÏó´«Ã½ One Yorkshire & Lincolnshire, Monday 11 January, 7.30pm, pays a moving tribute to the star which includes an audio interview with the lady herself recorded in the Seventies as well as rare Pathe footage of thousands of people thronging the streets of Hull in 1930 when she returned to visit her home city.
Producer Sam Wichelow said: "Dorothy was really the Kate Winslet of her time and starred in about 60 movies but few of those films remain and – despite being such a huge draw at the time – sadly her name and her work is now largely forgotten and even more tragic is that not so much as a blue plaque exists in Hull to commemorate her.
"This film aims properly to reflect her extraordinary life. And in our celebrity-obsessed times it's fascinating to see how fleeting fame really is. How will today's stars be remembered in a century's time?"
Dorothy left Hull aged 17 and travelled to France before landing in Hollywood and being spotted by a director. She reputedly became the highest-paid star in the world at the time and notched up three husbands before retiring to live in Hawaii, where she died in 1990 aged 87.
Film historian Kevin Brownlow says in the documentary: "She was an important star, you'd sell your film on the fact that you had Dorothy Mackaill in it."
The documentary also features an interview with Dorothy's cousin, William Mackaill, from Scunthorpe.
AB2
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