Doro Merande

Doro Merande

Born: March 29, 1892
Died: November 1, 1975
in Columbus, Kansas, USA
Plain, angular Doro Merande was one of those delightful character actresses you couldn't take your eyes off of, no matter how minuscule the part. She excelled at playing older than she was -- doting aunts, inveterate gossips, curt secretaries and small-minded townspeople -- all topped with an amusing warble in her voice and bristly eccentric edge. Too bad then that she wasn't used more in films, but she preferred live theater and based herself for the most part on the East Coast. She was born Dora Matthews in Kansas in 1892 and orphaned as a child. Growing up in boarding schools, she headed to New York and pursued an acting career immediately after finishing her education. She appeared long and hard on the stock stage before making it on Broadway at age 43. She settled there sparking over 25 Broadway plays in her lifetime, including a scene-stealing turn in the classic Thorton Wilder play "Our Town" which brought her to Hollywood to preserve the role on film. On and off she remained a delightful film and TV cameo player with roles in The Gazebo (1959), The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966), and The Front Page (1974). She and star Enid Markey (Jane of the "Tarzan" film silents) starred together as pampering aunts in the sitcom Bringing Up Buddy (1960), but, despite promising ratings, the two veteran actresses did not get along and the series folded after only a season. Ms. Merande was also a recurring presence for Jackie Gleason on his variety show. She died, in fact, of a stroke while there in Miami to film an episode.

Date of Birth 31 March 1892, Columbia, Kansas

Date of Death 1 November 1975, New York City, New York  (stroke)

Movies for Doro Merande...

The Front Page
Title: The Front Page
Character: Jennie
Released: November 1, 1974
Type: Movie
A journalist suffering from burn-out wants to finally say goodbye to his office – but his boss doesn’t like the idea one bit.
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Making It
Title: Making It
Character: Librarian
Released: March 21, 1971
Type: Movie
In this coming of age comedy, a cocky high school student thinks nothing of using the people around him to satisfy his self-centered needs, until someone in his life gets pregnant.
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Change of Habit
Title: Change of Habit
Character: Rose
Released: November 10, 1969
Type: Movie
Dr. John Carpenter takes the job of running a health center in a low-income district. He enlists three women to help out who — unbeknownst to him — are actually nuns in street clothes. The church wants to improve the neighborhood but fears that nuns in full habit would not be well received. Unaware of her unavailability, John falls for Sister Michelle, serenading her with his guitar — which, luckily for him, effectively wears away at her religious resolve.
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Skidoo
Title: Skidoo
Character: The Mayor
Released: December 19, 1968
Type: Movie
Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks demurs, God kidnaps his daughter Darlene on his luxury yacht.
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Hurry Sundown
Title: Hurry Sundown
Character: Ada Hemmings
Released: February 9, 1967
Type: Movie
Following the Second World War, a northern cannery combine negotiates for the purchase of a large tract of uncultivated Georgia farmland. The major portion of the land is owned by Julie Ann Warren and has already been optioned by her unscrupulous, draft dodging husband, Henry. Now the combine must also obtain two smaller plots - one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell, a combat veteran with a wife and family; the other by Reeve Scott, a young black man whose mother had been Julie's childhood Mammy. But neither Rad nor Reeve is interested in selling and they form an unprecedented black and white partnership to improve their land. Although infuriated by the turn of events, Henry remains determined to push through the big land deal. And when Reeve's mother Rose dies, Henry tries to persuade his wife to charge Reeve with illegal ownership of his property, confident the the bigoted Judge Purcell will rule against a Negro.
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The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Title: The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Character: Muriel Everett
Released: May 25, 1966
Type: Movie
When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov, to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief and a vacationing television writer, while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.
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Kiss Me, Stupid
Title: Kiss Me, Stupid
Character: Mrs. Pettibone
Released: December 22, 1964
Type: Movie
While traveling home from Vegas, an amorous lounge singer named Dino gets conned by a local mechanic/songwriter into staying in town for the night. The mechanic's songwriting partner, Orville, offers Dino his home for overnight lodging and enlists a local waitress/call girl to pose as his wife in order to placate Dino's urges.
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The Cardinal
Title: The Cardinal
Character: Picket
Released: December 12, 1963
Type: Movie
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.
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Title: Sam Benedict
Released: September 15, 1962
Type: TV
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman. Sam Benedict is based on real-life lawyer Jacob W. "Jake" Erlich, who served as technical consultant for the series.
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Title: The New Breed
Character: Miss Stewart
Released: October 3, 1961
Type: TV
The New Breed is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from October 3, 1961 to June 5, 1962, with thirty-six episodes.
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Title: Bringing Up Buddy
Character: Aunt Iris Flower
Released: October 10, 1960
Type: TV
Bringing Up Buddy is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS during the 1960–1961 season.
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Title: Thriller
Character: Melba Pennaroyd
Released: September 13, 1960
Type: TV
Thriller is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of self-contained, macabre weird-horror and morbid, hitchockian crime stories, in some of which he also starred.
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The Gazebo
Title: The Gazebo
Character: Matilda
Released: January 15, 1960
Type: Movie
TV writer Elliott Nash buries a blackmailer under the new gazebo in his suburban backyard. But the nervous man can't let the body rest there.
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Title: The Twilight Zone
Character: Sadie
Released: October 2, 1959
Type: TV
A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
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The Man with the Golden Arm
Title: The Man with the Golden Arm
Character: Vi
Released: December 26, 1955
Type: Movie
A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Mrs. Herman
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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The Seven Year Itch
Title: The Seven Year Itch
Character: Waitress at Vegetarian Restaurant (uncredited)
Released: June 3, 1955
Type: Movie
With his family away for their annual summer holiday, a publishing executive decides to live a bachelor's life. The beautiful but ditzy blonde from the apartment above catches his eye and they soon start spending time together—maybe a little too much time!
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Title: Omnibus
Released: November 9, 1952
Type: TV
Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series.
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Title: Tales of Tomorrow
Released: August 3, 1951
Type: TV
Tales of Tomorrow is an American anthology science fiction series that was performed and broadcast live on ABC from 1951 to 1953. The series covered such stories as Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Thomas Mitchell as Captain Nemo, and many others featuring such performers as Boris Karloff, Brian Keith, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Bruce Cabot, Franchot Tone, Gene Lockhart, Walter Abel, Leslie Nielsen, and Paul Newman. The series had many similarities to the later Twilight Zone which also covered one of the same stories, "What You Need". In total it ran for eighty-five 30-minute episodes.
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The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Title: The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Character: Miss Pringle
Released: August 2, 1951
Type: Movie
A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.
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Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
Title: Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
Character: Mrs. Hammer
Released: August 1, 1951
Type: Movie
Posing as a man over 70, a lecturer (Clifton Webb) enters an old-folks home to prove age is a state of mind.
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Cover Up
Title: Cover Up
Character: Hilda
Released: February 25, 1949
Type: Movie
Insurance investigator Sam Donovan is looking into the apparent suicide of a man in a small Midwestern town. All clues leads him into suspecting murder. Unfortunately, no one wants to assist him with the case, including Sheriff Larry Best.
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The Snake Pit
Title: The Snake Pit
Character: Asylum Patient (uncredited)
Released: November 4, 1948
Type: Movie
Virginia Cunningham is confused upon finding herself in a mental hospital, with no memory of her arrival at the institution. Tormented by delusions and unable to even recognize her husband, Robert, she is treated by Dr. Mark Kik, who is determined to get to the root of her mental illness. As her treatment progresses, flashbacks depict events in Virginia's life that may have contributed to her instability.
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Our Town
Title: Our Town
Character: Mrs. Soames
Released: May 24, 1940
Type: Movie
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. We see birth, life and death in this small community.
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Bad Boy
Title: Bad Boy
Character: Mrs. Jackson
Released: October 25, 1935
Type: Movie
An unemployed loafer who spends his time playing pool decides he's ready to look for a job so he can secure his girlfriend's parents' approval for their marriage.
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Navy Wife
Title: Navy Wife
Character: Nurse Sharpe
Released: September 17, 1935
Type: Movie
A Hawaiian naval nurse weds a widowed officer partly because he has a crippled daughter.
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Moonlight and Pretzels
Title: Moonlight and Pretzels
Released: August 1, 1933
Type: Movie
A song plugger is stranded in a small town. There he meets a girl who later helps him to put on a show on Broadway.
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Bondage
Title: Bondage
Character: Boarding House Matron (uncredited)
Released: April 22, 1933
Type: Movie
Judy Peters is about to be sentenced after she has pled guilty to her third offense of prostitution, when Dr. Nelson interrupts and tells her story to the court. (Mubi.)
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Strictly Personal
Title: Strictly Personal
Character: Club Member
Released: March 17, 1933
Type: Movie
Soapy Gibson (Edward Ellis) and his wife Annie (Marjorie Rambeau) run a lonely hearts club in a small town. Even during the Depression years these were often "clip joints" - places where people with money but no mate got taken by someone offering the promise of companionship. However, Soapy and Annie are strictly on the level - and they have more than one reason to want to stay on the level. You see Soapy escaped from the law years ago, had some plastic surgery and changed his name, and has been living on the lam with his wife ever since.
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State Fair
Title: State Fair
Character: Mrs. Metcalfe's Acquaintance at Food Contest (Uncredited)
Released: February 10, 1933
Type: Movie
The children of Iowa farmers find love, with mixed results, at the state fair.
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Wayward
Title: Wayward
Character: Maid (uncredited)
Released: February 19, 1932
Type: Movie
Story of a mother's antagonism to her son's wife. Based on the novel "Wild Beauty" by Mateel Howe Farnham.
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Personal Maid
Title: Personal Maid
Character: Mrs. Wurtz's Maid (uncredited)
Released: September 12, 1931
Type: Movie
Nora Ryan, a poor Irish girl, living in New York decides to change her life by working as a personal maid for the wealthy, Gary family.