Dorothy Malone (born January 30 1925) is an Academy Award-winning American actress.

Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney in Chicago, Illinois. The family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a child model and began acting in school plays at Ursuline Convent and Highland Park High School. While performing at Southern Methodist University, she was spotted by a talent agent for RKO and was signed to a studio contract, making her film debut in 1943 in The Falcon and the Co-Eds. Much of her early career was spent in supporting roles in B-movies, many of them Westerns, although on occasion she had the opportunity to play small but memorable roles, such as that of the young, brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep, with Humphrey Bogart, in 1946.

In 1956, Malone transformed herself into a platinum blonde and shed her good girl-image to co-star with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk's melodrama Written on the Wind. Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. As a result, she was offered meatier roles in better films, including Too Much, Too Soon, in which she portrayed Diana Barrymore, Man of a Thousand Faces (with James Cagney), The Tarnished Angels (again with Hudson and Stack, again directed by Sirk), The Last Voyage (with Stack), Warlock, and The Last Sunset (with Hudson).

Malone became a household name when she accepted the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC primetime serial Peyton Place, on which she starred from 1964 through 1968. She had a featured role in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. Her last notable screen appearance was as a mother convicted of murdering her family in Basic Instinct (1992) opposite Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.

Malone was married and divorced three times and has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, from her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. Her star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1718 Vine Street.

Dorothy Malone was a writer, whose book, Cookbook for Brides (1947), was reprinted by Ace Books in 1953 as Cookbook for Beginners.

Has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, with Jacques Bergerac.

Measurements: 35-23-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Former beauty contest winner before coming to Hollywood.

In 1965, while working on "Peyton Place" (1964), she suffered a near-fatal illness that included a pulmonary embolism, blood clots on both lungs, an enlarged heart, and pneumonia. Upon fully recuperating, she returned to the show after being temporarily replaced by Lola Albright.

She became embroiled in heavy litigation and a messy divorce action with husband Jacques Bergerac, whom she accused of marrying famous women only to promote his career. Bergerac was previously married to Ginger Rogers.

She often complained that her character was not given enough to do in the series, and that Mia Farrow's character was monopolizing the story lines. She was quoted as saying, "I live much more drama and tragedy in my own life than I ever do on Peyton Place!" She was written out of show in 1968 and sued the series' producers.

Was one of five children. Two older sisters died very young of complications from polio, and another younger brother was struck and killed by lightning while on a Dallas golf course. When she won the Oscar for Written on the Wind (1956), she dedicated the award to her late brother.

She turned blonde for the Young at Heart (1954) and remained that way for the rest of her career.

Won the Golden Apple Award as "Most Cooperative Actress" in 1965. The male counterpart went to John Wayne (I). Ironically, later that year she expressed her extreme dissatisfaction with her limited role on "Peyton Place" (1964). Three years later she was written off the show and sued 20th Century-Fox for $1.6 million for breach of contract. It was settled out of court.

Unlike other prominent Hollywood actresses, she didn't have an 'official Italian voice', she was often dubbed by Renata Marini, Rosetta Calavetta and Dhia Cristiani. Lidia Simoneschi, Micaela Giustiniani (I) and Clelia Bernacchi lent their voice to her at some point as well.