Dorris Bowdon

Dorris Estelle Bowdon (December 27, 1914 – August 9, 2005) was an American actress, best known for her role as Rosasharn in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda.

Biography

Early life

Dorris Estelle Bowdon was born on December 27, 1914 in Coldwater, Mississippi, one of seven children.

Career

Bowdon was an actress in the 1930s and 1940s. When she was 20 years old, talent scout Ivan Kahn found her in Memphis, Tennessee, and brought her to Hollywood, California, for a screen test with 20th Century Fox. She "didn't fare so well" in her first test, so she was given another try.

Personal life

She was married to Nunnally Johnson from 1939 until his death in 1977, and they had three children together, the first of whom was born in 1942, which prematurely ended Bowden's acting career. They resided in a mansion located at 625 Mountain Drive in Beverly Hills, California. It was designed by architect Paul R. Williams and built from 1937 to 1938 by O' Neal and Son.

Death

She died in Los Angeles at the age of ninety of a stroke and heart failure. She was cremated and a portion of her ashes were scattered at sea and another portion interred with her husband Nunnally Johnson in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Legacy

Actor Jack Johnson is her grandson.

Complete filmography

• Always Goodbye (1938) (uncredited)
• Down on the Farm (1938)
• Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) (scenes deleted)
• Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• Jennie (1940)
• The Moon Is Down (1943)