Dorothy Granger

Dorothy Karolyn Granger (November 21, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedies in Hollywood.

Granger, with her parents, two brothers, Richard and James, and their grandmother, Clara (née Wilcox) Granger, moved to Los Angeles during the late 1920s.

Granger got her start in the entertainment industry when she won a beauty contest at the age of 13 at Silver Beach Summer Resort near Houston. Her budding figure and confident stage presence were perfect for studios that made comedy shorts. In 1930, her father took her to producer Hal Roach, who was then testing talent for his upcoming comedy series, The Boy Friends.

Granger’s natural comedy timing got her the job immediately and she was placed under contract to Hal Roach Studios. She became a charter member of the two-reel-comedy community, appearing opposite many major comedians at Roach, Mack Sennett, Educational Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and RKO Radio Pictures. Among her famous credits are Hog Wild with Laurel & Hardy, The Dentist with W.C. Fields, Punch Drunks and Termites of 1938 with The Three Stooges. Granger also appeared with Andy Clyde, Charley Chase, Edgar Kennedy, Harry Langdon, Gus Schilling & Richard Lane, and Joe DeRita, as well as on live television with Abbott & Costello. Granger is best remembered as the sarcastic, suspicious wife in Leon Errol's series of two-reelers for RKO.

For her body of work in two-reelers, Granger was known as the "Queen of the Short Subject Films". However, she also appeared in about 100 feature films, including Frisco Jenny, Sunset in El Dorado, Kentucky Kernels, Dick Tracy vs. Cueball, Diamond Jim, and Show Boat.

Granger worked on a variety of television shows through the 1950s, including The Abbott and Costello Show, I Married Joan, Father Knows Best, Topper, Lassie, Death Valley Days and Wells Fargo. Her last television performance was a live show on Face The Facts in 1961. Granger left show business in 1963, calling it an “ulcer factory.”

Granger made her last public appearance in 1993 for the Screen Actors Guild’s 60th anniversary celebration. She was an honored guest at the celebration because she was one of SAG’s first members. In later years she helped her husband run an upholstery shop in Los Angeles.

She was the stepmother of film maker and former record producer Anthony J. Hilder.

Granger died of cancer on January 4, 1995, aged 83, in Los Angeles, California.