# Dorothy Fay

Dorothy Fay (born Dorothy Alice Fay Southworth, April 4, 1915 – November 5, 2003) was an American actress mainly known for her appearances in Western movies.

## Early life and career

She was born Dorothy Fay Southworth in Prescott, Arizona, the daughter of Harry T. Southworth and Harriet Fay Fox. Her father was a medical doctor. Fay attended the Caroline Leonetti School, the University of London, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She also studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

## Career

Fay began her motion picture career in the late 1930s, performing in several B grade westerns. In 1938, she appeared opposite George Houston in Frontier Scout at Grand National Pictures. She also appeared with Western stars Buck Jones and William Elliott.
Fay made four movies with her husband, country singer and actor Tex Ritter, at Monogram Pictures: Song of the Buckaroo (1938), Sundown on the Prairie (1939), Rollin' Westward (1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (1940). She played a heroine in The Green Archer (1940) and White Eagle (1941), both at Columbia Pictures. Fay also made a few small appearances in other genres, such as the crime drama Missing Daughters (1939). In 1940, she asked Monogram to give her a different part and was loaned to MGM for a small role in The Philadelphia Story, which starred Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn. She also appeared as a debutante in the MGM musical Lady Be Good (1941) starring Ann Sothern, Eleanor Powell, Robert Young and Lionel Barrymore.

## Later years

Fay married singer/actor Tex Ritter on June 14, 1941. Fay made several more movies after she and Ritter married, but then retired from show business in late 1941. In 1965, she and Ritter moved to Nashville, Tennessee, because of his singing and recording career. For a time, she was an official greeter at the Grand Ole Opry. On January 2, 1974, Ritter suffered a fatal heart attack (the family now suspects a dissecting aortic aneurysm) in Nashville. Fay and Ritter had been married 32 years and had two sons; Thomas and the late comedic actor John Ritter.
Fay returned to Southern California in 1981. She turned down several offers to return to movie work, including an opportunity to appear on the ABC television series The Love Boat playing the mother of real-life son, John. But she did appear with him in the TV special "Superstars and their Moms" in 1987. She was also a frequent guest at western movie conventions.
In 1987, Fay suffered a stroke that impacted her speech. She moved to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, in 1989. In August 2001, she was mistakenly reported to have died by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London. The error happened when an employee at the retirement home found that Fay was not in her room, and after inquiring about her absence, was told that Fay had "gone", by which it was meant that she had left her room and was in another wing of the building. However, the employee mistook this as meaning she had died, and telephoned a friend — who happened to work at the Telegraph's obituaries desk — with the supposed "news". Fay and her family found the blunder amusing and took it in good sport.

## Death

Fay died of natural causes at the age of 88 at the Motion Picture and Television Home in Woodland Hills, California, less than two months after the death of her son, John. She is interred with her parents at Mountain View Cemetery in her hometown of Prescott, Arizona. Tex Ritter is interred at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in Port Neches, Texas. John Ritter is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1938 | Frontier Scout | Julie, Steve's Sweetheart | |
| 1938 | The Stranger from Arizona | Ann Turner | |
| 1938 | Law of the Texan | Helen Clifford | |
| 1938 | Prairie Justice | Anita Benson | Opposite Bob Baker a singing cowboy |
| 1938 | Song of the Buckaroo | Anna Alden | |
| 1939 | Long Shot | Betty Ralston | |
| 1939 | Trigger Pals | Doris Allen | Credited as Dorothy Faye |
| 1939 | Sundown on the Prairie | Ruth Graham | Alternative title: Prairie Sundown |
| 1939 | Rollin' Westward | Betty | Alternative title: Rollin' West |
| 1939 | Missing Daughters | Showgirl | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Convicted Woman | Frances | Uncredited |
| 1940 | Sporting Blood | Guest | Uncredited Alternative title: Sterling Metal |
| 1940 | Rainbow Over the Range | Mary Manners | |
| 1940 | Glamour for Sale | Trilby | Uncredited |
| 1940 | The Green Archer | Elaine Bellamy | |
| 1940 | The Philadelphia Story | Main Line Society Woman | Uncredited |
| 1941 | White Eagle | Janet Rand | |
| 1941 | North from the Lone Star | Madge Wilson | |
| 1941 | Lady Be Good | Debutante | Uncredited |
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