- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDorothea Sally Eilers
- Height5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
- Sally Eilers enjoyed lunch with a classmate from drama school, Jane Peters (who would later become known as Carole Lombard), at the Sennett Studios cafeteria. There she was spotted by Mack Sennett and instantly became one of his "discoveries". Having already appeared in several bit parts, beginning with The Red Mill (1927) in 1927, she was offered a role in The Good-Bye Kiss (1928), a rare dramatic feature for the studio. Either Sennett or Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (depending on which version of the story is to be believed) tagged Sally with the publicity line "the most beautiful girl in movies".
The vivacious former brunette (quickly transformed by Hollywood into a blonde) spent her apprenticeship as a leading actress co-starring in westerns with her future husband Hoot Gibson and with Buster Keaton in Doughboys (1930). In 1931 director Frank Borzage cast her (instead of established star Janet Gaynor) in the depression-era film Bad Girl (1931). What could have been maudlin melodrama was enlivened by excellent direction and some snappy dialogue (winning Academy Awards for both direction and screenplay) and elicited from Sally in the title role (as "Dot Haley") the best performance of her career. There were to be other films of note: Reducing (1931) with Marie Dressler, the original State Fair (1933) with Will Rogers (with Sally playing a "carny") and Sailor's Luck (1933), with her Bad Girl (1931) co-star James Dunn, in which a reviewer described her performance as "highly satisfactory".
Alas, most of her subsequent parts were in lesser features and she never made the grade as a top star. Sally continued to act in films, eventually reduced to supporting roles, until the late 1940s. She was married four times.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis - Sally Eilers was born Dorothea Sally Eilers on December 11, 1908 in New York City. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was a child. After graduating from Fairfax high school she studied acting and took dance classes with Ernest Belcher. She made her film debut as an extra in the 1927 drama The Red Mill. One day she was having lunch with her friend Carole Lombard when she was introduced to producer Mack Sennett. He cast her in several of his "flaming youth" comedies including The Campus Vamp and The Good-Bye Kiss. In 1928 she was chosen to be one of the WAMPAS baby stars. Sally had supporting roles in Let Us Be Gay with Norma Shearer and Broadway Babies with Alice White. She married western actor Hoot Gibson, her costar in Clearing The Range, on June 27, 1930. During the early 1930s she became a popular leading lady starring the films Sailor's Luck, Hat Check Girl, and She Made Her Bed.
The petite blonde was called "the most beautiful girl in movies". She divorced Hoot in 1933 and married producer Harry Brown. The couple had one son together in 1934. Sally was signed by RKO and starred in the dramas Condemned Women and They Made He A Spy. Her marriage to Harry ended in 1943. That same year she married World War 2 Lieutenant Howard Barney. By this time her career was in trouble and she was no longer being offered good roles. After divorcing Howard she married her fourth husband, director Hollingsworth Morse, in 1949. Soon after she decided to quit acting. Her final film was the 1950 western Stage To Tuscon. Unfortunately her marriage to Hollingsworth ended in 1962. As she grew older she suffered from numerous health problems and stayed out of the spotlight. She died on January 5, 1978 from a heart attack. Sally was sixty-nine years old. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Elizabeth Ann
- SpousesHollingsworth Morse(December 16, 1949 - September 19, 1962) (divorced)Howard Jay Barney(August 28, 1943 - August 6, 1946) (divorced)Harry Joe Brown(September 28, 1933 - August 26, 1943) (divorced, 1 child)Hoot Gibson(June 27, 1930 - September 24, 1933) (divorced)
- Mother of screenwriter Harry Joe Brown Jr..
- Inurned at Forest Lawn Glendale, Freedom Mausoleum, Columbarium of Understanding
- Spoke French and German.
- Was named a Wampas Baby Star of 1928.
- She was a lifelong liberal Democrat.
- My life is about as private as an exhibit at the World's Fair. But I like the limelight. I'm the girl who yearned to be an actress and got her wish.
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