(1896-1998)
A daughter of a country doctor born in Dickinson, North Dakota, Dorothy Stickney attended acting school in Minneapolis before touring with stock companies prior to her Broadway debut in 1926 in The Squall. Later that year, Stickney appeared in a small role in the hit Chicago (1926) and a couple of failures before her first notable success as compassionate prostitute Molly Malone in Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's* The Front Page (1928). She also had successes in Another Language* (1932), On Borrowed Time* (1938) and, most importantly, as Vinnie in Howard Lindsay* and Russel Crouse's* long-running hit, Life with Father* (1939), and its less successful sequel, Life with Mother* (1948). Stickney, who was married to Lindsay, also appeared in motion pictures and made her last Broadway appearance in the musical Pippin (1973).
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.