We Nominate for Stardom — Dorothy Wilson (1932) 🇺🇸
Motion Picture presents the coming stars — They’ll be your future favorites!
For two years, she worked as a typist in a studio — and then one day she was “discovered.” Her story is almost a believe-it-or-not!
Dorothy Wilson — RKO-Radio
Just to prove that we have confidence in our own judgment as pickers of stars, we are “nominating” an absolute newcomer this month. Her story is one of those almost unbelievable things that make Hollywood the most fantastic place in the world.
When Dorothy Wilson, earning thirty a week as a stenographer at RKO, carried the script of The Age of Consent, which she had just typed, into producer David Selznick’s office, he glanced absently at the girl who handed it to him. He saw — what you will see in The Age of Consent — a tall, slim girl with blue eyes, unbobbed brown hair, very young, very assured, very modern. On the spot, he wanted this unknown to play the lead!
Minneapolis is her home town, and the Vocational High School there her alma mater. She worked as a typist in Minneapolis and Chicago before the travel urge hit her. She went to California not to enter the movies, but to work as a stenographer. She has been in the RKO office two years. David Selznick’s glance got her a screen test. The test got her a one-picture contract. The Age of Consent got her a five-year contract. She’s on her way.
We Believe in Her
- Because Eric Linden, who played with her in The Age of Consent, says she acts like an experienced actress — a “natural,” in studio language.
- Because when Mr. Selznick asked her if she would like to be an actress, she answered, “Not particularly.”
- Because she refused to give up her thirty-dollar-a-week job until she saw how she did as an actress.
- Because she was a good secretary.
- Because she has clear-cut, aristocratic features that will keep her from being confused with a hundred other movie girls.
Motion Picture has now been Nominating Newcomers for Stardom for six months.
We were the first to discover George Brent, who will soon be Ruth Chatterton’s co-star, as well as husband, and we were the first to predict success for Ann Dvorak — even before Scarface was released.
Tala Birell, one of our earliest Nominees, will next be co-starred with Paul Lukas. Gwili Andre is being rapidly groomed for stardom.
George Raft and Robert Young are two of our Nominees who have made good in a big way. Bruce Cabot has just been signed to a long-term contract. Randolph Scott will be the hero of “The Island of Lost Souls.” We feel that we can say “we told you so” about Lyda Roberti and Gloria Stuart.
There are stories about three of our ten Nominees in this issue. Read these stories about George Raft, Randolph Scott and Gloria Stuart. Watch for the pictures featuring all ten of our Nominees to date. (There are more coming. ) And, by all means, write us what you think of them. — Editor.
Source: Motion Picture Magazine, October 1932