Billie Dove
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"I was so glad for the name because one counters the other. Dove takes the boyishness out of Billie, and Billie takes the sweetness from Dove. It was a short name, and when you put it on the marquee you had Billie Dove there and still had room for the title of the picture. It wasn't like Helen Twelvetrees." --Billie Dove quoted Classic Images, June 1994.
On her marriage to Irving Willat, director of her film "All the Brothers Were Valiant": "All the way out there [to location] and all the way back and between scenes, all he would say was, marry me, marry me, marry me, marry me. That's all I heard, and we were gone for an entire month. Finally, I said yes just to get him to shut up." --From Classic Images, June 1994.
Biography
One of the loveliest actresses of the silent screen, Billie Dove never became a superstar like Greta Garbo or Clara Bow, but her 12-year career, consisting of 36 silent films and 12 talkies, gained her many devoted fans and a place in history as a reliable, charming leading lady. With her ivory skin and dark hair and eyes, the native New Yorker took the name Billie Dove in her early teens and began working as an artist's model and film extra. Florenz Ziegfeld snapped her up for his "Follies" in 1917, where she remained through 1919 (also appearing in Ziegfeld's rooftop "Midnight Frolics").
Dove's extra work in features paid off, when she was finally cast in a major role in "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" in 1921. Abandoning the stage for films, she and her mother moved west to Hollywood in 1922. She married director Irving Willat the following year, and appeared in a handful of films before hitting the big-time as Douglas Fairbanks' leading lady in the Technicolor "The Black Pirate" (1926). This firmly established her as a major player, and Dove went on to star in such films as "The Marriage Clause" (1926), with her favorite director Lois Weber, "Kid Boots" (1926), with Eddie Cantor and Clara Bow, "An American Beauty" (1927), her signature film, and "Heart of a Follies Girl" (1928).
In 1930, Dove was involved in a scandal when millionaire film producer Howard Hughes (then in the process of his own divorce) reportedly paid Irving Willat $300,000 to divorce her. She signed with Hughes' Caddo Company and made two unremarkable films: "The Age for Love" (1931) and "Cock of the Air" (1932). None of her other talkies, all with First National, amounted to much, either. She retired in 1933 after her role in MGM's "Blondie of the Follies" was re-written to show off co-star Marion Davies.
Billie Dove never looked back. She re-married twice, and became an amateur painter and published poet. In 1962, she was back in the headlines after winning a jingle contest for the film "Gidget Goes Hawaiian." As part of the prize, she was convinced to play a cameo role in "Diamond Head" (1962), after which she returned to a life of anonymity, turning down most interview requests and pointedly refusing to discuss Howard Hughes.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Life Events
1913
Worked as model and film extra (dates approximate)
1917
Debuted in "Ziegfeld Follies" and "Midnight Frolics"
1921
First starring film role, in "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford"
1926
Had huge success as Douglas Fairbanks' leading lady in color film "The Black Pirate"
1929
Made talkie debut in "Careers"
1933
Last starring film, "Blondie of the Follies"
1934
Sued by actress Ruth Roland, who was bitten by Dove's dog (Roland won $25,000)
1962
Won jingle contest for film "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" and made cameo appearance in "Diamond Head"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"I was so glad for the name because one counters the other. Dove takes the boyishness out of Billie, and Billie takes the sweetness from Dove. It was a short name, and when you put it on the marquee you had Billie Dove there and still had room for the title of the picture. It wasn't like Helen Twelvetrees." --Billie Dove quoted Classic Images, June 1994.
On her marriage to Irving Willat, director of her film "All the Brothers Were Valiant": "All the way out there [to location] and all the way back and between scenes, all he would say was, marry me, marry me, marry me, marry me. That's all I heard, and we were gone for an entire month. Finally, I said yes just to get him to shut up." --From Classic Images, June 1994.
"Lois Weber was so wonderful, that if I had my say in those days the way they do today, I would have had it in my contract that she would direct all my pictures. I thought that much of her. There was an understanding there, and she was so simple to work with." --Dove quoted in Classic Images, June 1994
On her retirement: "I was still in my twenties. I thought I had attained everything I wanted to attain, and I wanted to do like other people. I wanted a family. I had seen some of the other girls try to hang onto their careers after they had started to slide. I vowed that would never happen to me."
